Chelmsford B’s Aidan Lees produced the first stunning upsets of the 2023/2024 CDTTL season with victories over OCA A’s Paul Lucas and Mark Mulley.

Fifteen-year-old Lees ranked #67 going into week three of the CDTTL earned a 3-1 win over #5 ranked Paul Lucas and a 3-2 win over #6 Mark Mulley.

Division 1

CTTC A lead the way with OCA A hot on their heels having registered an identical points tally. Danbury’s three teams are lying in wait with both the B and C sides undefeated to date and trailing the leaders by just four points.

Having started the season with a defeat, OCA A moved level on points with Chelmsford A at the top of the table with an 8-2 victory over Chelmsford B. Matthew Mulley earned three wins, dropping just one game in the process.

Aidan Lees (pictured above) was the star of the show with hard fought victories over Paul Lucas and Mark Mulley. Lees had trailed Mulley 2-0 before taking the final three games 11-8, 12-10, 11-8.

Danbury A earned their first win of the season with a convincing 9-1 win over Writtle A. Bruce Kettle and Babul McLeod struck trebles as Lee McHugh was the pick of the Writtle players – beating Eric Green in five games and losing out in five games to both Kettle and McLeod.

The spoils were shared between Danbury B and Chelmsford A as Sam Lowman earned his second hat-trick of the season. Lowman battled back from a 2-1 deficit to hand Gary Young his first defeat of the season in the night’s opener with Young beating Dan Anderson having trailed 2-1. Nikita Tkachuk beat Anderson 3-2 and contested a tight match with Lowman.

Danbury C failed to make up ground on the leaders contesting in a 5-5 draw with Galleywood A. Starting life in division 1 with two defeats, Galleywood A stopped the rot thanks to an Alistair Hill treble. Keith Adams was in fine form beating both Peter Barrett and James Mullane in three straight games before joining forces with David Gatheral to beat Mullane and Hill.

Division 2

Hatfield Peverel A are top with three consecutive wins though just three points are separating the top 3 teams.

Hatfield Peverel A beat Danbury G 7-3 despite only fielding two players. Martin Archie and Julie Johnson won all of their individual matches and joined forces to win the doubles in three straight games. Johnson got the better of Denis Balic despite trailing two sets to one, but beat both Denis Crapnell and Mervyn Perriman 3-0. Archie lost just one game during the evening and took his individual tally for the season to 8 wins out of nine matches.

Hatfield Peverel’s nearest rivals Chelmsford C lost ground at the top following a 5-5 draw at OCA B. OCA’s Mick Richardson continued his excellent start to the season with another hat-trick – joining Martin Archie for the most wins in division 2 to date (8). Waseem Qureshi took a 2 game lead in the final match of the night with Richardson but the OCA player stormed through the last three games 11-6, 11-5. 11-6. Chelmsford’s Mark Allaway and Victor Chan earned two wins apiece with Chan winning a tight encounter with Michael Hayes 3-2.

Writtle B served Danbury D their first defeat of the season and in the process kept their undefeated start intact with a 6-4 victory. Trevor Carter earned his first treble of the season but was taken the distance by Eamonn Hall. David Gatheral earned two 3-0 wins on the night for Danbury while Phil Smith of Writtle did likewise.

Maldon A remain undefeated with two wins out of two following a 6-4 home win against Writtle C. Hamish Innes and Colin Napper both earned two wins apiece for the hosts while John Webber scored a hat-trick for the visitors. Webber dropped just one game in the evening – the first in his encounter with Innes. Dawn Baldry beat John Gagg 3-0 in the opener but lost out in a see-saw battle with John Parodi which was settled in five.

Danbury F got the better of their clubmates Danbury E by a 7-3 scoreline. Chris Buer scored a treble, dropping just one game in the process. Gus Heath and Steve Buer earned two wins apiece but the Danbury E duo of Neil Want and Dick Whyman fought back from two games down to beat Heath and Chirs Buer in the doubles.

Division 3

Galleywood B occupy top spot having opened the season with three wins though Buttsbury A and OCA C are also undefeated and have played a game fewer.

Galleywood B handed Hatfield Peverel B their first loss of the season with an 8-2 home victory. Gary Brignall and Mark Glenister were both undefeated for the hosts though both were involved in five game matches with Hatfield’s Neil Freeman. Brignall and Glenister teamed up to beat Freeman and Paul Mulley 3-1 in the doubles.

Buttsbury A made it two wins from two with a convincing 8-2 win over Chelmsford F. Paul Sturton and Jamie Elliott both earned their second trebles of the season though Elliott had to dig deep against Felix Reeve who had taken a 2-1 lead. Evie Knaapen and Pav Srinivasamurthy were involved in the only other match which went the distance with the Chelmsford player having to resist a Knaapen fight back from 2-0 down, clinching the decisive game 11-9.

