Southampton League

Division 3 2002/2003 Analysis

Summary

Final Table

Average Grade of Teams

Ringwood

Southen Water B

Stoneham C

University B 

Winchester B

Summary

After being relegated last season, Ringwood bounced straight back to division two, losing just the one game to 2nd place Winchester B. Ringwood had the services on Martin Clancy for half of their matches. which helped them greatly. Martin is just about unbeatable playing in division three, as this season he had four points from four games and he had eight points from eight games in the 2000 - 2001 season (I should really take out the just in the sentence above!). 

If the fight for the promotion spot was over pretty quickly, the fight to avoid the drop was not over to the last game of the season. Stoneham C were playing Southern Water B and whoever lost were going to be relegated. All University B had to hope for was that the game was not drawn .... which it was! This draw meant that both Stoneham C and Southern Water B scored six points, which was the same as University B, but they had both scored more game points. Therefore University C had the distinction of scoring 6 points from a possible 16, and were still relegated (if the make up of the division is still five teams).

Next season, looks like being extremely tight again, with Southampton C and Winchester C joining the mix, although I understand that maybe Winchester C are going to stay in division four and University B will not be relegated. If this is the case, I think it is due to both these teams having two teams in the same division.

Final Table

Team P W D L GS Pts
Ringwood 8 7 0 1 26½ 14
Winchester B 8 3 2 3 20½ 8
Stoneham C 8 2 2 4 18½ 6
Southern Water B 8 2 2 4 17½ 6
University B 8 3 0 5 17 6

 

Average Grade of Teams

Team

Average Grade

Ringwood

118.6

Stoneham C

112.4

University B

105.4

Winchester B

100.1

Southern Water B

93.6

 

Martin Clancy's grade of 160 boosted the Average grade of Ringwood, who were by far and away the strongest team. I would have expected Stoneham C to have done slightly better, with the players they had, but they were more than happy to avoid the drop. Looking at the table I would also have said that Southern Water B were the big favourites to be relegated, so they did very well to remain in division three, with what on paper seemed to be the weakest team.

 

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Ringwood

Name

Grade

Played

Won

Drawn

Lost

Points 

%

Grading Perf

N.Zachariades

113

8

6

1

1

6.5

81.3

125.3

R.Davenport

119

7

4

2

1

5.0

71.4

124.3

C.Madge

93

8

3

3

2

4.5

56.3

96.3

M.Clancy

160

4

4

0

0

4.0

100.0

172.3

G.Head

110

7

2

3

2

3.5

50.0

103.9

A.Wykes

138

6

2

2

2

3.0

50.0

127.8

Total

 

40

21

11

8

27

66.3

 

Ringwood only used 6 players always managing to have a strong team out. This was especially true when they had both Martin Clancy and A.Wykes playing in the same match. You feel that they will need Martin Clancy playing more than four games and/or another player if they don't want to yo-yo between division two and three. 

Performance wise Martin Clancy had the best season, winning all four of his games. Nick Zachariades also performed well with his 6 wins. Rob Davenport is an improving player, who only lost the one game and won four. Both players would make excellent additions to the Hampshire Under 125 team next season.

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Southern Water B

Name Grade Played Won Drawn Lost Points  % Grading Perf
P.Siddaway 110 6 2 3 1 3.5 58.3 138.8
R.Casey 97 7 2 2 3 3.0 42.9 100.9
M.Gransden 99 8 2 2 4 3.0 37.5 96.3
J.Sorby 79 3 2 0 1 2.0 66.7 113.0
D.Fields 106 4 1 2 1 2.0 50.0 119.5
M.Avery 78 7 2 0 5 2.0 28.6 81.1
W.Richards u 3 1 1 1 1.5 50.0 126.5
P.Farr 62 2 0 1 1 0.5 25.0 68.0
Total   40 12 11 17 18 43.8  

On paper Southern Water B looked the likely candidate for relegation as their highest graded player was only graded 110, which was at least 10 points (and is some cases 60 points!)  lower than most other teams top board.  But some fine performances saw them stave off relegation in the last game of the season (2½ draw with Stoneham C). 

