Week seven saw Hatfield Peverel A victorious again but they hold just a two-point lead over Chelmsford C in division two where the top six teams are separated by a mere seven points.

Division 1

Danbury C remain top of division 1 following a 5-5 home draw with Chelmsford B on Thursday evening. Harrison Hill earned his maiden division 1 treble as Chelmsford B halted the run of five consecutive defeats to start the season.

Hill came back from 2-0 down in his match with Paul Davison to win 12-10 in the fifth and additionally had to overcome a 2-1 deficit against Neil Want. David Gatheral beat Adi Kamma 3-2 having been 2-1 down but later let slip a 2-1 lead against Stephen Heard.

There were three wins for Sam Lowman as Danbury B edged past Writtle A 6-4. Lowman beat both Matthew Brown and Dave Moles by a 3-0 scoreline but was involved in a tight contest with Duncan Taylor which he won 11-6 in the fifth game. Taylor was involved in another five gamer – downing Ian Wall 13-11 in the decider.

Galleywood A bounced back from a heavy defeat last time out with a 5-5 draw at home to Danbury A. Danbury’s Bruce Kettle scored the sole treble on the night, dropping just one game in the process, while Galleywood’s Peter Barrett was the only other player to win more than one match. Barrett’s victories against Tim Cramphorn and Dave Richardson went the distance but Kettle was able to put the burners on at 1-1 in their contest to prevent the hat-trick.

Standings div 1: 1. Danbury C 43 points (from 7 matches), 2: Chelmsford A 36 points (5 matches), 3: OCA A 36 points (5 matches)

Division 2

The match-up between first and third saw leaders Hatfield Peverel A come out on top with a 7-3 victory at challengers OCA B. Alastair Piper earned his second hat-trick of the season though was well tested in his two five-game wins against Mick Richardson and David Porter. Julie Johnson and Martin Archie won twice apiece and were prevented a third win by Michael Hayes who beat both opponents over four games.

Writtle B lost ground on the leaders due to a 6-4 loss at home to Chelmsford D. Chelmsford’s Omar Wasi obtained three wins in his division 2 debut while teammate Dusan Doszkoty hit a double. Doszkoty was prevented a third win by Writtle’s Matthew Brown who won their encounter in five games while Brown earned an additional win for the hosts against Kelvin Felix.

Chelmsford C took advantage of losses for Writtle B and OCA B to leap into second place with a 9-1 win against Danbury E. Trebles for Mark Allaway and Harrison Hill as well as a double from Waseem Qureshi moved the home side to within two points of leaders Hatfield Peverel. Both of Qureshi’s wins were over five games – the tightest being with Dick Wyman which went to 14-12 in the decider, while Danbury’s Tony Forster lost out twice by a 3-2 scoreline.

Maldon A move into third place with a game in hand after a 6-4 win at Danbury D. Lloyd Bennett-Smith, Colin Napper and Hamish Innes all picked up two wins but were all downed by Sanjay Saptarshi who scored his fifth treble of the season. Danbury’s Eamonn Hall lost out in tight fifth games against Innes (9-11) and Bennett-Smith (10-12). Hall and Saptarshi teamed up to beat Napper and Bennett-Smith 13-11 in the fifth game of the doubles.

Standings div 2: 1: Hatfield Peverel A 38 points (from 6 matches), 2: Chelmsford C 36 points (6 matches), 3: Maldon A 32 points (5 matches).

Division 3

OCA C moved into second place and remain unbeaten following an 8-2 home win against Danbury H. Tom Barker scored his second treble of the season though had to recover from a 2-1 deficit against Peter Lucraft. Both of Richard Upson’s wins for OCA were come-from-behind affairs having been 2–0 down to Lucraft and 2-1 behind Ken Sheard, while Richard Baxter missed out on his treble in a five-game encounter with Lucraft.

Hatfield Peverel B leapfrogged Writtle D with a 7-3 victory in an encounter which saw a fourth treble of the season by Neil Freeman as well as a Gareth Davies double. Hatfield’s Paul Mulley was involved in the longest matches of the night – missing out in five to both Pete Layzell and Malcolm Henstock.

Three wins by Dave Powell saw Danbury K overcame clubmates Danbury J 6-4 and earn their second win of the season. Dave Oxley-Goody and Peter Hance were involved in the match of the night which Hance finally secured 11-8 in the fifth, Louis Gunn earned two wins for Danbury J.

Chelmsford F beat clubmates Chelmsford E to earn their first win of the season thanks to three wins from Omar Wasi. Wasi beat both James Grimston and Andy Swales 3-0 but was taken to five games by Jarek Pietraszuk which he won 11-7 in the decider. Atharv Gupta earned his first win of the season at the 13th attempt with a hard fought 3-2 win over Swales having rallied from 2-1 down.

Standings div 3: 1: Galleywood B 38 points (from 5 matches), 2: OCA C 33 points (5 matches), 3: Hatfield Peverel B 32 points (6 matches)

Division 4

Leaders Galleywood C retained top spot with a 10-0 win over Hatfield Peverel E. Bryn Thomas, Will Goodchild and Nathan Blore were all undefeated with Blore taken to five games by Davina Brazier and pushed hard in three games by Chris Rolinson (12-10, 14-12, 14-12).

Chelmsford G consolidated second place with an 8-2 home win against Hatfield Peverel C. Grace Liu and Salih Salim hit their first hat-tricks of the season while Cleon Fernandes won twice. Peverel’s Peter Mortensen beat Fernandes in four games but lost out to Salim 11-9 in the deciding game. Mortensen and Richard Drozd beat Salim and Liu 3-2 in the doubles contest.

