Sharks put in Killer performance to Finish with Maximum Points
Table toppers Cannell Print took on the Crazies in the A league last week, winning 4-1. Josh Green and Ben Peach both secured 3-0 wins continuing their recent strong form for the printers. Youngster Oliver Wait took on Mike Hayler of the Crazies and after taking the first game the second was a tighter affair but Wait pulled through taking it 19-17 and kept the momentum going to win 3-0. Crazies captain Ashley Sandyford-Sykes took the only win for his team 3-1. Last on was the returning duo of Rob Colquitt, fresh from an injury layoff, and David Freer, released from quarantine. Dave’s hard hitting game seemed too much for Rob in the first two games, but a change of tactic saw Rob pull the match back to 2-2. The decider saw Rob pull out a healthy lead which in the end Dave was unable to pull back.
StoneArt maintained their unbeaten record with a 3-2 win over Argosy Allstars. StoneArts’ triumphant trio were the experienced Hamish Thornton, the energetic Toby Woolard and enigmatic Lyndon Cheetham who all won 3-0. Argosy Allstars victories came through Malcolm Levy 3-0 and Rob Boyles who dropped just one game on his way to a 3-1 win over his higher ranked opponent.
In the B league Island Tyres and Exhausts had a tough evening on court losing four out of five matches against a determined Crowe Dragons team. First up was promising newcomer Phil Butler who lost 3-0 to the more experienced Beth Jones despite some good rallies. Peter Sharples took the first game against in-form Dragon Darren Smethurst but went on to lose 3-1. Rich Cretney and Shaun Wylie both played good squash and battled hard against Dave Hedley and James Martin respectively but went down 3-0. The only win for Exhausts came from Magnus Lamprecht who beat Mark Grace 3-0.
A makeshift Racketeers Pioneers were on the receiving end of a heavy defeat at the hands of Outcasts last week. Missing, two of their usual top three, the Racketeers were well beaten in the B League encounter 250/125, 5-0. Wrapping up the convincing victory for their side were Angus Hopkinson, Chris Cave, Liam Davies, Mark Henson and skipper Peter Ginty.
Sharks were just that little bit too strong and experienced for Argosy Junior Academy resulting in a 5-0 win. However the points score of 250-164 showed that the games were competitive with the Juniors putting up a strong fight in all matches. Harvey Douglas was the only junior to win a game, taking the third in his match against Dave O’Neill. Douglas Jacobsson, Alan Macnair, Dave Freer and Greg Ansara all had 3-0 wins for Sharks.
In the C league Outcast Dragons beat Chrystal JuniorAcademy 4-1. Juniors youngest player, Harrison Callow, continues to improve and gave a good account of himself despite losing 3-0 to Chloe Corrigan. Calum Larkin maintained his season’s good form in defeating Dragon’s Fatheha Essa 3-1 at fourth string with his drop shots proving to be the deciding factor in this encounter. Phil Whittam beat Amaline Batty 3-0 at second string and the match of the night was between Leighton Ginty and Dragon’s captain Stuart Highy. Although Highy won 3-0 all three games were very close and featured some spectacular, lengthy rallies.
Island Exhaust Vets had to work really hard to hold on to their unbeaten record in a well fought and close match with Santander Academy Racketeers. Vets got off to the worst possible start at number 1 where Racketeer Andrew Brown’s court coverage and dominance of the T meant that Mark Stratford could not establish himself in the match and lost 3-0. Unfortunately for Racketeers that was their only win of the night as Ian Sheard, Les Callow and Gerrit du Toit all took the spoils for Exhausts in the lower order games. The match of the night was undoubtedly at number 2 with Peter Sharples having to play his best team squash of the season to beat Fraser Dorling with some excellent rallies.
Buchanan & Pitts Misfits went down for their first loss of the season against Falcons who claimed their first win. John Watterson got Misfits off to a good start winning 3-1 against Phil Butler in what turned out to be the longest match of the night. The other matches were all over in three games. At number one Mark Henson had an excellent game against Julian Uzzell taking a second win for Misfits. However Falcons players Lewi Long, Vicky Watterson and Jon Cox beat Andy Dixon, Stephen Pitts and Chris Gledhill respectively to secure the match for Falcons 232-172.
The Sharks Team is pictured above. They are from left to right – Alan Macnair, Douglas Jacobsson, Dave Freer (Captain), Dave O’Neill and Greg Ansara.