Cippenham teams fared poorly during the final weekend of the Senior British Clubs League season, each wining only one match and losing three. As a consequence, both teams eased down one place in their respective divisions but for the Cippenham first team this meant dropping into the relegation zone, despite gaining two more points than the previous season when they finished one place higher. Barring a reprieve, their two-year stay in National Division A appears to have come to an end and they will face next season in Division B.

 

Cippenham A started the weekend one place above the relegation zone in Division A-2 and really need to win either of their two matches on the Saturday to secure their place for next season. The first of these was against Joola Plymouth who eventually finished in the top half of the division. Dave Barr got Cippenham off to a perfect start with a hard-fought five-set win over Leo Nguyen. Rob Hansell lost an equally close match against Dom Sussex but, after Shae Thakker and Martin Gray had beaten Harry Cutler and Hugo Nguyen respectively, Cippenham were 3-1 up and looking good for a win. However, with team captain Martin Adams unavailable, Dave stepped up to partner Rob in the doubles set and the tide turned with that and following defeats for Dave and Shae against Sussex and Leo Ngyuen. Rob regain parity at 4-4 for Cippenham with an eclipsing win over Hugo Nguyen but Cutler secured the points for the Devon side against Martin.

 

A win against Horsham Spinners in the Saturday afternoon match then became of paramount importance. Shae Thakker, player of the match, won twice 3-0 against Ben Watson and Jacob Evans but the match went against Cippenham with two nail-bitingly close defeats for Rob Hansell against Oleh Biletskyi and Joe Sheard. Dave Barr also beat Evans and Cippenham won the doubles but it was not quite enough.

 

Sunday’s matches were predictable. Divisional champions Finsbury were just too strong and won 6-3 despite a double for Dave, who was playing only because of an injury to Rob, over Munib Ahmad and Abdullah Ubaidullah and another for Andy Norwood against Jonathan Lancry. The season finished with a flourish as bottom team Brighton were beaten 8-1. Andy was the only loser and Rachael Iles, deputising for Martin, marked her promotion from the second team by winning both her matches.

 

The Cippenham second team eventually finished sixth in Division C-5, their lowest finish in the three years that the team has been together. In truth, it was a patched-up team with regulars unavailable. Cippenham were really put to the sword by a dominant Isle of Wight team on Saturday morning, the islanders running out 9-0 victors. The 6-3 defeat to Newton Abbot in the afternoon match showed better with Anna Piercey and Paul Baker both beating Wim Faassen while Paul paired with Maciej Dlugozima to pinch the doubles at deuce in the fifth.

 

A much-changed and slightly stronger Cippenham team showed up for the Sunday matches. Bottom team Horsham were sleighed 7-2 with braces from Rachael Iles, Louis Alexander and Jaiden Caldeira while only the doubles set and Jamie Woodford’s defeat by the Horsham number one eluded the host team. Godalming, the divisional runners-up, presented a tougher opponent for the afternoon and ran away 8-1 winners. Anna Piercey was Cippenham’s only winner against Varun Strastry,