In the opening week of the IOMSRA Squash league there were some excitingly close matches.
In Division A, Stone Art is now at the top of the league after impressively winning all 4 matches against Josh’s Jackals. Steve Baker and Hamish Thornton won 3-0 and the youthful Toby Woolard dropped just 1 game on his way to a win. The match of the night was between Lyndon Cheetham and Macklin Wilson who was making his debut in the A league for the Jackals.This match went to 5 games with Lyndon’s experience telling in the end as he clinched the final game 11-6. Considering Josh’s Jackals were without the ‘leader of the pack’ and number 1 player, it will be interesting to see their scores next week.
Next up, the youth of the Global Monetary Solutions Junior Academy was pitted against the experience of Crazy Billions. It started with a fantastic battle in which the promising Ben Leith was just pipped by the wily Mark Webster-Smith. Crazy Billions continued to press forward with the seasoned game play to take the match 3-1. Currently ranked 2nd in the league, Crazy Billions also made a strong start to the new season.
The Argosy Allstars, or more aptly the Argosy Former Stars, have the highest average age and waist size of teams in the A league. Well known as slow starters, their deep experience was not enough to carry them home in this first fixture, a hard fought 3-1 loss to Cannell Print. Dave Norman, the Argosy and island number 1, managed a win against emerging challenger Thom Whiteway in the first seed match, but the rest of the games went the way of a younger squad.
In the B league, Atla Group Arrows took on Nedbank Supernovas. Dasa Brynjolffssen and Phil Butler had a very closely fought match which went right to the wire. In the end, Phil managed to keep applying pressure, securing a 3-2 win for the Atla Group Arrows and the first point on the board. The second match was Macklin Wilson versus Dave Hedley. Despite a thrilling second game, which was a 14-14 decider, Dave took a 3-0 win securing Nedbank Supernova’s first point. Third up was Mike Fernandes against Magnus Lamprecht, with both players seemingly trying to blast the newly plastered walls to bits. It was a closely fought match but Magnus quickly got the better of Mike’s power play to take a 3-0 win. The fourth match up was between Lance Wyllie and Rich Cretney. Lance’s fitness and speed were enough to take the win 3-0, securing the second point for Atla Group Arrows and balancing the team scoreboard at 2-2. The deciding match came down to Harvey Douglas versus Rob Colquitt. Rob’s careful shot placement and consistency proved successful resulting in Nedbank Supernova’s taking the overall fixture 3-2.
In the other B league fixture, Racketeers beat Outcasts to be the current top of the league.
There were lots of close and exciting games in the C league. Between the Dragons and the Falcons, 5th ranked newcomers, Jamie and Adam had a good first match with Jamie winning 3-0 for the Dragons. Third seeds Phil and Sarah had an entertaining match with fantastic rallies. After four long and close games Phil took a 3-1 win for the Dragons. 2nd seed Beth Jones came from 2-0 down against Vusimbe to take another win for the Dragons 3-2. The first seed match between Stuart and Phil was great to watch with some very lengthy rallies. Although close, Falcons took a 3-1 win.
Global Monetary Solutions Junior C Team began their campaign against Island Exhaust Vets. 5th seed Robbie Lapsley took on Phil Shaw whose greater experience told, leading to a first win for Island Exhausts, although Robbie showed considerable improvement from last year. 4th seed Calum Larkin, from the Junior team, continued his good form to take the match against Gerrit Du Toit with a 3-1 win. 3rd seed Richard Webster took on Squash doyen Les Callow and Webster’s drop shots proved the deciding factor, taking the match 3-1 for Academy. Two 2nd seed old adversaries, James Leith from the Junior team, and Mark Stratford for Exhausts had a close match eventually going 3-0 to Stratford. This left the deciding match to Emma Leith from the Junior team who took on Peter Sharples. Using her youth and fitness, Emma won through 3-2 in a very close and exciting game, meaning the Junior team won overall.
The next matches were between Crazy Jacks Squash Team and Buchanan & Pitts. Buchanan & Pitts won all their matches 3-0, making them joint top of the League.
Finally, the newly formed team Strix Squash Squad took on Hansard Racketeers. The latter won all of their matches, making them joint top of the C league. Despite Strix’s loss, they played well, with 3 out of the 5 players winning one game. Considering that most of their players are new to squash, having joined the Saturday morning beginners club earlier this year, they have a huge potential given their rapid improvement in such a short time.
Stone Art Squash Team, top of league A, consists of left to right –
Lyndon Cheetham , Toby Woolard , Steve Baker (Captain) and Hamish Thornton .