Division 5’s Danbury M team have started the 2023/2024 CDTTL season in scintillating form dropping just one of their 20 individual/doubles matches within the first two weeks. 

The quintet of Steve Martin (5 wins), Oliver Martin, Peter Harverson, David Smith and Graham Naggs (all three wins) have posted the best record through the first two weeks of a CDTTL season since 2015 when the Danbury A trio of Gary Young, Ben Warner and Mindaugas Sinkus started with a perfect 20-0 record. 

Danbury M next face the unbeaten Writtle F in week 3 where their record will no doubt be put to the test.

Division 1

An 8-2 win for Danbury B consigned Galleywood A to their second defeat of the season after week one’s 10-0 loss to Chelmsford A. Dan Anderson was undefeated with three wins and he was well supported by Sam Lowman and Daniel Piggott. Peter Barrett scored a double for Galleywood and fought back from 2-0 down against Anderson only to lose out in the decider. 

Chelmsford A beat their clubmates Chelmsford B 7-3 with another hat-trick for both Josh Bickles and Gary Young. Aidan Lees and Nikita Tkachuk shared a close contest with Tkachuk rallying from 2-0 down to square the match before Lees clinched the fifth game. 

Defending champions OCA A were at full strength this week and they registered a comprehensive 10-0 victory over Writtle A. Mark Mulley, Paul Lucas and Matthew Mulley made relatively quick work of Writtle A though Lee McHugh had led Matthew Mulley by two games to one. 

The ‘Danbury derby’ ended in a 7-3 win to the C team thanks to trebles from Trevor Lloyd and Paul Davison. Danbury A’s Eric Green, Babul McLeod  and Dave Richardson all won a game apiece, with Green and McLeod losing out to  Lloyd and Davison in the doubles.

Division 2

Chelmsford C remain undefeated this season and are tied with division 2 leaders Hatfield Peverel on points after this 8-2 win over clubmates Chelmsford D. Victor Chan and Harrison Hill were undefeated while Kelvin Felix and Mike Johnston were on target for Chelmsford D. While Dusan Doszkoty didn’t register a win, all three of his matches not only went to five games but were decided by a mere two points – this follows two five game losses in week one. 

Writtle C beat Danbury E 7-3 in a match which saw Danbury only able to field two players. Gary Ward of Writtle went undefeated in his two singles and doubles, while Danbury’s Neil Want won two and narrowly lost out to Ward in 5 games. 

Sanjay Saptarshi won three and was well assisted by David Meah and Peter Chastin (2 wins each) as Danbury D beat OCA B 8-2. David Meah’s two victories were both earned in five games against Rob Burton and Berti Makolli.  Meah and Saptarshi had to come from behind to beat Mick Richardson and Burton in the double 3-2.  Richardson’s two wins were both 3-0. 

Danbury G and Writtle B contested a 5-5 draw meaning neither team has seen a win so far this season.  Richard Storey hit a hat-trick for Writtle B and he was backed up by Trevor Carter who won two. Denis Crapnell won two matches for Danbury – a straight game win against Carter and a five game tussle with Matthew Brown. Storey and Denis Balic contested the closest match of the night which was won 13-11 in the decider by the Writtle player after Balic had battled back from 2 games down. 

Hatfield Peverel A took top spot in division 2 with a 6-4 victory at Danbury F thanks to three wins by Martin Archie. Archie beat Chris Buer and Steve Buer in straight games but was made to work much harder by Gus Heath who pulled Archie back from 2-0 to level. Chris Buer won two matches – both were decided in four games against Julie Johnson and Neil Freeman.

Division 3

Having played in some tight matches last week but failing to register a win, Tom Barker earned three singles wins to keep his OCA C team unbeaten this season. Luke Richardson and Richard Upson both won two matches apiece with Upson just missing out in his five game battle with Dave Powell.  Richardson beat Alan Dadswell in five despite Dadswell taking a 2-0 lead. 

Danbury J registered their first win of the season in a match which was affected by time issues. Omar Wasi continued his strong start to the season with another two wins – one of which a 3-1 win over Gordon Gatheral who himself registered two wins by a 3-0 scoreline. Match of the night was Pav Srunuvasmurthy versus Louis Gunn which was finally won 15-13 by Gunn in the fifth. 

The spoils were shared between Hatfield Peverel B and Danbury H with Neil Freeman the star of the show for the second successive week. Freeman was again made to work hard for his treble with matches against Tim Pulham and Alan Scammell going the distance as well as a tightly contested 3-1 with Ken Sheard. Sheard was the pick of the Danbury players with a 3-1 victory over Paul Mulley and a 3-0 win over Richard Drozd. 

