Two teams from Hutton and a team from Chelmsford were crowned winners of their respective Chelmsford Junior League divisions this week with all three having won all of their fixtures so far this season and taking unassailable leads with two weeks of action remaining.

Chelmsford Junior League division 1A

Despite two wins from Aryan Pradeep, the Chelmsford Cougars secured the division 1A title with a 3-2 win over their clubmates the Eagles. Pradeep came back from 2-1 down to win against Ben Robinson and handed Amir Chetitah just his second loss out of 12 matches this season with a 3-1 victory. Chetitah and Robinson ensured the Cougars remain perfect on seven victories this season by winning the all-important doubles 3-0.

Danbury Dragons produced what many will see as a shock 5-0 home win over second placed Buttsbury Bears. On the back of some close 3-2 losses in CJL1A this season and some impressive wins in division 5, Peter Harverson earned his first two CJL wins this season while his partner Oliver Martin also won twice.

Harverson beat Callum Walker 3-0 in the opening contest and watched on as Martin came back from 1-0 down against Joseph Hutt to win 3-1 and then withstood a Walker fightback to win 11-9 in the fifth. Harverson then produced a comeback of his own having trailed 2-1 to Hutt – also taking the fifth game 11-9 before the duo completed a seemingly unlikely 5-0 victory with a 3-1 win in the doubles.

Standings CJL 1A: CHAMPIONS: CTTC Cougars 29 points (from 7 matches), 2: Buttsbury Bears 16 points (from 6 matches).

Chelmsford Junior League division 1B

The Hutton Hawks sealed the division 1B title in style with a 5-0 victory at the Chelmsford Jaguars on Sunday. Charlie Gould and Martis Heyes won twice each with Heyes coming through 3-2 in a close encounter with Hugo Reed. Gould and Heyes won their other individual matches 3-0 and teamed together to secure the same scoreline – a match result which continues the Hawks’ outstanding season of 32 wins out of a possible 35 individual/doubles matches.

The Chelmsford Leopards closed the gap on the second placed Buttsbury Bulldogs with a 4-1 victory over the Chelmsford Panthers. Neriyan Tharmassas earned his second double of the season with 3-0 wins over Henry Ward and Ethan Collins while Damon Chow beat Ward in three games. Collins scored his second win of the season with a 3-1 win over Chow before Chow and Tharmassas wrapped up the fixture with a 3-0 victory in the doubles.

Standings CJL 1B: CHAMPIONS: Hutton Hawks 32 points (from 7 matches), 2: Buttsbury Bulldogs 18 points (from 6 matches).

Chelmsford Junior League division 1C

The third CJL champions of the season were confirmed this week as the Harriers joined their clubmates the Hawks in earning a second debut season success for Hutton. A double from Billy Andrews and a win for Jonny Pocock earned the Harriers a 4-1 home victory over the visiting Chelmsford Lions duo of Amelie Lucas and Georgiana Major. Major scored her third win of the season with a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Pocock and is the only player in the division to take more than one individual victory against the Harriers who have only lost 5 individual matches this season.

A Hugo Reed double was not enough to prevent his Pumas team falling to a 3-2 loss to Chelmsford clubmates the Rhinos. Reed beat Vivaan Deshpande 3-1 (the last two games 12-14, 12-10) and Louis Marsan 3-2 (11-9 in the fifth). Marsan was earlier involved in another contest which went to a deciding game – beating Max Locke-Wheaton 3-2 (11-4, 10-12, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8).

Standings CJL 1C: CHAMPIONS: Hutton Harriers 25 points (from 6 matches), 2: CTTC Rhinos 19 points (7 matches).

Division 1

Writtle A fell to their seventh defeat in nine matches this season with a 6-4 loss against division 1 leaders Old Chelmsfordians A despite a third CDTTL hat-trick for Lee McHugh. McHugh beat both Brandon Crouchman and Adam Buxton in four games and later had to withstand a Paul Lucas fightback from 2-0 down to clinch victory in the only match which went to five games on the night.

In a match which was reportedly affected by time issues, Chelmsford A’s 6-4 win against Chelmsford B meant they didn’t lose any ground on leaders OCA A. Harry Chivers, Gary Young and Josh Bickles all won their first two singles matches as Chelmsford A stormed into a 6-0 lead. Young was taken to five games by both Kim Shead and Andrew Dosher, Bickles dropped a game to both Aidan Lees and Shead, while Chivers dropped a game to just Dosher.

As time pressed on, Shead and Dosher put the first point on the board for Chelmsford B with victory over Chivers and Bickles in the doubles before both Lees and Dosher came back from losing positions to beat Young and Bickles in their individual matches.

Third placed Danbury C failed to take advantage of the top two teams dropping points when losing 6-4 to fourth placed Danbury A on Thursday night. Chris Penrose dropped just one game during the evening when securing his second hat-trick of the season while teammate Babul McLeod chipped in with two victories.

