Simon Bonham has been called up to represent Essex in the LTA Winter Indoor County Championships.

The Westcliff Hardcourts player is a regular in the county squad and will be battling it out in Division One between November 30 and December 2.

Seven members of the eight-strong team have been picked and Bonham's Hardcourts club-mate Richard Barham is in the running for the final place.

Definitely joining Simon will be former Hardcourts players Simon Harston and Vince Ranson, Nick Adams, Matt Coombes, Gavin Bradford and Tom Higgins.

Essex will have their work cut out at Nottingham as they will be facing Surrey - who may field top-ranked Jeremy Bates - and Lancashire - who could have Davis Cup player Barry Cowan playing - along with Middlesex.

But non-playing captain Jamie Willson is in fine fettle following the selection of the bulk of the team. "We have a good team spirit, which will be needed against such strong opposition, and we will possibly have a friendly match before the competition," said Willson.

Essex's ladies will be playing on home soil in the championships, when captain Pat Wire's team go into action in Group 2B.

Their matches also take place between November 30 and December 2 and will be played at Southend Leisure and Tennis Centre in Eastern Avenue.

Claire Hammond, who occasionally plays for Westcliff Hardcourts, is the only south Essex player in the team, which will be taking on Berkshire, Warwickshire and Dorset.

In Essex League action Westcliff Hardcourts's men beat Cranston Park 9-0 in Division One to set up a mouth-watering title decider with Earls Colne.

The match between the top two has been postponed twice due to the weather but the eventual winner of the event will take the Essex crown.

Representing The Ridge-way club were Simon Bonham, Lance Owen, Simon Chesher, Nick Plappert, Richard Barham and Gra-ham Broadley.

Hard's ladies first team beat Lexden Hill 12-6 on sets thanks to Anna Burton, Gemma Garvey, Dawn Handelaar, Steffi Rodrigues, Karen Poole and Brenda Corlett.

Dawn and Karen were in action for the Hardcourts' veterans when they beat Woodford Wells 5-3. Joining them were Sue Blackshaw and Sue Levy.

"It was a good win for us because Woodford Wells included two players who are of national over-40 standard," said team captain Dawn.

The Hardcourts' men's veterans team beat Great Baddow 6-2 on sets in Division One. The team was Dave Blunt, Jamie Willson, Alan Hill and Graham Stone.

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