The picture below is of Dandara Falcons. Back Row left to Right – Vusimbe Zivave, Fiona Baker (Captain), Ian Barnes. Front Row left to Right – Lewi Long, Jon Cox
In the A League this week EasyGym, put out their strongest team so far this season against table toppers Cannell Print. All EasyGym’s players enjoyed wins to make it a 5-0 victory for the orange Men. The stiffest resistance came at number four where Rob Boyles took four games to beat a dogged Rob Colquit. Similarly in the top match between the islands top two players, Dave Norman affirmed his number 1 spot by beating heir apparent Thomas Whiteway 3-1. EasyGym toppled Cannell Print off the top spot in the league with this convincing 180-116 points win.
StoneArt got their first win this year over Team AON and in doing so secured the second spot in the league. On court first were StoneArt team captain Steve Baker against Jason Crease, two players who are fairly evenly matched but this time Crease was on form and won 3-1. The match at number five was between workmates Jon Shepherd and Liam Davies with Davies triumphing 3-0 for AON. StoneArt’s Jason Blue and Hamish Thornton both secured 3-0 wins at first and second string to make the match score 2-2. The deciding match between Chris Cave and Lyndon Cheetham was a tremendous match which Cheetham pulled back from 2-0 down to secure the 15 bonus points and the match win for StoneArt.
In the B League Outcasts had a good 4-1 win over the previously unbeaten Island Exhausts. There were comfortable wins for Nathan Quilliam and Liam Davies at first and second string, but the bottom three matches were much closer. Stuart Highy beat Les Callow 3-1 at number five. At three and four both the matches went to the full five games with Mark Henson winning the fifth game against Peter Sharples but Shaun Callow getting the Exhausts only win with a 3-2 victory over Outcast captain Peter Ginty. The Outcasts take the top spot in the league table off with this 249-168 points victory.
Victory went to Crowe Dragons 4-1 in their match against Sharks, with captain David Freer winning the only game for the Sharks this week. In the other games Peter Ferguson made a successful return to competitive squash wining 3-1 against Alan McNair in a close fought match. Youth won over experience when Oliver Wait defeated Mark Stratford 3-0, while Steve Morley and Douglas Jacobsson had a very entertaining close match that Morley won 3-1. It was a similar story at one where Ben Peach beat Mark Webster-Smith in four close games.
Browne Craine Dragons underlined their C League title credentials on Tuesday evening at the NSC with a 235/187 win over Hansard Racketeers. Michelle Smith, Fatheha Essa and Richard Creer provided most of the Dragons’ fire winning their respective games at two, four and five 3-0. Team-mate Darren Smethurst was pushed a bit harder by Gary Stephenson, eventually triumphing 3-2 after five gruelling games. James Leith once again grabbed the Racketeers’ consolation, continuing his unbeaten run in the C League this season with a 3-0 win over Dragons’ Phil Whittam at the head of the order.
Buchanan & Pitts Misfits versus Junior Academy was a very close match with the result being dependent on the outcome of the five games between Andy Dixon and Oliver Williams. Before this deciding match Academy’s number 1 and elder statesman Richard Webster and their number 5 young Ben Leith had both secured good 3-0 wins. But in response to this Misfits John Watterson and Stephen Pitts won 3-1, so the stage was set for this deciding match. Andy ultimately won the deciding game 15-11, bagging the 25 bonus points which resulted in Misfits first win of 2019.
Division C contenders Dandara Falcons and Island Exhaust Vets had a very close match on Friday with the final score being 215-212 in favour of the Vets. At five Sarah Simpson made her debut for Falcons and lost in five games to Jimmy Fick. It was a similar story for the experienced Simon Jones who lost in five to Richard Cretney, who has just recently returned to league squash. Vusimbe Zivawe lost by just one point against the Vets’ John Smith, 45/44. The Falcons, currently plagued with injury, had two debutants at one and two, Alan McNair and Stuart Highy, who both enjoyed good 3-0 wins against their respective opponents.
Santander International Racketeers Academy chalked up their second win this year against Dohle Stars 3 games to 2. Andrew Brown and Anthony Bentley-Roberts had the match of the night at second string, taking five games to find a winner, with Bentley-Roberts taking the victory 45 to 43 points for Dohle. Nic Kieswetter, Alan Bashforth and Fraser Dorling took the wins for Santander at one, three and four respectively.