Issued on 9 December 2024
Chelmsford A defeated by Danbury C despite Harry Chivers treble
Harry Chivers was back in action and fired a hat-trick as his Chelmsford A team fell to a 6-4 away defeat to Danbury C who moved one point clear at the top of division one. John Poysden and Keith Adams won twice apiece for the hosts with Poysden doing well to overcome Aidan Lees over five games in a see-saw battle. There were trebles for Arron Chandler and Matthew Stringer in Danbury B’s 8-2 victory over Chelmsford B. Chelmsford’s Waseem Qureshi proved a tough nut to crack, he beat Dan Anderson in three, took Chandler to four and was 2-1 up against Matthew Stringer before the fightback. The two-person team of Duncan Taylor and Kevin Read went undefeated for Writtle A in their 7-3 success at Galleywood A.
Dawn Baldry and Chris Hancox were on top form with three wins apiece as Maldon A earned a fine 8-2 win at last year’s division two runners up Hatfield Peverel A. Baldry was in a relentless mood, dropping just one game across her three victories while teammate Lloyd Bennett-Smith threw away winning positions in five game losses to both Alastair Piper and Martin Archie. Maldon continue to sit in second position, now seven points behind leaders Buttsbury A and seven points ahead of third-placed Danbury D with all three sides through ten fixtures of the season. Danbury D’s position is very much thanks to Sanjay Saptarshi who fired his fifth treble of the season (three more than any teammate) in a 7-3 away win at Galleywood B. Saptarshi didn’t lose a game while teammate Peter Chastin did well to recover from 2-0 down against Robin Armstrong for the first of his two wins. Another key player for their team - Simon Jarvis - fired his sixth hat-trick of the season (five more than any teammate) in Chelmsford C’s 8-2 home win against Old Chelmsfordians B. Dusan Doszkoty joined Jarvis with three wins (his first of the season) though he had to come through a tight opener with Mick Richardson: 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 10-12, 16-14. Despite mixed results this season in division three Peter Hance made his first appearance of the season in division two and won all three in Danbury F’s 5-5 draw at Writtle B. Hance beat Phil Smith in three, Trevor Collin in four and recovered from 0-2 to beat Trevor Carter, the defeat to Hance was the only loss of the night for both Collin and Smith. There were three wins for Tim Cramphorn and two each for Neil Want and Tony Forster as Danbury E earned an 8-2 win on the road at Writtle C. Writtle’s John Webber won twice but lost out to Cramphorn by a 15-13 scoreline in the decider with Danbury continuing their progress up the table up to sixth position from tenth two weeks ago.
The top three positions in division three are separated by just four points with this division still waiting to be taken by the scruff of the neck by one of the teams, Writtle D in fifth position have lost fewer games than two of the top three sides and hold a game in hand so may make their move shortly. Chelmsford D lead the way on 72 points from 11 matches and they earned a 7-3 home win over clubmates Chelmsford F despite a first treble since week four for F’s Cleon Fernandes. Fernandes beat Chris Denyer in three, Adi Kamma in four and Keith Martin in five. Simon Quelch capped his first appearance of the season with a hat-trick as his Hatfield Peverel B trio drew 5-5 on the road at Buttsbury B. Buttsbury’s Oscar Hutt posted a fine 3–2 win over Neil Freeman and was one game up against Quelch before going down in four. There were three wins for Matthew Brown in Writtle D’s 7-3 home win over Writtle while Danbury G’s Denis Balic and Denis Crapnell won two apiece in an entertaining looking home fixture with Galleywood C which ended 6-4 to the hosts.
Hutton A earned themselves some breathing space at the top of division four with another 10-0 victory, this time against Buttsbury D who slip from third to fifth in the table. While the father/son tandem of Alex and Charlie Ware had relatively straightforward evenings, teammate Oladapo Owolabi did extremely well to hold his nerve in tight five-game matches with Caroline Cole and Jenne Seibolt. Maldon B remain second following a 9-1 away win at Highwood B while Danbury K find themselves in a season high third position as three wins from Dave Hancox and two from Dave Oxley-Goody saw off Hatfield Peverel C in a 7-3 scoreline. There was a first appearance of the season for Farooq Ahmed who won all three in OCA D’s 7-3 away success at Danbury L. Ahmed beat both Ken Wilding and Roy Gandy in four with his match against John Manning being the only to go the distance. There was a fourth treble of the season for Buttsbury C’s Oscar Hutt in his sides 9-1 away victory at winless Danbury M - Frances Hutt and Lucy Elliott also went undefeated. Galleywood D’s Stewart Ireland fired his first hat-trick since week four as his team edged out Chelmsford G 6-4. Ireland recovered from 2-1 down against Mark Nolan in the opener with Nolan later fighting back from 2-0 down against Lewis Armstrong only for Armstrong to take the decider.
Trebles from Gheorghe Nita and Lee Vallis extended Hutton B’s lead at the top of division five to 14 points in a 7-3 home win over Writtle F. Writtle fell to their second successive defeat having gone unbeaten in their first eight matches. There was a 5-5 draw for Maldon C despite a third successive treble for Garry Eames against fourth placed Hatfield Peverel D who remain just a point back. David Cockrell won all three as his Highwood B moved from eighth to a season-high position of sixth with an 8-2 home win over Chelmsford H. Highwood are now unbeaten in four having lost their previous five matches. OCA E and Galleywood E shared the spoils in a 5-5 draw with OCA now unbeaten in two matches having lost five on the bounce, Galleywood E have now just one loss in their last six fixtures. Douglas Bawuah’s second hat-trick in his last three appearances wasn't enough to prevent ARU from their tenth straight defeat this season. Bawuah has earned 16 of ARU’s 25 points to date and he dropped just one game in ARU’s 6-4 loss to Hatfield Peverel E.
The 2024/2025 C&DTTL Tournament will take place between the 3rd and 5th January 2025 at Mildmay Hall, Anglia Ruskin University. Please find details and entry form here: https://www.tabletennis365.com/chelmsford
Jeremy Hill, Press Officer, Chelmsford & District Table Tennis League
