The Cippenham girls’ team carried all before them as the Junior British League made a welcome return at Derby Arena at the weekend after being cancelled last season. Hannah Silcock, Cippenham’s star “import” from Jersey, carried her team impeccably with an unbeaten record, earning her the accolade of Female Player of the Weekend, and she was able supported by locals Rachael Iles and Anna Piercey. The team won all five of their matches over the weekend to top Girl’s Division 2 at the half-way stage of the season. Hannah was named player of the match on four occasions and the one time that she was bettered it was Anna who claimed the honour.

The weekend commenced with a match against the famous Ormesby club from Middlesbrough. Hannah Silcock got her flawless weekend off to a great start by leading the way with two wins. Rachael Iles and Anna Piercey both lost to Ella Pashley but the points were secured by Anna when she came back from two games down to defeat Jyothi Ghanta 3-2. This was followed by a 5-1 win over Belfast-based Ormeau with Hannah and Anna unbeaten. Saturday concluded with another 4-2 win, this time over Draycott 3 from Derbyshire. Anna was undone in this match and it was left to Hannah and Rachael to each win both of their matches to secure Cippenham maximum points.

Sunday morning came and it was the turn of Sophia Gardens to be put to the sword. A 6-0 thrashing ensured against the Welsh team although Rachael was made to work hard by Ruby Elliott. The weekend finished with Cippenham maintaining their one hundred percent win record 4-2 over St Neots. Hannah finished the first half of the season unbeaten while Rachael and Anna won one apiece in this match.

The success of the girls’ team, however, did not rub off on the boys. They finished the weekend bottom of Boys’ Division 5 with two draws and three 4-2 defeats to their name. The closeness of the matches shows that, with a little luck, the league position can be remedied when the season concludes in the new year. William Saint was easily Cippenham’s most successful player and won six of his eight individual matches.

William started well, winning both his matches in the opening 3-3 draw with Fusion 4. He and Jaiden Caldeira both won extremely close matches against Samuel Casebourne and William also beat Francesco Bonato who, later, beat Pranav Gudipati 11-9 in the deciding game to deny Cippenham both points. Jamie Woodford replaced Jaiden for the second match against Bribar Cleeve Park but lost both his matches. This was a close match with three of the six sets requiring a deciding game, the difference being that Cippenham won only one of these. Another 4-2 defeat, this time against St. Mary’s 2, finished off the first day’s play. William was rested for this match and Cippenham’s two wins were secured by Pravan and Jaiden.

William returned for the Sunday morning match against Wood Green and his two wins against Joshua Web and Ignats Valnuhins were augmented by Jamie’s win against the latter and a second league point was secured by the 3-3 draw. The weekend finished on another note of what could have been. Yet another 4-2 defeat, this time against the London powerhouse club Greenhouse 3 with Jaiden and William both falling to Gabriel Schogger by the narrowest margins in the deciding game. William, against Adam Palmer, and Pranav, over Nizar Arjaouy, had given Cippenham a 2-0 lead that they were unable to hold on to.