A League
The Jaguar’s winning run continued as they beat an under strength Stone Art squash team. Jaguar’s Macklin Wilson used all his speed and fitness to win against his more experienced opponent Peter Ginty and Lance Wylie beat his arch nemesis Fraser Dorking of Stone Art. Man of the match goes to Stone Art’s Marc Henson who won 3-0 against his higher ranked opponent Mike Fernandes despite losing to that scoreline just a few weeks ago.
Cannell Print continued to push ahead at the top of the league with a 4-0 victory against Argosy. Malcolm Levy offered some resistance at No.1, but was outlasted by a much fitter Thom Whiteway, who won 3-2. Argosy failed to collect any further games, despite the welcome return of Steve Morley from injury. Cannell Print now lie comfortably ahead of Team AON in second place, and newcomers Josh’s Jaguars in third.
A League current leaders: Cannell Print (160 points), Team AON (143 points) and Josh’s Jaguars (124 points)
B League
In the first set of fixtures, Atla Group Arrows beat Outcasts by 4-1. Liam Davies won 3-2 for Outcasts in a good match against Harvey Douglas. Pete Sharples of Outcasts pushed Phil Butler all the way by going 2-0 up but then lost 3-2. Atla’s Macklin Wilson beat Stuart Highy 3-1. Atlas’ Lance Whyllie and Michael Fernandes beat their opponents 3-0.
In line with previous fixtures, it was a close result between MES Mavericks and Derivco Sharks. The Shark’s Mark Webster-Smith won 3-0 with some beautifully tight squash to beat Chris Walton at first string. At second string, Douglas Jacobsson played a superb match, never quite letting the Maverick’s Magnus Lamprecht get into his stride, and won 3-0. Rich Cretney won a hotly contested match 3-0 at third string against Dave Freer, chalking up a match for the Mavericks. At 4th string, the Shark’s Alan Macnair beat Dave Hedley 3-0, and at 5th string, Dasa Brynjolffssen pulled a match back for the Mavericks as she beat an ever-improving Jamie Biddulph 3-1. The fixture ended 3-2 overall to the league leaders Sharks, who remain the team to beat.
B League current leaders: Derivco Sharks (174 points), Alta Group Arrows (173 points) and MES Mavericks (130 points)
C League
Crazy Jack’s struggled again to field a full team against Buchanan & Pitts, so only 4 games were played. There were some great rallies and impressively placed shots between the No.4s, Tom Barker and Tony Bentley-Roberts but Pitts’ Tony proved the stronger winning 3-0. At No.2, Mark Goodall’s hard hitting shots produced a good fight with all 3 games being close with high points for both players but Stephen Pitts just edged each game with his well placed shots to win 3-0 again for Buchanan & Pitts. At No.3, Andy Dixon proved too strong with his shot placement and finishes, winning 3-0 despite Crazy Jack’s Darren Smith giving a good fight. Lastly there were close games between Crazy Jacks’ Matt Ripley and Pat Russell but Pat was overall winner 3-0. Crazy Jacks lost 5-0 to Buchanan & Pitts.
The Juniors faced a tough assignment against league leaders Island Exhausts, but showed great fighting spirit and skill against much more experienced opponents. At No. 5 Cristina Cruz for Academy faced Phil Shaw for the Vets and played some of her best squash of this season. Although Shaw won the match 3-0 , all the games were very close and with more practice Cristina will be soon taking more sets off her opponents. At No. 4 Robbie Lapsley for the Academy played the experienced Gerrit Du Toit who won the match 3-0. However Robbie fought hard and will benefit from such games. Harrison Callow, at 3 for Academy, played the Vet’s Robert Smith, whose quality of shot belied his ranking. The match was won 3-0 by Smith, but Harrison contested every rally whole heartedly and forced some errors from a player who has played at a much higher level in the past. Richard Webster, at 2 for Academy, came up against a familiar foe in Mark Grace for the Vets. The first game was very close with Grace winning 15-14. Grace won the match 3-0. The best game of the evening came in the final match between Calum Larkin for Academy and Peter Sharples for Island Vets. Sharples took the first two games before Larkin fought back to win the third game 15-14. Sharples used his experience and court craft to win the final game and therefore the match 3-1.
Strix Squash Squad played Hansard Racketeers this week. Firstly Mark Harrop at No.4 for Hansard played an improving Sam Elliot. It was a titanic tussle with Sam winning the odd games and then Mark pegging back. Mark’s experience told in the decider though, with a 15-9 victory to take the match 3-2. Top seeds Andy Brown and Clare Townsend played the #1 battle out; Strix player Clare’s dogged determination wore down Andy, with her clinically accurate hitting moving him around the court. The first two games were dominated by her, but with Andy threatening a comeback in the third, the last point went her way to take the game 15-14 and match 3-0. Middle ranking David Johnson played guesting Ben Arthur kindly loaned by Falcons for the night. It was a tough ask for Ben, but he fought bravely, gaining extra points in each game, but went down 3-0 to the Hansard teamster. Next up Racketeer Daryl Richards took on Strix’ Carl Owen. As often happens at #5, there were some unconventional rallies, but a very competitive match began fairly level at 1-1. Daryl’s know-how then began to shine through taking the next games to win 3-1. Last to play were Hansard’s Harry Douthwaite up against Aaron Rumney. Significantly improving Aaron fought well, pinching a very tight third game, but power play by Harry ensured that he took the win 3-1 and gave the Racketeers a 4-1 victory.
C League Leaders: Island Exhaust Vets (246 points), Buchanan & Pitts (239 points) and Hansard Racketeers (204 points).
Derivco Sharks (left to right): Douglas Jacobsson, Mark Webster-Smith, David Freer, and Alan Macnair. Missing: Allister Crossley, Dave O’Neill, Greg Ansara and Mark Stratford.