Danbury C’s Dave Richardson was involved in two five-game matches on the night – a 3-2 loss to Ian Whiteside which saw Whiteside recover from 2-1 down to take the fifth 11-9, and a 3-2 win against Paul Davison whereby Richardson saw Davison come back from 2-0 down. Richardson managed to claim the fifth game 14-12. Richardson then saw another five gamer in the doubles – Davison and David Gatheral getting the better of Penrose and himself.

Ian Wall secured his second treble inside a week as his Danbury B team beat Galleywood A 7-3. Wall won all of his matches by a 3-0 scoreline as teammate Dan Anderson won two of his three matches.

Standings div 1: 1. OCA A 59 points (from 8 matches), 2: Chelmsford A 58 points (8 matches), 3: Danbury C 50 points (9 matches).

Division 2

Hatfield Peverel A remain top of division 2 despite a 5-5 draw at Danbury E thanks to a fifth hat-trick of the season for Martin Archie. Archie beat Tony Forster in three games, Neil Want in four and Tim Cramphorn in five, while Want scored the most wins for the hosts as he beat both Neil Freeman and Alastair Piper in four games. The doubles matchup saw Want and Cramphorn edge Archie and Piper in five games.

Harrison Hill’s fifth div 2 treble of the season helped third placed Chelmsford C to a 6-4 win at second-placed Writtle C – Hill beat both Gary Ward and John Gagg in three games and John Webber in four. Ward and Webber earned two victories apiece for the hosts with Ward’s 3-2 victory over Waseem Qureshi being the closest contest of the evening which was decided 13-11 in the fifth. Hill and Mark Allaway mounted a comeback from 2-0 down in the doubles for a 3-2 win, a result which had put the visitors 5-2 up on the night before Writtle won two of the last three singles matches.

Fifth placed Maldon A beat sixth placed Writtle B 7-3 in a fixture which saw Writtle only able to field two players. Writtle’s Matthew Brown was the only player to win more than one of the individual matches played with him getting the better of Lloyd Bennett-Smith in five games and Chris Hancox in three. Pete Layzell turned a 2-0 deficit to Hamish Innes into a 3-2 win though Innes got the better of Brown in the last contest of the night over three tightly contested games – 15-13, 12-10, 14-12.

On the back of three successive defeats, one may have predicted Danbury D would go down to their Danbury F clubmates who were looking to put pressure on the top three, however the form guide was thrown out of the window as the D team earned a 6-4 win. David Penrose and Daniel Patynski won twice apiece for the victors while Steve Buer doubled up for the hosts. While Patynski lost just one game in completing his two victories, both of Penrose’s wins came the hard way – he beat both Gus Heath and Steve Buer 3-2 from 2-0 down. Patynski and Penrose got the better of Buer and Heath by three games to two in the doubles having trailed 2-1.

Kelvin Felix fired his first treble of the season as bottom of the table Chelmsford D beat 10th-placed Danbury G 6-4. Felix beat Robin Armstrong in three games and both Denis Crapnell and Merv Perriman in four, while Crapnell and Perriman teamed to beat Felix and Dusan Doszkoty 3-2 in the doubles match.

Standings div 2: 1: Hatfield Peverel A 57 points (from 9 matches), 2: Chelmsford C 50 points (8 matches). 3: Writtle C 50 points (9 matches),

Division 3

Galleywood B remain top of the division three table despite falling to their first defeat of the season by a 6-4 scoreline at home to Danbury H. Tim Pulham returned to CDTTL action for the first time in nearly two months and was up and running again with a fine hat-trick of wins.

Pulham beat both Will Goodchild and Steve Peacock in straight games and Mark Glenister in four while his teammate Alan Scammell won twice. Will Goodchild won twice for the league leaders – he beat Scammell having conceded the first two games, and then beat Ken Sheard in four close games. Glenister and Woodchild took the doubles over five games against Sheard and Pulham but Scammell’s 3-0 win over Glenister ensured Galleywood B tasted defeat for the first time this season.

Richard Baxter fired a hat-trick as OCA C took advantage of the teams above them not being in action this week as his side jumped into second place with an 8-2 win at Chelmsford F. Baxter beat Grace Liu and Felix Reeve in straight games and came from 1-0 down to beat Pav Srinivasamurthy in four. Liu produced an excellent 3-1 win over Luke Richardson while Baxter and Upson beat Srinivasamurthy and Reeve 3-2 in the doubles.

With just seven points separating bottom and sixth position in the table Eamonn Hall produced a fine hat-trick to earn his Danbury K team a useful 5-5 draw against third-placed Hatfield Peverel B. Hall beat both Simon Quelch and Bob Hillis in four games as well as Neil Freeman in three, while Quelch was the only other player on show to win more than one individual match on the night. Freeman and Hillis beat Dave Hancox and Alan Dadswell in the doubles despite seeing their 2-0 lead disappear before Hillis produced a fine comeback from 2-0 down to beat Dadswell in their singles match.

Evie Knaapen and Jamie Elliot each won their three matches as Buttsbury A beat Chelmsford E 7-3 to move into fourth place in division 3. Elliot dropped just one game in taking his season record to 15 wins from 15 matches while Knaapen beat both Andy Swales and Rev Matthews 3-0 after having been taken to five games by Jarek Pietraszuk in the night’s opening contest. Pietraszuk had trailed Knaapen 2-0 before getting back on level terms and later found himself 2-1 down to Kevin Willis until he was able to take the last two games for the victory.

