The Picture shows – Hansard International Racketeers team with some Racketeers Squad players. Pictured Left to Right – Lucy Kerr, Steven Wright, Catherine Harrop (Hansard International), Matt Corlett, Dave Johnson and Nic Kieswetter
In the A League EasyGym suffered their first defeat this season losing 4-1 to AON. EasyGym’s Malcolm Levy was pushed to five games by Pat Fitzpatrick at first string but won in the fifth. AON had comfortable wins for Robin Crease and Mason McLarney at two and four. Steve Morley and Jason Crease, fresh from his travels, had a great game at three with Crease winning 3-1 for AON. Ex-island player Dave Evans, returning to league squash after seven years, played well at five for EasyGym but not well enough to overcome Nathan Quilliam, losing 3-1.
SoneArt picked up their second win this season in a very close match with Cannell Print. The fourth string match was the only one to go to five games as Rob Colquitt won the first two games but Douglas Jacobsson took the second two. Colquitt got his second wind to take the deciding game 11-5. Cannell’s Mike Hayler and StoneArt’s Lyndon Cheetham both enjoyed convincing 3-0 wins and with Steve Gaylor winning 3-1 at five the match was levelled at 2-2. The number ones had a cracking match with Whiteway fresh from his victory in the Douglas Open taking on StoneArts’s recent recruit Jason Blue. The games were very close but Blue’s court coverage was exceptional and he eventually took the match 3-1.
Crowe Dragons returned to winning ways to keep their B league title charge on track with a 4-1 win over Sharks. Dragons Ben Peach and Oliver Wait, making his long-awaited B league debut, both had good 3-0 wins. Alan McNair took the only win of the night for Sharks 3-0. Jon Shepherd took on Dave Freer at three. Freer took his time getting warmed up and found himself 2-0 down, but then came back with two comfortable games of his own. The final game went to the wire and at 14-14 a lung busting longest rally of the night ended with the win for Shepherd 15-14. Lyndon Cheetham and Mark Webster Smith had another five set thriller with Cheetham taking the final game 15-11.
Island Exhausts and Outcasts had such a close match that despite Exhausts winning 3-2 the overall points showed Outcasts out-scoring the home team by 11 points. At fourth and fifth strings Exhausts Veterans Ian Sheard and Les Callow both showed great stamina by winning in five games against younger opponents. Outcast Peter Ginty defeated Peter Sharples in four games and Nathan Quilliam defeated Exhausts number one Joshua Green 3-0 to level the match at 2-2. So there was ‘no pressure’ on Outcasts Mark Henson and Exhausts James Martin as the winner of their match would bag the 25 bonus points. At the end only two points separated the players as Martin took the match 45-43 in four very close fought games.
The C league saw an extremely close match between the Junior Academy and Dohle Stars. Dohle Stars Luke Tippett and Eckhard Garbers both beat their younger opponents 3-0. At three Max Birchall edged home 3-2 in a very tense and at times contentious match against David Maddrell, while at two Oliver Williams and Clive Dugdale produced a terrifically close match won 15-14 in the fifth by Williams. With the match tied at 2-2 Oliver Wait produced a commanding display of squash against Wouter Schoeman to clinch the match for the Academy.
Browne Craine Dragons took maximum points with a 5-0 victory over Santander Academy Racketeers. The lower order of Darren Smethurst, Simon Hall and Fatheha Essa all enjoyed 3-0 victories. At two Allan Bashforth took a game off Michelle Smith before losing 3-1. The closest match was between number ones Phil Whittam and Andrew Brown. This went to five games with Whittam pulling it back from 2-1 down to gain a 3-2 victory and a clean sweep for the Dragons.
The Hansard Racketeers’ recent up-turn in form continued with a fine 238/168 victory over Buchanan & Pitts Misfits. The Racketeers’ lower order did most of the damage with Ben Dalglish and Dave Johnson both winning 3-0. Lucy Kerr’s third-string game with Stephen Pitts seemed to be going the same way until Pitts rallied in the third taking the match to a fifth game which Kerr won 15-11. Another hard-fought five-setter played out at number one as Racketeers’ James Leith went two-up against Terry Holt only for Holt to level by taking the next two games. The Racketeer, however, once again finished strongly winning the fifth 15-12. Misfits’ captain Andy Dixon picked up his side’s sole success on the evening beating Matt Corlett 3-1 at number two.
Dandara Falcons beat Jewel Tech Juniors 4-1 in an entertaining and often closely fought match. At five Rania Gomaa and Fiona Baker took their match to four games thanks to some very long and close rallies, with Baker taking the win for Falcons. Jewel Tech’s Christian Webster took the Juniors only win of the night with a 3-0 victory over Vusimbe Zivave at four. Falcons Ian Barnes, Lewi Long and Jon Cox won the remainder 3-0.