Galleywood B made it two wins out of two with an 8-2 victory over Writtle D. John Holland was undefeated for the second successive week in both singles and doubles and he was ably assisted by Ben Page and Mark Glenister with two wins each. Page showed his fighting qualities by coming back from 2-0 down in matches with Trevor Collin and Malcolm Henstock. His match with Bob Garson also went the distance but Garson was able to take the win. 

Chelmsford E posted their first win of the season with an emphatic 9-1 victory over Writtle E – Rev Matthews and Alesha Ellis-Austin earned three victories each. Matthews dropped one game in each of his wins while Ellis-Austin dropped one game less during the evening. James Grimston won two matches and just missed out to Neil Thompson in a match which Thompson won 12-10 in the fifth game.

Division 4

Galleywood C remain unbeaten this season as they beat the two players of OCA D 6-4. Will Goodchild beat Russell Hall in three straight games but had to resist a David Newman fightback in order to win a close encounter in five. Newman himself showed grit when winning from 2-0 down to Steve Peacock and 2-1 down against Nathan Blore. 

Danbury L rang the changes after last week’s loss to Buttsbury and it paid off in spectacular style with a 9-1 victory over Hatfield Peverel E. Roy Gandy and Peter Hance hit trebles with both players overturning losing positions. Gandy was down 2-0 to Kath Little and 2-1 to Phillip West before he rallied for his wins, while Hance was behind 2-1 against Chris Rolinson. 

Buttsbury B earned their second victory in two outings with a 6-4 win over Highwood A. Alex Ware earned three points with 3-0 victories over Roger Patient, Keith Fitz-John and David Cockrell. Patient won from losing positions in  five game battles with both Caroline Cole and Kevin Willis.

Division 5

Danbury M stormed to the top of division with a 10-0 victory over Hatfield Peverel though they didn’t have it all their own way with each Hatfield player taking their opposition to five games on one occasion each. Graham Naggs was involved in the match of the night with Jackie Treacy, narrowly coming through 10-12, 13-11, 10-12, 11-8. 11-8. 

Chelmsford’s H and J teams now hold identical records of one win, one loss, 10 SF, 10 SA after Mark Nolan led the J team to victory with a hat-trick and Shweta Lees chipped in with a double. Lees came from behind in both her victories having trailed 2-1 against both Jacqui Smith and Shengbing Zhu. Nolan and Lees joined forces to win a see-saw doubles match against Smith and Zhu in five. 

OCA E kicked off their campaign with a 5-5 draw at home to Galleywood D – who themselves remain unbeaten. Two players on each team hit braces with Suzanne Shaw earning a 3-2 win over Rob Salton – the last two games incredibly tight affairs at 13-11. 12-10. Matthew Porter and Wayne Smithies were involved in a ding-dong battle which also went the distance – Porter winning 11-9 in the final game. 

Both teams remain undefeated after this battle ended in a 5-5 draw.  Kym Eames and Ross Wheeler earned two wins apiece for Maldon while Jo Hart and Ron Tam did likewise for Writtle. Tam and Paul Aarons teamed up to narrowly beat Eames and Shirley Carroll over five games in the doubles. 

Martin Goddard scored a fine treble as Highwood B won 6-4 and inflicted a second consecutive narrow defeat for Buttsbury C. Goddard found his form to storm back from a 2-1 deficit to beat Jenne Seibolt, and Seibolt later overturned the same scoreline in his 5 game win over Nicola Pippen. 

Chelmsford Junior League division 1A

CTTC Cougars stormed to a 5-0 victory over CTTC Tigers. Amir Chetitah and Sami Osman dropped just a set each in their two victories, with the duo winning the doubles match in three tightly contested games against Ben Robinson and Jayden Bandari.

CTTC Eagles overwhelmed Danbury Dragons 5-0 thanks to two wins apiece for Aryan Pradeep and Grace Liu. Pradeep was made to work hard with his victory over Peter Harverson going the full distance. Liu won both her matches 3-0 against Oscar Whyman and Harverson. Pradeep & Liu also won the doubles 3-0 dropping just 13 points over the three games.

Chelmsford Junior League division 1B

The CTTC Jaguars clinched a 3-2 win against the CTTC Leopards with a victory in the decisive doubles match. Ryan Peiris rallied from 2-0 down to beat Sean Kwan and completed his second win with a 3-1 victory over George Gregory. Gregory and Kwan took the match victory with a 3-0 doubles win despite the first game against Peiris and George Matthews going to deuce.

Chelmsford Junior League division 1C

The CTTC Lions and the CTTC Pumas faced off in the first fixture of the season in division 1C and it was the Lions who took the victory 3-2. Theo Peiris was undefeated with victories over Max Locke-Wheaton and Archie Spurrier, while teammate Georgiana Major won 3-1 over Locke-Wheaton. After two closely contested opening games, Locke-Wheaton and Spurrier took the win in the doubles match 3-1.