Division 1

Josh Bickles won all three of his matches but ‘Chiversless’ Chelmsford A failed to win for the first time this season in division one as they were held to a 5-5 draw with Galleywood A.  The treble was Bickles’ third of the season while doubles from James Hicks and Peter Barrett halted Galleywood’s two-match losing run.  Danbury A consigned Chelmsford B to their fourth successive defeat of the season in a 9-1 away win which saw trebles from Eric Green and Bruce Kettle.  Danbury’s record moved to three wins from four matches this season though Waseem Qureshi prevented the 10-0 scoreline with a 3-1 win over Dave Richardson.   Trevor Lloyd, the only ever-present Danbury C player this season, fired a hat-trick as the C’s beat Danbury B 9-1.  Liam Squirrell also hit a treble, his second in two appearances, dropping just one game in the process.  Reece Seddon was involved in two match of the night contenders, the first a 3-2 victory over Sam Lowman: 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, with the second an equally as tight 9-11, 10-12, 11-7, 14-12, 11-9 against Dan Anderson.

Standings div 1: 1:  Chelmsford A 35 points (from 5 matches), 2: Danbury A 26 points (4 matches), 3: Writtle A 25 points (4 matches).

Division 2

The big match in division two this week was the meeting between second-placed Hatfield Peverel A and Chelmsford C who sat just one place behind them.  It was the team from Chelmsford who left with a 6-4 victory as Simon Jarvis produced his fourth treble in four matches this season though he had to recover from a 2-0 deficit in the evening’s opener against Julie Johnson.  Johnson went on to beat Dusan Doszkoty and Adi Kamma following Kamma’s 3-2 win over Gareth Davies. Peverel were once again without Alastair Piper who had won seven of his first nine singles matches this season. Buttsbury A extended their lead at the top with an 8-2 win at Old Chelmsfordians B, Rob Burton followed last week’s fine double with a treble and he was well backed up by two wins each for David Gatheral and Evie Knaapen. Mick Richardson was back to being the pick of OCA’s players with another two wins though he could only muster 10 points against the in-form Burton. Gary Ward was back in action for the first time since week two and he picked up where he left off with another hat-trick as Writtle C beat Writtle B 6-4. Dave Moles made his first appearance of the season for the B side and earned two wins – his second victory went to a deciding game and prevented John Webber from a treble of his own.  Fourth placed Maldon A look like they will be a handful for anyone this season, especially if they can field the tandem of Lloyd Bennett-Smith and Derek Balding who both won three each in a 6-4 away win at Danbury E.  Danbury’s Neil Want pushed both Bennett-Smith and Balding to fifth game deciders having earlier beaten Hamish Innes. Bennett-Smith also had five-gamers with Tim Cramphorn and Dick Wyman. There was another treble for Sanjay Saptarshi in Danbury D’s 7-3 win over Danbury F though Peter Chastin joined the ‘Saptarshi party’ with three wins of his own.

Standings div 2: 1:  Buttsbury A 36 points (from 5 matches), 2: Hatfield Peverel A 31 points (5 matches), 3: Chelmsford C 30 points (5 matches).

Division 3

Division three’s marquee matchup this week was the clash between leaders Chelmsford E and second-placed Writtle D which resulted in a change at the top as a Matthew Brown treble helped secure a 7-3 home win for Writtle. Brown dropped just one game as he took his record this season to 14 singles victories from 15 matches, teammate Malcolm Henstock played in three five-gamers but was denied his first treble of the season by Rev Matthews.  After two lean weeks by his standards, Mike Johnston was back in form as he registered a third hat-trick of the season in Chelmsford D’s 7-3 victory at Danbury J.  Johnson was well supported with two wins by Dusan Doszkoty as the Chelmsford D side moved up to second in the table. After hitting the headlines last week, Neil Freeman was in action again though he could ‘only’ muster two wins as his Hatfield Peverel B side drew 5-5 with Danbury H.  Freeman was all set for more headlines until Danbury’s Scott Perry eked out a win over five games.  With a fourth successive double this season it won’t be long until Perry fires a hat-trick. There was no Gary Copsey for Galleywood C this week but Bryn Thomas and Colin Blore were able to pick up the baton with three wins apiece in an 8-2 away victory against Chelmsford F.  Chelmsford remain bottom of the division while Galleywood move up to fourth with the experts wondering what kind of damage a Copsey/Thomas/Blore partnership might do when selected. A two week hiatus seems to have done OCA C’s Tom Barker the world of good as he bagged three victories in the 5-5 draw at Writtle E.  Writtle’s Malcolm Storey and OCA’s Luke Richardson had a right old ‘ding-dong’ which ended 3-1 to Richardson: 12-10, 13-11, 9-11, 14-12.  Danbury G continued their rollercoaster ride of a season to date with a 6-4 win at Buttsbury B, a result which meant the hosts tasted defeat for the first time this season. There were three wins for the third time in four matches this season for Harry Sawford though he had to dig deep when finding himself two down to Denis Crapnell.  Crapnell won two matches himself as did teammate Denis Balic. Regardless of the results, both teams are well placed to mount a title challenge – just five points from the top.

