There were three wins for Liam Squirrell and two for Reece Seddon on their return to Chelmsford & District League action after a five-year absence.

Division 1

Chelmsford A lead the way in division one with three wins from three fixtures and while Danbury A are just four points back it is Chelmsford’s week four opponents Danbury C, last year’s runners-up, who will no doubt provide their biggest test to date. Harry Chivers fired his second hat-trick of the season in Chelmsford A’s 6-4 away win at Danbury B.

Liam Squirrell and Reece Seddon were in action for Danbury C as they won a tight encounter with Writtle A 6-4. Squirrell won all three, dropping just one game, while Seddon’s only loss was at the hands of Kevin Read who claimed the nail-biting decider 16-14.

There was a treble for Eric Green in his first appearance of the season as his Danbury A side won 8-2 at Galleywood A. Green’s toughest match was with Alistair Hill who had held a 2-1 lead before Green stormed through.

Division 2

Hatfield Peverel A lead the way in division two following an 8-2 home win against Galleywood B. Martin Archie fired his second treble of the season with two wins apiece for Julie Johnson and Alastair Piper – both players undone by Galleywood’s Mark Glenister.

Peverel’s toughest challenge may yet come from Buttsbury A who they face in Week 4 off the back of an 8-2 victory over Danbury F in week three.

Maldon A were without last week’s hat-trick hero Lloyd Bennett-Smith but Derek Balding made his first appearance of the season and took the player-of-the-match honours with three victories in Maldon’s 7-3 win at OCA B. Hamish Innes and Dawn Baldry supported Balding with two wins apiece but both fell at the hands of Mick Richardson – Innes having led 2-1.

There was no Gary Ward for Writtle C but the three Johns – Webber, Gagg and Parodi – claimed a 5-5 draw with Chelmsford C in his absence. Webber fired his first treble of the season while teammate Gagg pulled off an eye-catching win over Felix Reeve.

The great Sanjay Saptarshi won all three of his matches as Danbury D beat Writtle B 7-3. In his first league match of the new season, Eamonn Hall backed Saptarshi up with two wins – losing out to Writtle’s Phil Smith who won two of his own. Hall showed his never-say-die attitude by successfully overcoming a 0-2 deficit against both Trevor Collin and Trevor Carter.

Division 3

The only two unbeaten sides in division three – Writtle D and Buttsbury B – sit in third and fourth positions respectively as Chelmsford D lead the way followed by clubmates Chelmsford E. Andy Swales and Kelvin Edeh hit three wins apiece as the leaders Chelmsford E beat Hatfield Peverel B 9-1. Having played in division five over the past few seasons, Edeh’s improvement is apparent and showed his recovery powers when trailing Paul Mulley 2-0.

Matthew Brown hit his second treble of the season in Writtle D’s 8-2 demolition job of leaders Chelmsford D, Malcolm Henstock and Bob Garson both won twice for the hosts as Chelmsford’s Adi Kamma stood firm with wins against both opponents.

Three wins for Grace Liu and two each for Caroline Cole and Frances Hutt saw Buttsbury B win 7-3 at Danbury J.

An inspired Gus Heath hat-trick helped Danbury H to a 6-4 away win at Galleywood C, Heath consigned Galleywood’s Gary Copsey to his first defeat of the season over five games.

Denis Ballic was undefeated as Danbury G won 6-4 on the road at Writtle E. Ballic beat Dave Moles over five games after Moles had beaten Danbury’s Louis Gunn by the same 3-2 scoreline.

Division 4

Maldon B and Hutton A look to be the two outstanding teams in division four at the moment with both sides displaying a perfect three wins from three fixtures going into week four. Brian Riedling and Chris Ravenhill won three apiece as Maldon B beat Hatfield Peverel C 7-3 while Alex Ware fired his third hat-trick of the season in Hutton A’s 7-3 away win at Danbury K.

Mark Nolan was in action for the second time this season and promptly served up his second treble as Chelmsford G beat OCA D 6-4.

Peter Harverson won three with team-mates John Manning and Roy Gandy winning two each in Danbury L’s 8-2 win over Danbury M. M team’s Oliver Martin prevented Manning and Gandy winning three – Martin fought back from 2-0 down in both matches.

Roger Patient and David Cockrell hit trebles in Highwood A’s 8-2 win over Galleywood D. Highwood’s Keith Fitz-John’s two wins were both five-gamers but Galleywood’s Lewis Armstrong prevented his hat-trick.

Jenne Seibolt won all three as Buttsbury D beat clubmates Buttsbury C 7-3, Seibolt gave Oscar Hutt his only defeat of the night in a competitive 3-1 (11-13, 13-11, 9-11, 13-11, 11-9) triumph.

Division 5

Hutton B sit proudly top of division five with three wins from three, Writtle F and Maldon C sit four points back while Buttsbury E could be serious challengers having won both of their fixtures.

Hutton B are showing a strength in depth having used eight different players for their three victories – Peter Moxham won all three matches on his first appearance with two victories for Charlie Gould.

Galleywood E’s Steve Peacock fired his second treble of the season in Galleywood E’s 5-5 draw with Writtle F. Ron Tam won twice for Writtle though missed out in five at the hands of Peacock. Tam had earlier recovered from 2-0 down against Doug Blaber, who staged a 0-2 recovery of his own against Michael Anthony in a close encounter which ended 12-14, 8-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-9.

The Maldon C trio of James Raymond, Kym Eames and Arthur Shadforth won seven of their nine singles matches for the second time this season in their 8-2 away win at Anglia Ruskin University, Shadforth scored the hat-trick this time for Maldon while team-mate Raymond missed out on a treble of his own when falling 3-2 to Connor Casey.

There were first trebles of the season for Bruce Wickham, Andy Whiley and Andy Simmons in Hatfield Peverel D’s 10-0 win against Hatfield Peverel F.

Chelmsford Junior League division 1A

The Buttsbury Bees are top of junior division 1A with three wins from four fixtures as Vivaan Babbar and Joshua Freeman won all of their singles matches against Hutton Hawks and Hutton Harriers.

Adhuna Das won twice for the Chelmsford Lions in their 3-2 home win over the Chelmsford Tigers, while Charlie Gould and Billy Andrews were unbeaten as the Hawks beat the Buttsbury Bats 5-0.

Chelmsford Junior League division 1B

The Chelmsford Leopards look like the dominant force at this early stage of junior league division 1B though they were unable to keep their run of 5-0 wins going as they beat the Hutton Hammers 3-2. Sai Suresh of the Leopards took his record to six individual wins out of six so far this season though he had to recover from 2-1 down against Michael Bradshaw.

Another undefeated player this season is Zac Berry who took his tally of individual wins to four from four as the Buttsbury Bears beat the Hutton Hyenas 4-1. Theo Rugg of the Hyenas earned a last gasp win against Shay Coughlan with a 12-10 scoreline in the decider.

The Chelmsford Jaguars dropped just two games in their 5-0 away win at the Buttsbury Bulldogs – Bernard and Damon Chow doing the damage this week. The Jaguars move into second position with two wins from two.