StoneArt off to a flying start in the A league
As IOMSRA league squash commenced last week StoneArt started their season by dropping only one point against Cannell Print, the final result being 4-1 in rubbers. With Cannell’s top player Thom Whiteway out of action due to self-isolating, Josh Green played at number one and had a super five game match only just losing to Jason Blue 11-9 in the fifth game. Cannell’s only victory came at two as Ben Peach defeated Hamish Thornton in another five game match, taking the last 12-10. Steve Baker and Toby Woolard both won 3-1 in their matches and Lyndon Cheetham managed a 3-0 win. A good start for StoneArt who capitalised on Cannell being under strength on the night.
The other A league match also resulted in a 4-1 win, this time for Team AON over league newcomers Argosy Allstars. There was a very close match at fifth string where every game between Allstar’s Magnus Lamprecht and AON’s Chris Cave ended 11-10. AON’s Mason McLarney and Jason Crease both secured 3-1 wins while ex-racketeers team-mates Rob Boyles and Dafydd Lewis had a five game battle with Lewis taking the win. Argosy’s only victory came through number one player Malcolm Levy who put in a brilliant performance to secure a 3-2 victory over Pat Fitzpatrick.
In the B league Island Tyres and Exhausts had a good 4-1 over the Sharks although three of the five matches were very competitive going all the way to five games. Shaun Wyllie didn’t drop a game in his match and was too strong for Douglas Jacobsson, who was returning after 12 months out of league squash. Sharks only victory came from Mark Stratford who held on in the fifth to beat Magnus Lamprecht. In the fifth string match Peter Sharples’ experience had the edge over Greg Ansara on this occasion as he took the win 4-1 for Island Tyres.
Pat Fitzpatrick’s precocious Junior Academy side hinted at B League title charge this season with an opening-night victory over Racketeers Pioneers. The Argosy-sponsored teens won four of the second-tier encounter’s rubbers in their 235/198 victory. Isaac Quayle, Christian Webster, Ben Leith and Olly Wait picked up the wins, the latter seeing off the determined challenge of the Racketeers’ newly promoted number one Joe Burrows. Baillie Watterson returned from last season’s successful loan spell at fellow B League outfit Sharks to land the Racketeers’ sole win on the night at second string.
The third B league match of the night also finished in a 4-1 result when defending champions Outcasts took on Crowe Dragons. Outcasts were too strong in the lower order with Liam Davies, captain Peter Ginty and Mark Henson all winning their matches without dropping a game. Dragons number one James Martin had a very close match with Angus Hopkinson with all the game scores ending in double figures, Angus got the win to make it four wins to the Outcasts. Dave Hedley took the only win for Dragons triumphing 3-1 over Chris Cave.
The C league saw Falcons field two new players in their match against Santander Racketeers Academy. Both Phil Butler and Vicky Watterson performed well to win their games against Martin Greenwood and Jas Singh respectively. The more longstanding Falcons players however did not fare so well. Lewi Long battled against Fraser Dorling for five games but Dorling eventually won 3-2. In the other two matches Charlie Beard overpowered Jon Cox by 3 games to 1 and Andrew Brown continued to show good form to win his match 3-0. Although Academy won the fixture 3-2 Falcons actually won on points 206-192 reflecting how close the match was.
Buchanan & Pitts Misfits got their season off to a flying start with an emphatic win over Hansard Racketeers. That said, signs of lockdown were evident as players only slowly recovered their stride and the squash improved as the evening progressed. There were good 3-0 wins for Mark Henson and Andy Dixon over Matt Corlett and Mark Harrop respectively. Stephen Pitts also came away 3-0 over Lucy Kerr although she ran him exceeding close and on a different night might easily have won two of the games which ended 15-14. John Watterson overcame Dave Johnson 3-0 while Chris Gledhill was the only Misfits casualty of the night going down 0-3 to Racketeers skipper Andy Dalrymple.
The fixture against Crystals Junior Academy was by no means a straightforward opener to the season for Island Exhaust Vets as the Juniors all gave a very good account of themselves against their more experienced opponents. In the lower order both Gerrit Du Toit and Les Callow won in straight games but from there on it got increasingly difficult for the Vet players as both Peter Sharples and Ian Sheard lost their opening games to Amaline Batty and Leighton Ginty respectively and were given a run for their money. Both of these Juniors had good court coverage and a range of shots to make their opponents work hard throughout. At number one Mark Stratford managed to scramble the first game, but from then on Emma Leith proved herself the better player, dominating the court and not allowing Mark back into the match at all.