Standings div 3: 1: Writtle D 32 points (5 matches), 2: Chelmsford D 32 points (5 matches), 3: Chelmsford E 31 points (from 5 matches),

Division 4

Hutton A remain top despite failing to see victory for the first time this season as they were held to 5-5 draw by Buttsbury C in a match which saw Oscar Hutt fire a hat-trick. There was a first treble of the season for Dave Oxley-Goody in Danbury K’s 7-3 win at Chelmsford G. Atharv Gupta gave Oxley-Goody the biggest test of the evening in an encounter which went the distance, Richard Allen and Dave Powell won two apiece for Danbury while Chelmsford’s Mark Nolan also saw two victories. Neil Wood’s three wins in his first appearance of the season boosted Hatfield Peverel C to a 6-4 away win at Danbury M. Danbury’s David Smith fought back from 2-0 against Bob Hillis but lost in five to Wood. A treble for Roger Patient wasn’t enough for his Highwood A team as they lost 6-4 at home to a Buttsbury D side who are now unbeaten in four matches and sit in third position. Danbury L slipped from fourth position to sixth following a 6-4 home defeat against Galleywood D.  Lewis Armstrong and Nick Rounce won two games each for Galleywood as teammate Ron Salton played in the evening’s longest matches – winning 3-2 against Ken Wilding before losing by the same scoreline in his clash with John Manning.

Standings div 4: 1:  Hutton A 36 points (from 5 matches), 2: Maldon B 30 points (4 matches), 3: Buttsbury D 29 points (5 matches).

Division 5

Division five is shaping up to be one of the more interesting divisions in the C&DTTL with the three teams at the top all holding unbeaten records.  Buttsbury E lead the way with five wins from five followed by Hutton B with four wins from four and Writtle F holding an unbeaten record of three wins and a draw. Buttsbury E cruised to a 10-0 victory at Hatfield Peverel E, more trebles for Joshua Freeman and Torsten Greenan and a first for Lyndon Bubb.  OCA E fielded two players for the third time this season but unlike previous weeks they fell to a 6-4 defeat at the hands of Hutton B. ‘Steady’ Stuart Wintle won two of his matches for the fourth successive time this season, while Suzanne Shaw also won twice.  The closest match of the night was Wintle’s 3-2 win over Lee Vallis. There was a first hat-trick of the season for Richard Drozd in Hatfield Peverels D’s 8-2 win over ARU.  Teammates Andy Whiley and Barbara Kirkby won two apiece, both falling to ARU’s Douglas Bawuah.  And lastly, the good news story of the week – 568 days had passed since Hatfield Peverel F’s last win but that all ended on Wednesday night in the Galleywood Scout Hut as David Benstead, Alastair Brown and Peter Hughes all contributed to a famous Peverel success. A doubles win for Peverel’s Brown and Benstead in the seventh contest of the night put the visitors ahead in the fixture for the very first time, with that result followed by teammate Hughes holding his nerve to see off a Tomas Ratinas recovery from 2-0 down.  Doug Blaber then beat Brown and when Galleywood’s Steve Peacock looked like he would prevent a Hatfield win when going 2-1 up, an inspired Benstead with the whole of Hatfield Peverel behind him dug deep to take a 3-2 win. 

Standings div 5: 1:  Buttsbury E 41 points (from 5 matches), 2: Hutton B 30 points (4 matches). 3: Writtle F 26 points (4 matches),

Chelmsford Junior League division 1A

The Buttsbury Bees took top spot in division 1A from opponents Hutton Hawks with a 4-1 away victory in a match which saw Joshua Freeman win both of his matches 3-0.  The Chelmsford Lions moved into third place with a 5-0 win at Hutton Harriers, Ben Robinson and Amir Chetitah winning twice apiece.  William Guilloux was the lone representative for the Chelmsford Tigers in a 3-2 loss at the Buttsbury Bats though Guilloux won both of his matches. 

Standings div 1A: 1: Buttsbury Bees 18 points (5 matches), 2: Hutton Hawks 16 points (from 5 matches), 3: Chelmsford Lions 13 points (5 matches).

Chelmsford Junior League division 1B

The Chelmsford Leopards remain top of junior division 1B following a 3-2 win over Chelmsford Jaguars however it may have been a different story had the Jaguars been able to field two players. Sean Kwan performed admirably as he took on both Leopards single-handedly and beat both Sai Suresh and Atharv Srivastava with a 3-2 scoreline. The Hutton Hyenas took advantage of the first and second placed teams going into week five playing each other by moving into second place with a 4-1 win over the Hutton Hammers.  Theo Rugg won twice for the Hyenas with both victories by a 3-0 scoreline, while teammate Henry Willingdale earned his first victory in the CJL.

Standings div 1B: 1:  Chelmsford Leopards 16 points (from 5 matches), 2: Hutton Hyenas 14 points (5 matches), 3: Chelmsford Jaguars 13 points (4 matches)