Hutton B, Danbury C and Buttsbury G earned title honours in their respective divisions while the pressure intensifies in divisions 1&2 as the summer league reaches its climax.

Division 1

Ian Whiteside was in fine form as he won all four of his matches in weeks five and six and Danbury A moved to the top of division one with home wins over Buttsbury A and Hutton A.  Whiteside got the better of Buttsbury’s Grace Liu and Evie Knaapen in week five with Knaapen earning a fine 3-1 win over Sanjay Saptarshi, week six saw Whiteside overcome Hutton’s Paul Mulley and Jason Yeh in a 3-2 victory for the leaders.  Yeh had beaten Tony Forster 3-2 in the opening contest in a see-saw battle which was clinched 13-11 in the fifth. 

Chelmsford A’s Simon Jarvis continued his unbeaten run with two more wins in week five – the second of which was from 2-1 down against Writtle A’s Trevor Collin.   Collin recovered from 1-0 behind to better Felix Reeve though Reeve scored a good 3-2 win over Dave Moles.  Jarvis and Reeve then fought back from 2-0 down in the doubles for Chelmsford’s fourth victory of the contest.  Collin put any disappointment behind him by winning both of his matches in week six as he led Writtle to a 3-2 victory over Blackwater.  Things didn’t start well for Writtle as Blackwater’s Roger Slade took the opener in five games though Collin then dropped just one game in his matches with Denis Balic and Roger Slade to give Writtle the lead.  Balic then levelled the fixture at 2-2 with a dominating display over Pete Layzell prior to Collin and Layzell taking the honours in an entertaining doubles contest for Writtle’s first match victory in their fourth attempt. 

South Woodham Ferrers A sit at the bottom of the division despite a tight 3-2 loss against Hutton A in week five.  Hutton’s David Thammadi won his two matches – a hard fought 3-2 win over Scott Perry saw the third game go to 23-21 to Perry though Thammadi took games four and five for the victory.

Division 1 standings:  1: Danbury A (18 points from 5 matches), 2: Chelmsford A (18 points from 4 matches), 3: Buttsbury A (11 points from 3 matches).

Division 2

Danbury B and Chelmsford C share the lead in division two with identical records of four wins from six matches and 19 points.  The similarity does not end there – both teams won their match in week five but lost in week six.  Week five saw Eric Green move to four wins from four matches this season with victories over Luke and Mick Richardson, Green later teamed with Denis Crapnell to win a close doubles encounter which they sealed 12-10 in game five.  John Tendler’s two victories were not enough for Danbury in week six as they fell to a 3-2 home defeat to the Galleywood A duo of Will Goodchild and Mark Glenister.  Glenister recovered from 2-1 down to beat Crapnell prior to winning the crucial doubles matchup by a comfortable 3-0 scoreline.  Rev Matthews and James Grimston were both solid for Chelmsford C as they each won two of their four matches in their fixtures with Buttsbury B and Cold Norton A.  Buttsbury’s Harry Sawford won his matches against the Chelmsford pair with Cold Norton’s Dan Anderson doing likewise four days later.  Both fixtures were poised at 2-2 before Grimston and Matthews beat Sawford and Gary Carr in week five with Anderson and Ella Sach taking the doubles for Cold Norton three games to one in week six.  OCA B won 3-2 on the road to Buttsbury B – this was despite yet another two wins for Harry Sawford.

Division 2 standings:  =1: Danbury B (19 points from 6 matches), =1: Chelmsford C (19 points from 6 matches), 3: OCA A (18 points from 6 matches).

Division 3

Hutton B are the division three champions having posted an identical four wins and 19 points to Buttsbury C – Hutton’s 3-2 win over their title contenders in week six being enough for them to lift the trophy.  Doubts may have crept in for Hutton in week five as they lost 3-2 at Maldon A as James Raymond of Maldon won both of his matches – his second victory was from 2-1 down against Jason Yeh.  Yeh had beaten Maldon’s Marty Englander in the opener to give the leaders the perfect start however the hosts then won the next three matches to take an unassailable lead.  Hutton were back to winning ways a week later as they managed to overcome two wins by Buttsbury C’s Gary Carr to take the tie 3-2.  Carr stormed back for the win from 2-0 down against both Nick Giles and Charlie Ware – both fifth game deciders were settled by a 12-10 scoreline. 

