A League:
This week’s match between league leaders Cannell Print and Stone Art Squash Team was decided by just 4 points. It was tied at 2-2 in rubbers, 8-8 in games but Stone Art won by a points score of 161-157. There were some tremendous performances by players on both teams. Stone Art player Lyndon Cheetham, just coming back from an injury break, did very well to beat Damien Loughrey, a player ranked above him. Toby Woolard had a super match against Cannell’s Ben Peach with 4 games going to 12-10, but Ben Peach eventually won by a score of 3-2.
Lower ranked Jaguars stormed to victory against an under strength 2nd in the league Argosy team with all four matches going their way 3-0. Man of the match went to Lance Wyllie for showing a real killer touch in a convincing win.
B League:
MES Mavericks started last week’s matches 2-0 down against Outcasts due to only being able to field 3 players. These 3 players therefore had to win their matches for the Mavericks to take the fixture. First up, Mavericks’ Rich Cretney beat Peter Ginty 3-1. Next Magnus Lamprecht beat Outcasts’ Mark Henson to gain the Mavericks second win. The final match was close between the number 1’s. Outcast’s Liam Davies almost got the better of Chris Walton with some great drop shots and tight lines. However, Chris was able to get the deciding points to win the match 3-0. The overall score was 3-2 to the Mavericks.
C league:
In the first match of the Buchanan & Pitts Misfits vs Hansard Racketeers fixture, Anthony Bentley-Roberts for Misfits, returning after a 3 year break, quickly found his feet and managed to take all 3 games against Steven Wright. Next at 4th String, Chris Gledhill struggled to get going and lost the game 0-3 to Racketeers’ Daryl Richards. There was an experienced battle between Terry Holt (Misfits) and Mark Harrop at 3rd string. Holt, who had been out of the game for a few months, lost to Harrop 1-3. At number 2, Misfits’ Andy Dixon had a close match against ever improving David Johnson but won 3-0. The top spot was between Pat Russell and Racketeers’ Lucy Kerr. Russell took the first 2 games before Kerr responded with a win in the 3rd. However, Russell managed to clinch the 4th game to win 1-3. The final score was Buchanan & Pitts Misfits 3 – 2 Hansard Racketeers.
This week Island Exhaust Vets went top of Division C with a 5-0 win over Falcons, making it a 6-week winning streak for Exhausts. A special mention goes to Falcon’s Vincent Nyawai who had his first ever squash league game.
The Dragons took 3-0 wins in positions 3 to 5 in their fixture against Global Monetary Juniors. However all three Juniors finished their games with some high scores which shows how much they are improving. In first and second positions, the Dragons both won 3-1 after more lengthy and close scoring games, meaning a 5-0 win overall.
The final set of matches was between Strix Squash Squad and Crazy Jacks. At number 5, Tom Barker won 3-1 for Crazy Jacks and at number 3, Darren Smith won 3-2 after 5 long games meaning Crazy Jacks were 2-0 up. Next at number 2, Strix’s Andrew Igoea played hard hitter Mark Goodall. This was the second 5 game match of the night. Eventually both players tired with Andy managing to overcome to get the first win 3-2 for Strix. At number 4, it was the second match this season between Ewan Cannan and Tek Min Ewe so the stakes were high. After one game a piece, game 3 went to a sudden death point and Ewan pulled ahead. Both players worked hard with some great rallies and shots but Ewan got his first victory for the Strix team, winning 3-2. The final match of the night was between Aaron Rumney, who was playing his first time as number 1 and Crazy Jack’s captain Matt Ripley. Aaron’s stamina and speed led him to a 3-1 win and therefore an overall 3-2 win to Strix.
Dragons (Left to Right): Andy Mclarney, Stuart Highy, Phil Whittam, Beth Jones, Jamie Biddulph. Team members not pictured: Ben Arthur and Scott Jones.