P.Siddaway on top board had an excellent season, scoring 58% against opposition all graded higher than him. His only loss was to Ringwood's Martin Clancy and his wins were against Dave Culliford and Stephen Spikings. J.Sorby, D.Fields and W.Richards also performed well above their grades with J,Sorby in particular having an great season.

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Stoneham C

Name

Grade

Played

Won

Drawn

Lost

Points 

%

Grading Perf

S.Murphy

111

8

3

2

3

4.0

50.0

96.6

D.Culliford

118

7

2

3

2

3.5

50.0

118.0

P.Pavey

105

6

2

2

2

3.0

50.0

101.7

K.Lamb

101

6

2

1

3

2.5

41.7

82.5

J.Zastapilo

129

6

1

2

3

2.0

33.3

116.7

N.Burton

138

2

1

1

0

1.5

75.0

141.5

R.Sims

94

3

1

0

2

1.0

33.3

85.7

T.Aldridge

u

1

1

0

0

1.0

100.0

112.0

G.Payne

103

1

0

0

1

0.0

0.0

69.0

Total

 

40

13

11

16

19

46.3

 

After gaining promotion from Division Four last season, Stoneham's main aim was to not get relegated this season, which they duly did ... just! As mentioned, the division was very close and one result here or there made all the difference. In Stoneham's C case this was the two draws against Winchester B and Southern Water B which enabled them to reach six points, which with their superior game points enabled them to finish third.

Performance wise, no-one had an outstanding season, but all players who played more than one game, won at least one game. Nick Burton played two games on top board and looks like a player that will be an asset to the B team next season.

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University B

Name Grade Played Won Drawn Lost Points  % Grading Perf
G.Burgess u 3 3 0 0 3.0 100.0 141.3
B.McManus u 3 2 1 0 2.5 83.3 117.5
A.Syed 105 5 1 3 1 2.5 50.0 112.6
P.Lawson 91 7 2 1 4 2.5 35.7 94.4
D.Gleasby u 2 1 1 0 1.5 75.0 133.5
I.Van Delft u 5 1 1 3 1.5 30.0 92.8
S.Spikings 123 6 0 3 3 1.5 25.0 97.5
B.Sores u 2 1 0 1 1.0 50.0 111.5
N.Thomas 120 1 0 1 0 0.5 50.0 106.0
W.Oliver u 1 0 1 0 0.5 50.0 93.0
J.D.L Juganniere u 1 0 0 1 0.0 0.0 60.0
Total   40 11 12 17 17 42.5  

University B used 11 players in the season, which in a division of five teams is an awful lot. This, coupled with a lot of un-graded players makes it difficult to select the best team, as you cannot always tell who your strongest players are. In the end University B were unlucky, as they finished bottom on game points, when Stoneham C and Southern Water B drew their final match.

The C team captain Graham Burgess played 3 games for the B team and looking at his results, the B team seems to be the right team for him, as he managed 3 wins from 3 games. Other players that played well were B.McManus and D.Gleasby, although they only played 3 and 2 games respectively. Stephen Spikings who played so well for the A team surprisingly did not do so well for the C team, which shows how tough division three is! 

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Winchester B

Name Grade Played Won Drawn Lost Points  % Grading Perf
R.Cleave 121 8 4 4 0 6.0 75.0 137.6
R.Patterson 84 6 2 3 1 3.5 58.3 99.0
S.Kitley 95 6 2 2 2 3.0 50.0 94.7
P.Przbycin u 4 2 1 1 2.5 62.5 136.3
J.Hough 101 5 1 3 1 2.5 50.0 116.0
M.Stone 95 7 1 2 4 2.0 28.6 71.3
M.J.White 127 1 0 1 0 0.5 50.0 105.0
R.Collins 102 2 0 1 1 0.5 25.0 92.5
R.Huxtable 92 1 0 0 1 0.0 0.0 28.0

Total

 

40

12

17

11

21

51.3

 

 

Winchester B finished 2nd and were the only team to beat Ringwood in the season. Bob Cleave had a fine season remaining unbeaten and his four wins included one against Rob Davenport.  I understand that Pete Przbycin is a player returning to the game after a break of a few years. He seems to have not lost too much of his playing strength, as his two wins were against John Zastapilo (129) and A.Wykes (138).

J.Hough and R.Patterson were the other players who had a good season, performing in excess of their grades.

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