OCA C’s Farooq Ahmed took his record to five wins from six matches with another brace of victories against Maldon A in week six.  Ahmed beat Raymond and Englander by identical 3-1 score lines – Englander had given the visitors the perfect start with a 3-2 win over Russell Hall before OCA won the remaining four matches.

Buttsbury D didn’t do their title-chasing clubmates any favours in week five as they scored a 3-2 win over eventual runners-up Buttsbury C – this was despite two wins from the C team’s Kevin Willis.  Willis fought back to beat Frances Hutt over five games – the decider seeing a scoreline of 16-14.  Hutt then turned round a 2-1 deficit to Ray Horton in her second match and teamed with son Oscar to beat Willis and Horton 3-1 in the doubles. 

Division 3 standings:  C: Hutton B (19 points from 6 matches), 2: Buttsbury C (19 points from 6 matches), 3: Cold Norton B (12 points from 5 matches).

Division 4

Unbeaten Danbury C became division four champions with back to back 4-1 wins in weeks five and six.  Greg Cooper won all four of his matches in the clashes with Buttsbury E and Hutton C while partner Paul Thurkettle’s only blemish was at the hands of Buttsbury’s Francesca Hart.  Buttsbury F currently sit in second place having played their full complement of matches and have a host of teams who will be looking to take the runners-up spot.  Chelmsford E are one of the teams in the hunt and their 3-2 away win over Buttsbury F in week five could prove crucial.  Shengbing Zhu fought back from 2-1 down to beat James Hughes to put Chelmsford 2-1 up on the night before Jacqui Smith’s 3-0 win clinched the victory in the next match.   

Two individual victories for Arthur Shadforth weren’t enough to prevent his Maldon B falling to a 3-2 away loss at Hutton C.  Shadforth won both singles matches by a 3-0 scoreline but Hutton’s Nick Giles and Noah Middleton hit back and won the all-important doubles.  Writtle B’s Michael Anthony took his record to six wins from eight singles matches this season with two victories in the clash with Galleywood B while Oscar Hutt won twice in Buttsbury E’s win over Buttsbury F.  James Hughes won twice as Buttsbury F won 4-1 at Galleywood B – Galleywood’s sole point came from Ron Salton who beat Chris Hughes despite trailing 2-1.

Division 4 standings:  C: Danbury C (25 points from 6 matches), 2: Buttsbury F (19 points from 7 matches), 3: Hutton C (16 points from 6 matches).

Division 5

Buttsbury G clinched the division five title with a 4-1 win in week five against Buttsbury H and a 5-0 win in week six against Chelmsford F.  Their quest for a perfect 30 wins from 30 singles/doubles matches was scuppered by Torsten Greenan whose 3-1 victory over Vivaan Babbar was Buttsbury G’s only blemish on an otherwise dominating season. Joshua Freeman won twice again as Vivaan Babbar managed to sneak through a tight encounter with Lewis Woods which went to a decider.  Greenan avenged his partners loss with a 3-1 victory over Babbar before champions elect took the doubles over five competitive games.   Babbar and Freeman then beat Chelmsford F in week six though three of the five contests went to the full complement games.  Babbar and Freeman had to recover from 2-1 down in the doubles against George Gregory and Amir Chetitah after Babbar had been extended to five-game matches against both Chelmsford players.

Hutton D have the second best record in division five and they saw success again in a 4-1 away win at Chelmsford G and 3-2 home win over Buttsbury H.  Martis Heyes won both of his matches 3-0 against the Chelmsford duo of Neriyan Tharmathass and George Gregory, while Jago Ware dropped just one game in each of his victories.  While not seeing any success in their individual matches the Chelmsford duo of Gregory and Tharmathass recovered from 2-1 down to win the doubles encounter.  Ware won both of his singles matches in week six – a 3-1 win over Lewis Woods and 3-0 win over Thomas Lewis.

Hutton E gave themselves some breathing room over bottom-placed Chelmsford H with a 4-1 away victory.  Vicente Deco won both individual matches – the second of which was a hard earned 3-2 victory over Sean Kwan having trailed 2-1.  Kwan had earlier beaten Jacob Fernandez in straight games before Fernandez beat Bernard Chow in four tight games. 

Division 5 standings:  C: Buttsbury G (29 points from 6 matches), 2: Hutton D (17 points from 5 matches), 3: Chelmsford F (14 points from 5 matches).

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Jeremy Hill, Press Officer

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