We’re underway!
The most anticipated sporting event of the summer finally got underway as 37 teams from across the county began their hopeful journeys to glory within one of five divisions.
Division 1
The Buttsbury A team of Evie Knaapen and Jamie Elliott stormed to the top of division 1 with a 5-0 home win over the South Woodham Ferrers A duo of Chris Hancox and Alan Dadswell. Despite the one-sided looking scoreline Hancox and Dadswell both had their moments – Hancox levelling with Elliott before falling 3-1, and then Dadswell taking Elliott to a decider. The fixture between Danbury A and Blackwater was the first division one fixture of the season to be resolved by the outcome of the doubles contest as the hosts Danbury came out 3-2 match winners. Alan Scammell produced a fine but nerve-testing comeback against Eamonn Hall with the last two games won 12-10 by the Blackwater ace, while Sanjay Saptarshi sent out a message to the league that he wasn’t taking the summer off with crushing straight set wins over Scammell and Denis Balic. Balic regained his composure to beat Hall in three games before Hall and Saptarshi earned the aforementioned win in the doubles.
Division 2
The results from the four fixtures in week one of division two suggest it will be one of the more closely contested divisions this season. Galleywood A registered the best win of the week with a 4-1 away victory at Chelmsford D – however this was aided by the hosts only fielding one player. Galleywood’s Will Goodchild beat Chelmsford’s Salih Salim 3–0 after Salim had beaten Nathan Blore. Mick Richardson hit the ground running with two wins as OCA A beat clubmates OCA B by a 3-2 scoreline. The match between Luke Richardson and Michael Hayes was the closest of the evening with Hayes coming through 11-9 in the decider despite losing two games by a 15-13 scoreline. The Richardson’s recovered from a game down to win 3-1 in the doubles contest though games three and four were tight ones. Cold Norton A’s Dan Anderson and Ella Sach edged a 3-2 home win over the Buttsbury B duo of Harry Sawford and Jeremy Griffin. Anderson won both of his matches while Griffin and Sawford bested Sach before the doubles went to the Cold Norton team despite Griffin and Sawford recovering from 2-0 behind. John Tendler started the summer well with two 3-0 wins as Danbury B won 3-2 over Chelmsford C – Alesha Ellis-Austin edged Denis Crapnell in the fifth (11-9) before she joined forces with Rev Matthews to win the doubles 3-1. Earlier, Crapnell beat Matthews 3-1 in their singles match.
Division 3
Marty Englander won twice as Maldon A started the division three season with a 4-1 home win over the Cold Norton B duo of Dick and Oscar Wyman. Englander had to recover from a 2-1 deficit to overcome Dick Wyman while grandson Oscar started well in his losses against both Englander and Chris Ravenhill. Wyman snr bested Ravenhill in three before the hosts won the doubles over the Wymans in four. Hutton B got the better of Buttsbury D 3-2 in a keenly contested fixture – the first three singles matches of the evening were all decided at deuce in the fifth game. Jenne Seibolt edged Charlie Ware 13-11 in game five before Buttsbury teammate Lucy Elliott lost out 12-10 to Oladapo Owolabi in the decider. Owolabi then recovered from 2-1 down to beat Seibolt prior to Ware sealing the win for the hosts with a 3-0 victory over Elliott. Seibolt and Elliott then picked up the final point on offer with a comprehensive doubles triumph.
Division 4
Peter Davenport (Chelmsford E) and Greg Cooper (Danbury C) started the season in top form as they fired their respective teams to 4-1 wins in division four. Davenport won both of his matches 3-0 while teammate Jacqui Smith did well to come back from 2-1 down against Tomas Ratinas for the victory before falling to Ron Salton in three. Davenport and Smith recovered from one down to win three close games in the doubles. Danbury’s Cooper won both of his matches against Buttsbury F by a 3-0 scoreline while James Hughes earned Buttsbury’s only point with a 3-1 win against Ken Wilding – this after Wilding had beaten Chris Hughes by the same score. Wilding and Cooper won the doubles contest despite seeing their opponents recover from 2-0 down to force a decider.
Division 5
Fresh from competing at the U10-U13 National Championships, Joshua Freeman and Vivaan Babbar cruised to a 5-0 away win at Hutton D in division five. All of the singles matches ended 3-0 before Babbar and Freeman had to recover from 2-1 behind to win the doubles. Thomas Lewis won both of his matches 3-0 as Buttsbury H secured the win at Chelmsford H. Lewis’ wins were either side of Zac Berry’s 3-0 win over Archie Spurrier though Berry later lost out in a tight contest with Sean Kwan. Spurrier and Kwan took the doubles point with a 3-0 win. Ben Robinson’s two 3-0 wins were in vain as his Chelmsford F side lost 3-2 at Hutton E. Robinson beat Oliver Davies and Vicente Deco but both Hutton players earned wins over Sai Suresh. Inspired, Davies and Deco earned the win for the hosts in the all-important doubles matchup.
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Jeremy Hill, Press Officer
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