Issued on 17 November 2024
Bickles shines despite Chelmsford A losing ground
Danbury A retained top spot in division one with an 8-2 victory over Danbury B thanks to consecutive league hat-tricks for Chirs Penrose and Dave Richardson. Both Penrose and Richardson had to recover from 2-0 down in order to get the better of Arron Chandler. Josh Bickles was on fire in Chelmsford A’s 6-4 win over Writtle A, Bickles beat both the higher ranked pair of Duncan Taylor and Mark Mulley over four games. Having started the season with five straight losses, Chelmsford B tasted a second victory in a row. Simon Jarvis hit a treble and there were two wins apiece for Waseem Qureshi and Kelvin Edeh in an 8-2 triumph over Galleywood A. Chelmsford B move off the bottom for the first time this season while Edeh completed the ‘set’ of playing in all five divisions by week nine!
In the battle of two winless division two teams, three victories for Dick Wyman and two apiece for Neil Want and Tony Forster boosted Danbury E to an 8-2 success over bottom of the table OCA B. Maldon A stay in the hunt at the top end of the table following a 6-4 home win over fellow challengers Chelmsford C, Dawn Baldry found the opportune moment to fire her first hat-trick of the season for Maldon, with the loss being Chelmsford’s first in seven with Maldon yet to taste defeat. Daniel Piggott made his debut for Danbury E and subsequently fired a treble in a 6-4 home win over Hatfield Peverel A. Piggott dropped just one game in his three victories while Peverel’s Neil Freeman recovered from 2-1 down to beat Eamonn Hall before witnessing a David Penrose fight-back from two down in their clash. Danbury F and Galleywood B were embroiled in a close battle which saw six five-gamers as Danbury did just enough to earn a 6-4 victory. Galleywood’s John Holland had a seemingly entertaining evening with all of his matches going the distance and involving fightbacks from 2-0 down - Holland will feel unfortunate to have only seen success in one of the three. Denis Crapnell scored his second treble in little over a week as Danbury G won 6-4 at Chelmsford E. Crapnell trailed in all three of his games but found a path to victory while Kelvin Edeh and Rev Matthews won two matches each for the hosts. Buttsbury A cruised to a 10-0 home win over Writtle C to extend their lead at the top to 6 points..
Galleywood C remain in second place in division three and cut the lead to just two points following a 10-0 away win over Writtle D. Colin Blore and Bryn Thomas fired their second trebles of the season with John Holland adding his first. Buttsbury B stay top with a 9-1 win at Danbury H which saw Grace Liu and Harry Sawford win three each. Gordon Gatheral earned the only point for the hosts and just missed out in five games to both Liu and Sawford. A Dave Moles hat-trick wasn’t quite enough to earn his Writtle E side their first victory of the season as ninth-placed Chelmsford F hung on for a 5-5 draw. Writtle led 5-3 going into the last two matches of the night and both Malcolm Storey and Ian Hockley went 1-0 up in their respective matches only for the Fernandes brothers to hit back for victories. Mike Johnston and Keith Martin won three apiece to ensure third-placed Chelmsford D remain on the tail of the leaders There was a fourth treble of the season in Hatfield Peverel B colours for Neil Freeman as his team narrowly beat Danbury J 6-4. Danbury’s Peter Hance and Dave Marsh both fell to Freeman having won their other two matches.
After tasting defeat last week for the first time in division four this season, Hutton A were back to winning ways with an 8-2 home win over Danbury M, Alex Ware won all three matches while Danbury’s Graham Naggs put the only points on the board for the visitors. Maldon B moved back up to second position despite being held to a 5-5 draw by 11th placed Chelmsford G. Buttsbury D slip to third following a 6-4 reversal at the hands of Hatfield Peverel C, Bob Hillis and Samuel White won two each for Peverel. Danbury K tasted victory for the first time in three matches as they edged a competitive looking contest with Highwood A, Danbury’s Dave Powell prevented another Roger Patient treble but he was tripped up by Melanie Bonnett. Galleywood D slipped to the bottom of the table after a 6-4 defeat at OCA D, both of Galleywood’s Nick Rounce’s victories went the distance while OCA’s David Newman, David Bishop and Russell Hall all won two apiece.
The Hutton B bandwagon continues to roll as they registered their eighth consecutive division five victory of the season and move seven points clear with a 9-1 win at Anglia Ruskin. Peter Moxham fired his first treble of the season, Anthony Barnes his third and Steve Webster chipped in with a double. Buttsbury E remain Hutton’s closest challengers and they posted an 8-2 success at Maldon C with trebles for Joshua Freeman and Lyndon Bubb. Writtle F have still not tasted defeat in seven matches and the regular trio of Paul Aarons, Ron Tam and Michael Anthony won twice apiece though all fell to OCE E’s Matthew Porter in a 7-3 victory. It was a second treble of the season for Chelmsford H’s Shengbing Zhu in a 7-3 away win at Galleywood E. Zhu’s teammate William Guilloux won twice also but fell to Galleywood’s Doug Blaber (a two game winner himself) in a tight contest. Jackie Treacy was able to go one better than her two victories last week though her Hatfield Peverel E side lost 6-4 at Hatfield Peverel D. Andy Whiley played in three five-gamers though only tasted success in one. Nicola Pippen and Martin Goddard won both of their matches as Highwood B beat the two-person team of Hatfield Peverel F 9-1.
Second placed Buttsbury Bees closed the gap on CJL 1A leaders Hutton Hawks with a dominating 5-0 win over the Hutton Harriers thanks to unbeaten outings for Vivaan Babbar and Joshua Freeman. The Chelmsford Lions edged the Chelmsford Tigers 3-2 which saw an Ethan Collins double. The Hutton Hyenas remain top of CJL 1B despite a 3-2 loss to the second-placed Buttsbury Bears which saw Zac Berry go undefeated. Sean Kwan and William Guilloux were two more undefeated players as the fourth placed Chelmsford Jaguars beat the Buttsbury Bulldogs 5-0, while a Sai Suresh double enabled the third placed Chelmsford Leopards to edge the Hutton Hammers 3-2.
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
