A League
Team AON bounced back from last week’s defeat with a 3-1 win over Crazy Billions and Phil Shaw Vehicles. Mason Mclarney and Daf Lewis both had hard fought 3-2 victories against their opponents, with Liam Davies also providing a great win. Ashley Sandyford-Sykes denied Team AON maximum points with a win at number 1.
A very strong Stone Art Squash team claimed a good win over an under strength Argosy team. Regular Stone Art players Steve Baker and Toby Woolard won 3-0 in the lower order matches. Angus Hopkinson dropped a game in his win over the energetic Dave O’Neill. Argosy Captain Malcolm Levy prevented the clean sweep by claiming a 3-1 victory for the home team. The match score was 14-4 to Stone Art.
The Jaguars put up a valiant fight against table toppers Cannell Print. Tom Whiteway was too much for Jaguar’s number 1 Josh Green, winning 3-1. However, the Jaguars fought back with Lance Wyllie playing some of his best squash to beat Rob Colquit by the same score. Mike Fernandes also found his a game, winning 3-1 and putting the Jaguar’s in a commanding position with just one match remaining.The final match saw Cannell Print’s number 2 Ben Peach win in 3 close sets to give his team the overall win and himself the man of the match award!
Cannell Print are pulling away at the top of the A league. However there are few points between the next 4 teams below them. Next week’s matches could be very interesting!
B League
The Outcasts beat league leaders Sharks 3-2 in a close match. Outcasts’ Mark Henson won against Steve Pitts 3-1 as Steve had to retire in the last game with an ankle injury. Doug Jacobsson of sharks leveled the match with a 3-1 win over Pete Ginty. Dave O’Neill then put Sharks 2-1 up with a comfortable 3-0 win over Rick Hayley. Angus Hopkinson then leveled the match 2-2 with a good 3-0 win over Sharks’ Mark Webster-Smith. Finally Liam Davies sealed the result for Outcasts with a 3-1 win over Alan MacNair.
The current top 3 teams in the B league are Atla Arrows, Derivco Sharks and MES Mavericks.
C League
It was a great evening of matches between Crazy Jack’s and Hansard Racketeers.
There were some impressive rallies between No.4s Tom Barker and Steven Wright but Racketeers’ Steven proved the stronger winning 3-0. Despite some long rallies and tight shots from both No. 3s, Daryl Richards of Racketeers beat Tek Min Ewe 3-0. At No.2, Crazy Jacks’ Mark Goodall, returning from injury, played a strong game but Mark Harrop eventually won 3-1. The first two games between the No 1 players were close but Matt Ripley struggled in the third game with Racketeers’ David Johnson coming out the overall winner 3-0. There were some long rallies In the last match of the night between the No.5 s,Craig Brereton and Andy Dalrymple. However Andy won 3-1, meaning Hansard Racketeers beat Crazy Jacks 5-0.
The next set of matches was between the Dragons and Island Exhaust Vets. For the Dragons at number 5, new recruit Scott made a promising start and took the first game against Gerrit of the Island Exhaust Vets.However the more experienced player regained control for the remainder of the match, winning 3-1. At four and three, Dragons’ Andy McLarney and Jamie Biddulph took on Robert Smith and Mark Grace respectively for the Vets. Despite both matches being full of some fantastic rallies and high scores, both Robert and Mark won 3-0. Number 2 saw Dragons’ Phil Whittam take on Mark Stratford. After a very close first game ending 14-15, Mark fought harder for the remainder to win 3-0. Lastly at number 1, Stuart Highy played Exhausts’ Peter Sharples. The pair often have close matches and this week was no different. However Peter followed the lead of his previous three players winning in just 3 games. Island Exhaust Vets won 5-0 this week and so are currently ranked second in the C league.
The Falcons could only field three players against the Global Monetary Solutions Junior Team thus the latter got 2 automatic wins. At No. 3, Robbie Lapsley of the Juniors continued to improve and showed a better range of shots against Joe Butler for Falcons. Despite the second set being particularly close, Butler’s greater match practice told and he took the match 3-0. At No.2, Harrison Callow for the Juniors came up against Jon Cox for the Falcons. Cox avenged his previous defeat by the Junior and won 3-2, but it was extremely close with the final set going to Cox 15-14. At No. 1 Calum Larkin for the Juniors played against a very determined opponent in Vusi for Falcons. Vusi’s fast and aggressive approach knocked the Junior out of his rhythm and although Larkin tried hard, the match went to the Falcons player 3-0. The Falcons therefore won the fixture 3-2.
The final set of matches on Tuesday night was between Strix Squash Squad and league leaders Buchanan & Pitts. At number 5, Ewan Cannan won his first game for Strix but Buchanans’ Chris Gledhill quickly came back, winning the match 3-1. At Game 2 Elliot Henson’s strong court positioning gave him the advantage and 3-0 win. Both top 2 seeds Ian Barnes and Pat Russell claimed further 3-0 wins for Buchanan & Pitts. The entertaining rallies and good shots between Strix’s Aaron Rumney and Buchanan’s Andy Dixon made it the match to watch. Andy won 3-1. After winning 5-0, Buchanan and Pitts remain the C league leaders.
Island Exhaust Vets (Left to right): Gerrit du Toit, Mark Stratford, Les Callow, Phil Shaw and Pete Sharples.