Trebles from Malcolm Storey and Ian Hockley helped fire Writtle E to an 8-2 victory at Danbury J. Hockley had the slightly smoother evening in winning two matches by a 3-0 scoreline however he was taken to five games by Louis Gunn. Storey beat both Gunn and Terry Hyland in four games but had to recover from a 2-1 deficit to overcome John Robinson.

Standings div 3: 1: Galleywood B 60 points (from 8 matches), 2: OCA C 48 points (8 matches), 3: Hatfield Peverel B 46 points (9 matches).

Division 4

Gary Copsey and Colin Blore scored trebles as Galleywood C moved to seven wins from seven matches and retained top of the table status in division four with a 7-3 win at Buttsbury B. Copsey won all of his matches 3-0 while Blore dropped just one game across his three. There were no wins for Galleywood’s Will Goodchild but he had perhaps the most entertaining evening while losing in five games to Frances Hutt, Alex Ware and Jenn Seibolt – each of those five game encounters were decided by a mere two points in the deciding game.

Chelmsford G remain in second place following an 8-2 victory at Hatfield Peverel E thanks to trebles from both Cleon and Dion Fernandes. David Benstead beat Vishnu Surendran 3-1 and was involved in the closest match of the night – a 3-2 loss to Dion Fernandes having led 2-1.

Ella Sach fired her first hat-trick of the season as Maldon B moved up to fourth position with an 8-2 home win against Hatfield Peverel C. Sach won her first two matches by a 3-0 scoreline but found herself 2-1 down to Peter Mortensen before winning the last two games 11-7. 12-10. Sach’s teammates Chris Ravenhill and Brian Riedling both won twice each with Riedling losing out in a close contest with Mortensen 3-1 (10-12, 14-12, 4-11, 10-12).

Farooq Ahmed continued his fine form this season with his second treble as OCA D won 8-2 at Danbury L. Ahmed beat Ken Wilding in three games, Greg Cooper in four and his match with Alex Wilson wasn’t settled until the fifth game decider. Ahmed’s partner David Bishop won twice but lost out in five games to Danbury’s Wilson who also won twice – his other win also being over five games against David Newman.

Standings div 4: 1: Galleywood C 54 points (from 7 matches), 2: Chelmsford G 50 points (8 matches), 3: Buttsbury B 38 points (7 matches). NB: Maldon B, OCA D and Highwood A have 38 points also.

Division 5

Mark Nolan’s hat-trick for second placed Chelmsford J wasn’t enough to inflict a first defeat of the season on division 5 league leaders Danbury M. Nolan beat both Steve Martin and Graham Naggs 3-0 and edged a close four-game contest with David Smith 11-9, 11-13, 14-12, 11-9 as Chelmsford went down 6-4 on the night. Shweta Lees produced a fine comeback from 2-1 down against Graham Naggs winning the last two games 11-9, 12-10.

Galleywood D moved up to third place despite a 5-5 home draw with Writtle F. Galleywood’s Steve Peacock and Wayne Smithies earned two wins apiece for the hosts as did Paul Aarons and Michael Anthony for the visitors. There were four five-game matches on the night with Galleywood’s Smithies and Writtle’s Aarons competing in one against each other and another each within the course of the fixture.

OCA E sit in fifth place following a 9-1 victory at home to Hatfield Peverel F. Suzanne Shaw and Mike Morecroft scored trebles and Stuart Wintle added another two as the hosts only dropped six games in individual play during the evening. The doubles match saw Morecroft and Wintle fight back from 2-1 down to win in five games.

Having sat bottom of division 5 at week 3, Anglia Ruskin continue to march up the table and an 8-2 win against Highwood B left them in a season-high sixth position. Kelvin Edeh (hat-trick 2 of the season) and Douglas Bawuah (hat-trick four) hit trebles in the same fixture for the first time this season though both players were taken to five-game contests in their last match of the night. Bawuah finally dispatched of Keith Pallet 11-5 in the fifth set while Edeh was taken the distance by Nicola Pippen – sealing victory 11-6 in the decider.

After a slow start to the season with just two wins in her first six CDTTL matches, Shirley Carroll earned another three wins taking her current form to 11 wins from the last 12 as Maldon C won 6-4 at Buttsbury C. Carroll beat Joseph Hutt and Callum Walker in straight games and overturned a 1-0 deficit against Oscar Hutt to win 3-1. Before the defeat to Carroll, Oscar Hutt had taken two good wins against James Raymond and Kym Eames – Eames had fought back from 2-0 down to level but Hutt took the deciding game. Joseph Hutt also won twice against the same two players – a four-game win against Raymond and a straight game victory against Eames. Carroll and Raymond got the better of the Hutt brothers 3-2 in the doubles match having trailed 2-1.

Standings div 5: 1: Danbury M 60 points (from 8 matches), 2: Chelmsford J 46 points (8 matches), 3: Galleywood D 45 points (9 matches).