Buchanan & Pitts Misfits off to Winning Start in C league
Cannell Print started their Winter campaign with a very convincing win over Stone Art Squash in the A league. Cannell’s top four of Thom Whiteway, Josh Green, Ben Peach and Oliver Wait all restricted their respective opponents to scores in the low 20’s or less. Stone Art’s Angus Hopkinson was his teams only winner with a good 3-0 win over Rob Colquitt. Cannell Print could be title hopefuls if they continue to impress like this.
Argosy Allstars narrowly lost to Team AON in the other A league fixture but were actually ahead on points 154-150 before the bonus points were added to AONs score. Argosy had 3-1 and 3-0 wins at the top of the order through Dave Norman and Malcolm Levy while AON’s Chris Cave had a 3-1 win at the bottom of the order to make the match score 2-1. The closest matches were at 3 and 4 with both going the full distance before AON’s Mason McLarney and Dafydd Lewis triumphed 3-2 over their opponents.
In the B league Outcasts made it two wins out of two matches when they secured 243 points against Argosy Junior Academy. Outcast players Chris Cave, Liam Davies, Mark Henson and Peter Ginty all achieved 3-0 wins. Junior Leighton Ginty was his teams only winner in his match with Pat Russell. These two players are very closely ranked but Ginty has improved a lot recently and took the match in 3 very close games with just 7 points separating the scores at the end.
The Sharks are Outcasts closest rivals in the B league and after their win this week over Crowe Dragons they are equal top with 491 points. Dave Freer, Alan Macnair, Dave O’Neill and Peter Baker all had good wins with Macnair the only one of this quartet to drop a game, so Sharks led 4-0 when number one players Douglas Jacobsson and Dave Hedley took to the court. These two players finished the evening in style as Dragon Hedley came back from a 1-0 deficit to take the match 3-1 for his team.
The third team to remain undefeated in the B league is Racketeers Pioneers who got the better of Island Tyres and Exhausts by a score of 4-1. The three Racketeers Dafydd Lewis, James Leith and Andrew Brown all won 3-0. The Exhausts number two player Liam Townsend made the match score 3-1 by beating Joe Burrows in three close games. The fourth Racketeer to win was Marc Taggart who came out the victor after an epic five game duel with Richard Cretney. The Racketeers are currently placed third, only 25 points behind the joint league leaders.
It was back to winning ways for Buchanan & Pitts Misfits in the C league with a good 5-0 victory over Hansard Racketeers, their first win since October. Pat Russell has come into the team as a welcome replacement for Mark Henson the previous number one who had never failed to deliver for Misfits, and after a minor wobble Russell got in to his stride to win 3-1 against Tom Burrows. Andy Dixon played his usual recovery game always retrieving and long rallying to confound Lucy Kerr 3-0. Terry Holt eventually ran out 3-0 against Mark Harrop after a slow start due to lack of play during lockdown. John Watterson and Elliot Henson rounded off the match win with good victories against Dave Johnson and Daryl Richards 3-1 and 3-0 respectively.
Santander Academy Racketeers started this half of the season on a winning note with a good 4-1 defeat of Falcons. At number one Fraser Dorling edged Julien Uzzell 3-1 while, at two, Falcons debutant Lance Wyllie lost 3-0 to the seasoned Andy Brown despite playing some good squash. Vicky Watterson and Harry Douthwaite had a cracking game with Douthwaite just taking the win 3-2. Falcons captain Vusimbe Zivave gained their only win 3-1 to conclude the night.
Chrystals Junior Academy continue to improve and gave league leaders Island Exhausts Vets some good games despite losing 4-1. Harrison Callow gave Gerritt Du Toit a good run around in the first match on, gaining good points for his team in three close matches, but Du Toit came out the winner. Vets Mark Stratford and Peter Sharples had more straightforward 3-0 wins over their opponents. The match of the night by far was Les Callow against a very talented Kai Kiernan. Kiernan has the shots, court awareness and ability to be a really good player and gave his experienced opponent a run for his money but Callow’s never-give up approach just got him the win. There were some really extended rallies with both players using all parts of the court. At number one Leighton Ginty had a good 3-0 win for juniors over an injured Ian Sheard.