Writtle D sit in third position after a 7-3 win at Danbury J. Pete Layzell was the only player not to see defeat on the night with wins over Terry Hyland (3-0), John Robinson (3-1) and Louis Gunn (3-1). Terry Hyland posted the comeback of the night having trailed 2-0 to David Carter he won the final three games dropping just 17 points.

Division 4

Galleywood C are undefeated at the top with 20 points with Buttsbury B slotting into second place following their victory on Friday. Maldon B are worth keeping an eye on having played just one match and earning 9 points.

Galleywood C continued their winning start to the season with a 7-3 victory at Hatfield Peverel C. Will Goodchild moved to eight wins out of nine for the season with another treble – all a 3-0 scoreline. Nathan Blore and Ron Salton both won two matches but fell to Hatfield Peverel C’s Peter Mortensen. Blore worked hard to overcome Andy Whiley in five games.

Buttsbury B beat Hatfield Peverel E 6-4 thanks to doubles from Lucy Elliot and Frances Hutt. Elliot missed out on the treble when being pegged back by Chris Rollinson having held a 2-1 lead, while both of Frances Hutt’s two wins were in five games.

Maldon B finally saw action in the new season and stormed to a 9-1 victory against Hatfield Peverel D. Andrea Alleyne and Christopher Ravenhill both earned three wins with Ella Sach winning two – both of her wins in five games. Alleyne also saw five game action – having to come back from two games down to beat Deb Ginn 3-2 (12-14, 11-13, 11-8, 11-9, 11-5).

Chelmsford G earned their first victory of the season while Highwood A experienced their second loss, following a 6-4 victory for the hosts. Cleon Fernandes was the star of the show for Chelmsford beating Martin Goddard in three games, Keith Fitz-John in four and overturning a 2-0 deficit against Roger Patient to earn his treble. Fitz-John and Patient beat Fernandes and Vishnu Surendran in five see-saw games.

Division 5

Danbury M continue their astonishing start to the season with 28 points out of a possible 30 so far. Chelmsford H sit nine points behind the leaders while Galleywood D are undefeated in fifth place.

Danbury M thrashed the previously unbeaten Writtle F 9-1 in a match which saw David Smith score his second consecutive hat-trick. Smith was well assisted by John Manning (3 wins) and Peter Harverson (2). Harverson was involved in the match of the night when overcoming a two nil Ron Tam lead to win in five games. Smith and Manning lost just one game apiece during the evening including their doubles win.

Chelmsford H beat Maldon C 9-1 in a match which saw Maldon only able to field two players. Jason Clark and Peter Davenport were undefeated while Maldon’s Shirley Carroll dug deep to beat Shengbing Zhu, having trailed 2-0.

Having started their season against the formidable Danbury M, Highwood B made it two wins on the bounce with a 6-4 victory at Hatfield Peverel F. Nicola Pippen dropped just one game of her three matches enroute to a hat trick of wins, while Keith Pallett won two matches by a 3-0 scoreline and despite taking a 2-0 lead against Alastair Brown was pegged back to lose in five.

Chelmsford Junior League division 1A

The Buttsbury Bears duo of Callum Walker and Thomas Lewis cruised to a 5-0 victory over the CTTC Tigers. Walker won both of his matches 3-0 while Lewis had to recover from going 1-0 down against Jayden Bandari.

The CTTC Cougars earned their second 5-0 win in a row with victory at the Danbury Dragons. Sami Osman again won twice – this time failing to drop a set with his teammate Luka Ha doing likewise.

Chelmsford Junior League division 1B

The Buttsbury Bulldogs inflicted a first defeat of the season for the CTTC Jaguars with a 5-0 scoreline. The closest match of the afternoon was in the doubles where the Jaguars team of George Gregory and Atharv Srivastava took Lewis Woods and Vivaan Babbar the distance – the Bulldogs winning 11-7 in the fifth.

The Hutton Hawks started their season in fine form with a 5-0 victory over the CTTC Panthers. Jago Ware won both of his matches 3-0 while Noah Middleton overturned a 2-0 deficit to beat Sky Reeve 3-2.

Chelmsford Junior League division 1C

The Hutton Harriers prevailed 3-2 in a tight encounter with the CTTC Rhinos. Martis Heyes won both matches 3-0 and teamed with Jonny Pocock to win the decisive doubles match having fallen 2-1 behind.

CTTC Pumas prevented a hat-trick of match victories for the Buttsbury juniors at Chelmsford with a fine 4-1 win over the Bats. Hugo Reed won both of his matches 3-0 while Shay Coughan scored the only point for the Bats with a 3-1 win over Max Locke-Wheaten.