It is four years since he won the men’s singles title, but Peter Hayden once again proved the most prized scalp in the Braintree Table Tennis League.

He finished top of this year’s individual averages with only one defeat – to second-placed Paul Davison – in 48 sets.

Davison lost twice, to Scott Dowsett and Ian Hayden, while Steve Kerns followed his unique treble of men’s singles, over-40 singles and over-50 singles at this year’s individual championships by moving up to third place.

He lost to Simon Webber and Matthew Brown.

Kevin Gowlett dropped from first to fourth.

After becoming the first player for eight years to go through a season unbeaten last year, he tasted defeat four times this season, to Peter Hayden, Kerns, Webber and Ian Hayden.

Ian Hayden had his best season for some time, moving up five places to fifth.

League champions Netts A had five players in the top 20 while runners-up Liberal A had two in the top five with their other two players sharing identical records in 11th place.

In division two, Dave Marsh finished top of the heap for the second year running, with Richard Jennings in second place and Sean Clift up five places to third.

Had he played in one more match, Nomads’ Ken Lewis would have been in the top spot but he is excluded as he played fewer than one-third of his team’s matches.

He lost only twice, to Paul Mitchell and Alastair Brown.

The top four in division three are all in various stages of a comeback, with Tony Stredder, now in his fourth season back in the game, leading the way.

Stredder lost only once in his first 56 sets.

Three late defeats brought his average down but he remained ahead of the rest.

Paul Lombardi lost only twice before being promoted to division one.

A special accolade should go to David Swash, who started the season with Felsted RBL C, was promoted to the B team when Chris Butler moved to Wales and also filled in on 14 occasions for the A team in division one.

In total, he racked up no fewer than 114 sets, which is almost certainly a record.

Final individual averages (qualification one third of team’s matches): Division one (last season’s position in brackets): 1 (3) Peter Hayden 47 wins in 48 sets, average 97.9; 2 (2) Paul Davison 40-42, 95.2; 3 (4) Steve Kerns 28-30, 93.3; 4 (1) Kevin Gowlett 51-55, 92.7; 5 (10) Ian Hayden 43-50, 86.0; 6 (11) John Cleasby 23-27, 85.2; 7 (6) Ian Whiteside 41-51, 80.4; 8 (16) Adam Buxton 48-60, 80.0; 9 (8) James Hicks 52-66, 78.8; 10 (12) Maria Boulton 36-48, 75.0; =11 (5) Scott Dowsett/(19) Simon Webber 48-65, 73.9; 13 (-) Andy Holmes 21-29, 72.4; 14 (-) Alistair Hill 20-30, 66.7; 15 Matthew Brown (-) 20-33, 60.6; 16 (7) Jon Hill 34-57, 59.7; 17 (9) Steve Pennell 44-75, 58.7; 18 (-) Graham Farmer 19-33, 57.6; 19 (13) Ryan Pitt 42-75, 56; 20 (-) Patrick Gilbert 29-52, 55.8.

Division two: 1 Dave Marsh 41-49, 83.7; 2 Richard Jennings 48-59, 81.4; 3 Sean Clift 52-64, 81.3; 4 Richard Kemp 28-35, 80.0; 5 Gareth Davies 44-57, 77.2; 6 Gordon Fairchild 59-78, 75.6; =7 Roy Hooper/Matt Wallace 55-74, 74.3; 9 Mark Brown 53-74, 71.6; 10 Paul Mitchell 23-34, 67.7.

Division three: 1 Tony Stredder 67-71, 94.4; 2 Paul Lombardi 31-33, 93.9; 3 Ron Fosker 44-47, 93.6; 4 Nick Hasler 36-40, 90.0; 5 Helen Barnett 47-54, 87.0; 6 Adam Clift 48-58, 82.8; 7 David Swash 54-72, 75; 8 Andy Laws 43-61, 70.5; 9 Charles Wilkinson 44-65, 67.7; 10 Tim Townsend 50-77, 64.9.