Global Monetary Solutions Junior Team (C League): Harrison Callow, Callum Larkin, Peter Ferguson and grandson (Sponsors), Richie Webster, Robbie Lapsley, Cristina Cruz (Left to right).
At the end of Week 3, Argosy Allstars, Nedbank Supernovas and Hansard Racketeers are top of the A, B and C league respectively.
A league:
The Argosy versus Aon fixture saw the much anticipated return of island player Robin Crease. With the distractions of new parenthood weighing on his mind, he went down in 3 games against island number 1 David Norman. Paul Barnett for Argosy, also back for the first time this season, went on to earn a hard-fought win against Aon’s Liam Davies. Magnus Lamprecht at 3 for Argosy lost out in 5 long games against the relentless running of Fraser Dorling, whilst Dave O’Neill managed to take the win for Argosy with a tightly fought 5-setter at the fourth string against Peter Ginty. The win sees Argosy top the A league, but Cannell Print are only 5 points behind with a game in hand and look well placed at this early stage of the season.
Stone Art Squash team almost returned to top of the league after a hard fought victory over Crazy Billions and Phil Shaw Vehicles, but now trail league leaders Argosy by just 1 point. The Crazies were missing their number 1 player so were weaker than usual. Stone Art enjoyed 3-0 victories at the top and bottom of the playing order courtesy of the experienced Hamish Thornton and Lyndon Cheetham. However Crazies’ in-form Mark Webster Smith used great variety in his shot production to gain a very good 3-0 win over the higher ranked Toby Woolard. The other match was between Stone Art’s Steve Baker and James Ramsey, who are ranked next to each other. It was a close match with Ramsey taking the victor’s crown with a 3-2 result.
The last matches of the night were between Global Monetary Solutions Juniors vs Josh’s Jaguars. First up, Dave Hadley guested for the Juniors against the ever improving Macklin Wilson. Dave’s experience saw him take a 2-0 lead, but then Macklin started to use his speed round the court and got back to 2-2. With Dave showing his drop shot class, he managed to sneak the match 3-2. At 2 and 3 for the Juniors Harvey Douglas and Ben Leith both lost 3-1 in tight matches against Shaun and Lance Wyllie for Josh’s Jaguars. The last match of the night was junior head coach Patrick Fitzpatrick against Josh Green. There were lots of close rallies but Green’s fitness and strength proved too much for Fitzpatrick who is just returning after a long term injury. Green took the match 3-0.
B league:
Derivco Sharks began their defense of the B league title with a fixture against Atla Group Arrows after a bye in week 1 and the postponement of week 2 fixtures on the day of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. The evening started with Mark Webster-Smith of Sharks back at his best against Harvey Douglas who put up a valiant fight. This was then followed by Greg Ansara losing to Atla Group’s Phil Butler in 3 games. Mark Stratford then rolled back the years to beat Atla Group’s Michael Fernandes also in 3 games. Douglas Jacobsson of Sharks then fell to Lance Wyllie in 4 games before the decider between Freer and Wilson. This was a close fixture with David Freer of Derivco Sharks beating Macklin Wilson 3-2.
Following on the heels of a strong performance in their first match, the Nedbank Supernovas welcomed two new players to the squad for the fixture against the Racketeers Pioneers. Clare Townsend put in a determined effort as she found her feet in the B League, but eventually lost to an equally determined Andy Brown in 3 games. At fourth string, Dasa Brynjolffssen and James Leith battled it out in a best of 5 games, with Dasa ultimately coming out on top in a cracking fixture. Newcomer Chris Walton kept his nerve and won his first ever competitive match on the island 3-0 against Mark Taggart. With some big acts to follow, both the second and first string fixtures did not disappoint. Nedbank’s Magnus Lamprecht somehow found the legs to beat Fraser Dorling in 5 games and the Racketeers’ Dafydd Lewis edged ahead at the very last to beat Rob Colquitt 15-13 in the 5th game. The Supernovas were victorious, leaving them at top of the B League.
C league:
The Global Monetary Solutions Junior C youthful team took on the older but inexperienced Crazy Jacks team with some entertaining matches resulting. At 5 Robbie Lapsley for the Junior team met Tek Min Ewe and gave a good account of himself despite not feeling at his best, but his older opponent’s greater experience enabled him to take the game 3-0. There was a close and exciting match at 4 between Cristina Cruz for the Juniors and Tom Barker for Crazy Jacks. Barker won the first two sets before Cruz fought back, gaining the third set and the match was settled in the fourth with Barker winning 15-13 to take the match 3-1. At 2 and 3 Calum Larkin and Harrison Callow for the Juniors continued their good run of form, winning their matches 3-0 against Darren Smith and Tom Goodall respectively. This left the fixture balanced at 2-2 with the deciding rubber between Richard Webster at 1 for the Juniors and Matt Ripley for Crazy Jacks. Webster’s much greater experience proved the deciding factor to win the match 3-0 giving an overall 3-2 win for the Juniors.
Up next, Strix Squash Squad faced the Dragons who were as fierce as their name suggests. The more experienced side started off strongly with the Dragon’s Ben Arthur dominating the match with Ewan Cannan. Next, the numbers fours faced off, but with Andrew still underform, he was unable to give it his all and Jamie Biddulph won the match 3-0. In match 3, Sam Elliot started off strongly with a 1-0 lead against Phil Whittam but he could not extinguish the Dragon’s flames and ended up losing 3-1 in a well fought battle. With his confidence up and a level head, the less experienced George Rumney played a daunting foe, Chloe Corrigan. Chloe started strongly with a 2-0 lead but after a pep talk from his coach, George came back to win his first match 3-2 for the Strix Squash Squad. The final match was a classic with Strix’s top player Clare Townsend winning a fantastic first game against the mightiest dragon of the night Stuart Highy. The tables quickly turned and Stuart hit back hard making it 1-1. The next two games were very close but ultimately ended with a 3-1 win to the Dragons after Highy won the final game 15-14.
The next matches of the night were between the Falcons and Hansard Racketeers. After losing 4 regular players from last season, the Falcons continued their rebuilding exercise. Natacha Jones played her first ever league game, showing much potential although she lost 3-0 to Darryl Richards. Falcons pulled two matches through Greg Ansara and Jon Cox who won 3-1 and 3-2 respectively. Racketeers eventually won 3-2 overall with Harry Douthwaite beating Vusimbe Zivave and Steven Wright winning against Adam Jones. With a 100% success so far, Hansard Racketeers are the current leaders in the C league.
Finally, Buchanan & Pitts Misfits took on the experienced Island Exhausts Vets. The night began with Misfits Elliott Henson at no 5 against the Vets unranked Peter Ferguson who is making his squash comeback. Ferguson won in straight games 0-3. String no. 4 saw a 5 set battle between old rivals Misfits Stephen Pitts and Vets Gerrit du Toit. The latter struggled to hit the spot in the 5th game, giving Pitts a rare 3-2 victory against him. Les Callow playing at number 3 string for Vets proved too much for Misfits vice captain and fellow veteran Terry Holt. Callow won convincingly 0-3. The no.1 rankings match, Misfits Dasa Brynjolffssen against Vets Peter Sharples ended with a 3-0 victory to Dasa. The match of the night was between Misfits’ Pat Russell and Vets Mark Stratford at no 2 string. Russell tried to make use of his iconic boasts but after 2 games a piece, Mark Stratford managed to take the edge to win 2-3. Despite Buchanan narrowly losing to Island Exhausts 3-2, Buchanan & Pitts are currently 2nd in the C league and Island Exhausts are very close in 3rd place.