It may have been a late night in Hatfield Peverel as the D side beat their clubmates 6-4 in a contest which saw seven matches go to four games and three to five. Deb Ginn and Gary Simmons (D team) and Andy Simmonds and Peter Mortensen (C team) all earned two wins.

Roger Patient hit his first treble of the season as Highwood A drew 5-5 with Maldon B. Patient beat Andrea Alleyne in three, Ella Sach in four and Brian Riedling in five as Highwood move into third place having played more matches than teams immediately below them. Other contests going to a deciding game were Alleyne beating Keith Fitz-John (11-9) and Melanie Bonnett beating Ella Sach (12-10).

Standings div 4: 1: Galleywood C 37 points (from 5 matches), 2: Chelmsford G 30 points (5 matches), 3: Highwood A 23 points (5 matches).

Division 5

Steve Martin, David Smith and Oliver Martin won two matches apiece as leaders Danbury M beat Galleywood D 6-4. Galleywood’s Nathan Blore earned two wins but was narrowly beaten 3-2 by Oliver Martin while Martin himself later let a 2-1 lead slip in his losing effort against Ron Salton. Salton lost out in five against Smith but joined forces with Blore to get the better of Steve Martin and Smith in a see-saw doubles encounter which ended 3-2 to the Galleywood team.

Chelmsford H remain second in the table and closed the gap on the leaders with a 7-3 victory at Hatfield Peverel F. James Grindlay won three and he was well backed up with doubles from Jacqui Smith and Shenbing Zhu while Jackie Treacy won two matches for the hosts. Treacy held on to beat Zhu despite the latter fighting back from 2-0 down, and later teamed with Peter Hughes to beat Grindlay and Smith 3-2 in the doubles encounter.

Writtle F move into third place following a 6-4 home win over Buttsbury C. Rob Tam and Jo Hart both scored two victories for the hosts but Buttsbury’s Richard Pond earned player of the match honours with a hat-trick – dropping just one game in the process. Thomas Lewis led Tam 2-1 only for Tam to take the final two games 11-4, 11-6, while Francesca Hart beat Paul Aarons in five games.

After opening the season with three losses, Anglia Ruskin University earned their second successive victory with a 6-4 win against Chelmsford J. Douglas Bawuah continued his fine form this season and another hat-trick took him to 10 wins from 12 matches played. Elliot Hawthorne and David Parker both scored two wins with the former resisting a Kelvin Edeh comeback from 2-0 down to win the decider 15-13. Parker took Bawuah to a decider but Bawuah was able to close out the match by a 11-6 scoreline.

OCA E won 6-4 on the road at Maldon C despite a second hat-trick of the season for Shirley Carroll. Carroll beat Suzanne Shaw 3-0, David Bishop 3-1 and Stuart Wintle 3-0 but was not present for the doubles which her teammates Kym Eames and Ross Wheeler lost in four games to Bishop and Wintle. Wheeler and Shaw were involved in a five-game battle which Wheeler came through 11-8 in the all-important game.

Standings div 5: 1: Danbury M 40 points (from 5 matches), 2: Chelmsford H 38 points (6 matches), 3: Writtle F 31 points (6 matches).

Chelmsford Junior League division 1A

Friday night saw leaders the Chelmsford Cougars win 3-2 on the road at second placed Buttsbury Bears despite a double from Buttsbury’s Joshua Freeman. The Cougars twosome of Neriyan Tharmassas and Amir Chetitah were able to withstand a fightback in the doubles to take the fifth game 11-9.

The Chelmsford Tigers beat the Chelmsford Eagles 5-0 with two wins each for Jayden Bandari and William Guilloux. Guilloux was involved in a close looking 3-1 victory over Nathanael Slade while Bandari found himself 1-1 with Danby Holmes before winning the final two games 11-8, 13-11.

Standings CJL 1A: 1: CTTC Cougars 18 points, 2: Buttsbury Bears 13 points. All five teams in div 1A have played 4 matches.

Chelmsford Junior League division 1B

The Chelmsford Jaguars earned a tight 3-2 victory over clubmates Chelmsford Panthers despite two victories for Arnav Lanka of the Panthers. Lanka and Sean Kwan were involved in the closest contest of the afternoon whereby Kwan took a 2-0 lead only for Lanka to win the next three games 11-8, 11-6, 11-5.

The Buttsbury Bulldogs remain in second place after a 3-2 win against the Chelmsford Leopards. Lewis Woods made it six wins out of six this season as he won both of his singles matches by a 3-0 scoreline. Neriyan Tharmassas of the Leopards fought back from 2-1 down to beat Vivaan Babbar of the Bulldogs in the closest individual match of the contest, while the doubles contest also went to five games – Damon Chow and Tharmassas winning 11-8 in the fifth game.

Standings CJL 1B: 1: Hutton Hawks 20 points, 2: Buttsbury Bulldogs 11 points. All five teams in div 1B have played 4 matches.

Chelmsford Junior League division 1C

Hutton Harriers consolidated top position in division 1C with a 4-1 win at Chelmsford Pumas. Martis Heyes remains unbeaten this season after another two 3-0 wins with Archie Giles adding a point with a win over Archie Spurrier. Heyes and Giles teamed up to beat Spurrier and Hugo Reed by an aesthetically pleasing 12-10, 12-10, 12-10 as Reed did likewise in earning the Puma’s sole point – a 13-11, 13-11, 13-11 win over Giles.

Shay Coughlan’s double wasn’t enough to prevent the Buttsbury Bats slipping to a 3-2 loss to the Chelmsford Lions. Coughlan beat Amelie Lucas 3-1 and Bernard Chow 3-0 while Lucas and Chow won the crucial doubles match 11-7 in the deciding game.

Standings CJL 1C: 1: Hutton Harriers 16 points, 2: CTTC Rhinos 11 points. All five teams in div 1C have played 4 matches.