League A
Cannell Print made it 4 wins out of 4 weeks of matches with a convincing 15-4 victory over Stone Art Squash Team. They thus remain top of the A league, 14 points ahead of Argosy and Team Aon. Cannell Print’s captain Thom Whiteway and number 3 Damien Loughrey both won without dropping a game. Loughrey played particularly well beating his higher ranked opponent and Ben Peach dropped just 1 game in his victory over Toby Woolard. The match of the night was between IOM squash stalwarts Rob Colquitt and Lyndon Cheetham. Stone Art team sponsor Cheetham won 3-2 in a very hard fought match.
The second set of matches was between newcomers Josh’s Jaguars and Argosy. Josh’s Jaguars had a strong outing, making it their second win in a row as the team grows in confidence. Macklin Wilson, Al Crossley and Josh Green all secured victories against Dave Hedley, Dave O’Neil and Malcolm Levy respectively, with Paul Barnet’s match against Shaun Wyllie the only win for Argosy.
Team Aon took on Global Monetary Solution Junior Academy. Aon won 3-1, making them 3rd in the A League.
A huge congratulations to both Cannell Print’s Damien Loughrey and Ben Peach who are currently leading the overall individual points contribution in the A League.
League B
On Monday night, Alta Group Arrows beat Outcasts 4-1 with the closest match ending 3-2 to Liam Davies of Outcasts against Lance Wylie. Peter Sharples lost 3-1 to Macklin Wilson of Atla Group but the games were closer than the result suggests. Alta comfortably won each of the other 3 matches 3-0, meaning they are currently ranked 2nd in the league. A special mention to Alta’s captain Phil Butler who is leading the overall individual points contribution in the B league.
Having both won their previous weeks of matches, the Dervico Sharks and the Nedbank Supernovas met in a top of the table clash. After some late injury-related changes the Supernovas welcomed Andy Brown as a reserve. He played in at 4 and doggedly fought his way back against Dave O’Neill, after Dave sped to a 2-0 lead. Ultimately, Dave came through victorious, winning 3-1. A similar fixture developed at third string with Douglas Jacobsen getting to a 2-0 lead before Dasa Brynjolffssen of Nedbank Supernovas dug her heels in in game three to narrow his lead. He played a great fourth game however and won 3-1. Nedbank Supernova’s Clare Townsend repeated her previous hard working performance at 5, but just couldn’t get to some of Mark Stratford’s excellent drop shots were spot on. Mark won 3-0. At number 1, Mark Webster-Smith of Sharks put in an excellent performance, never really allowing Rob Colquitt to get into his stride and won 3-0. The tightest match in the fixture was a 3-2 thriller at second string. Allister Crossley of Sharks narrowly beat Magnus Lamprecht in the fifth. Dervico Sharks’ strong performance on Monday demonstrated that they are the team to beat, being the current league leaders.
League C
In the C league, Buchanan & Pitts Misfits fielded a really strong team for their table topping clash with Hansard Racketeers. A surprise appearance for Ste Pitts at 5 saw a boisterous match against Racketeers’ Daryl Richards, with Ste taking all 3 games for a Misfit victory. David Johnson met a classy Andy Dixon, stealing a game and showing a few promising shots before succumbing to the very experienced Misfits player 3-1. At 3, once more experience told as Mark Harrop took on Patric Russell, the home side again won one game, but Patric’s higher ranking play prevailed for a 3-1 victory. Wily Ian Barnes for the Misfits used his guile to overcome Racketeer Harry Douthwaite with a consistent performance at 2. The finest squash was however on display in the top seed clash between Andrew Brown for the home side and Dasa Brynjolffssen. Andrew edged the first game 15-14, with Dasa hitting back taking the next two before Andrew leveled strongly in the fourth. Dasa however won the 5th game to complete a clean sweep for the Misfits to place them to top of the C League.
The Global Monetary Solutions Junior Team continued their campaign against Dragons although both teams were suffering from player unavailability. At 4 for the Juniors Cai Lewis, an Academy player from two years ago now at school in England, took on seasoned campaigner Helen Cave. Lewis’s youth and mobility gave him the edge to win the match 3-0 despite a valiant effort from Cave. Elliot Henson guested for Juniors at 3, taking advantage of the new pool system, and played Scott Jones for the Dragons. This was an entertaining match with some good rallies, but Henson’s greater match practice proved decisive to win the contest 3-1.
Calum Larkin at 2 for the Juniors met the experienced Andy McLarney for the Dragons. This was the best match of the night with some excellent rallies and although Larkin won 3-0, McLarney performed strongly and forced the younger player to produce some of his best squash. The final tie was between Junior coach Richard Webster and Jamie Biddulph for the Dragons, a player who is in his first league season. Unsurprisingly, Webster’s experience gave him an advantage enabling him to win 3-0. Due to non availability of players the game at 5 was conceded by the Juniors so the final result was a 4-1 victory for Global Monetary Solutions Juniors Team.
Next up, the home team Crazy Jacks faced Strix Squash Squad for the first time this season in a battle at the bottom of the league. In the first match between Craig Brereton and Carl Owens, there was lots of running and a fairly even game with Carl of Strix coming out on top 3-0. Next to play were Tek Min Ewe vs Ewan Cannan. After a solid first game and despite a good strong battle for the next two games, Tek of Crazy Jacks won 3-0. Third up were top ranked players, Darren Smith and George Rumney of Strix. Some impressive technical shots and serving errors led to a close first game. Once George got into his stride the second and third games came quicker, leading to a 3-0 win for George. Next up was Crazy Jack’s Tom Barker vs Andy Igoea. After a close first game and the next two games having some great rallies, Andy won 3-0. Lastly was Mark Goodall vs Aaron Rumney. Despite some hard hitting shots throughout from Crazy Jack’s Mark, Aaron’s athleticism proved to be the winning factor, leading to a 3-0 victory. Overall Strix won 4-1 against Crazy Jacks, making it Strix’s first win of the season.
Lastly, the Falcons were at home against a strong Island Exhaust team. Island Exhaust were 4-1 victors, however there were some very good games. At no.1 Phil Butler of Falcons came from behind to beat Peter Sharples 3-1. At no. 2 Falcon’s Vusi Zivave played strongly especially in the first game against the veteran Mark Stratford but ultimately lost 3-1. At no 3 the seasoned Mark Grace of Island Exhausts beat John Cox 3-0. Falcon’s Adam Jones and Joe Butler also lost to Garett du Toit and Robert Smith respectively to round up the night.
Well done to Buchanan & Pitts’ Dasa Brynjolffssen and Island Exhausts’ Mark Stratford who are both leading the overall individual points contribution in the C League.