A league
After a two week break, Cannell Print returned to take on Global Monetary Solutions Junior Academy. Damien Loughrey and Rob Colquitt of Cannell Print earned 3-0 wins over Ben Leith and not so junior Richard Cretney. Thomas Whiteway and Ben Peach had closer battles with Patrick Fitzpatrick and Harvey Douglas respectively but both still gained 3-1 wins to seal maximum points for Cannell Print. After winning all their previous weeks’ matches, Cannell Print are the current leaders of the A league.
Team AON also produced a strong performance to beat Stone Art 16-3. Stone Art were without their number 1 player so they all had to move up one spot from their normal playing positions. Liam Davies and Jason Crease of Team AON both got 3-0 wins but Doug Jacobsson pushed Davies all the way with 2 score lines of 15-13 in his 3-0 loss. Dafydd Lewis had a five game match with Lyndon Cheetham of Stone Art. Dafydd’s accuracy on the big points, eventually made the difference. Mason McLarney lost the first game to Stone Art skipper Steve Baker, but his youth and pace proved decisive as Baker tired and he took the next 3 games. The AON Seniors were back to winning ways, securing maximum points against a weakened Stone Art team.
Finally, Crazy Billions and Argosy faced off with both teams missing key players. Argosy started strongly with a 3-0 for Paul Barnett but Crazy Billions eventually won the fixture with the finest performance of the night going to David Freer who sealed the victory. Match score was 3-1.
After 4 weeks of matches, the top 3 teams of the league are Cannell Print, Crazy Billions and Argosy respectively.
B league
First up, Derivco Sharks took on the Outcasts. A closely fought match full of drama, with Sharks’ Greg Ansara leaving the courts in a wheelchair after rupturing his Achilles Tendon. This occurred in the 5th game of the 5th string, which Pat Russell went on to win by default (he was also in the lead at the time that Greg had to withdraw). In the 4th String, Dave O’Neill of Sharks proved too strong for Peter Sharples, who won 3-0. The 3rd string saw a much closer match than the 3-0 scoreline would indicate with Richard Haley of Outcasts showing all of his skills in an attempt to outwit Douglas Jacobsson. In the 2nd string Dave Freer and Mark Hensen fought it out over 5 games with Dave taking the decisive last game. In the top string, Outcasts’ Liam Davies proved too strong for Allister Crossley, with a victory in 3 straight games. So overall a good win for Derivco Sharks marred by the loss of Greg to the team for some weeks to come.
In the other night’s set of matches, 5th string Alta Group Arrows’ Phil Butler took on Andrew Brown of Racketeers. Although both players played nice squash down the wall, Phil proved too strong for Andrew this time winning the match 3-0. 4th string saw Mike Fernandes of Alta against James Leith. This was a tricky match for both players, but Mike’s power hitting proved too much for James, and Mike went on to win 3-0. At number 3, Atla Arrows player Macklin Wilson struggled against Marc Taggart. He managed to take a game and almost overturn the match but Marc held strong for a 3-1 win. At 2 Harvey Douglas of Alta took on Baillie Watterson with Harvey provey to be too good and winning 3-0. The number 1 match proved the closest of the night. Atla Arrows player Lance Wyllie met Fraser Dorling of Racketeers. Rallies were long, frantic and extremely close with neither wanting to concede a single point. Fraser eventually got the better of Lance winning 3 of the 4 very close games. Well done to Alta Group Arrows who won the night 3-2.
C league
In the C league, the Dragons were missing their number one seed, meaning all players had to play up this week against a strong Buchanan & Pitts team. Despite some good games and some brilliant rallies, the strength and experience of Buchanan & Pitts proved too much for the Dragons with each match finishing 3-0, leaving Buchanan & Pitts to take the maximum number of points this week.
Next saw Crazy Jacks facing the Falcons for the first time this season. First up was Tek Min Ewe for Crazy Jacks against Joe Butler. Tek continuing to prove he is a force to be reckoned with giving the more experienced Joe an exciting match. However Joe was the stronger of the two winning the match 3-1. Craig Brereton then played Falcons’ Natacha Jones, with Craig claiming his first league match win over Natacha 3-0. Despite Tom Barker for Crazy Jacks putting up a good fight against Falcons last minute substitute Kevin Cretney, Kevin ultimately won 3-0. The next match was a battle of the hard hitters, Mark Goodall for Crazy Jacks and Falcons’ Adam Jones. Adam won the match 3-0. The final match saw Darren Smith for Crazy Jacks face Falcons’ Sarah Simpson. The more experienced player Sarah made short work of the first game but Darren then settled into the next two games challenging Sarah. However, ultimately Sarah won 3-0. Both teams seemed equally matched for team spirit and enjoyed a fun filled night of laughs.
The next set of matches were between Island Exhaust Vets and Strix Squash Squad. Carl Owen for Strix played in his first ever team game against Island Exhausts Vets’ Phil Shaw. Phil used his experience to win 3-0. Mark Grace, Les Callow and Mark Straford of Vets all won their next matches 3-0 too. Last on court and what proved to be the match of the night was Peter Sharples for Island Exhaust vets against Clare Townsend for Strix. Clare showed her nerves in the first game but started playing well in the second and third games, only losing the second on a sudden death point at 14-14 and the third by a few points. The very strong Island Exhaust vets team took a 5-0 win on the night.
Hansard Racketeers continued their winning streak, staying at the top of the league, after winning 4-1 against Global Monetary Solutions Junior team.