B League
The 20 March 2023 fixture was the culmination of a full season of blood, sweat and tears, with the league title all hinging on one final evening of matches. Derivco Sharks, who sat at the top of the table entering the fixture, have dominated the B league team for many years, with a squad full of high-ranking veteran players. Debutant team Atla Group Arrows had trailed the Sharks all season and entered the fixture just 4 points behind. With Arrows missing two key members from their team, the outlook of the fixture looked a foregone conclusion. The final matches were Arrows (2nd) vs Outcasts (4th), and Sharks (1st) vs Mavericks (3rd).
At number 5, squash newcomer George Rumney was called up from the C league to substitute for Atla Arrows against the experienced Outcasts player Peter Sharples. With Peter having beaten George 3-0 the week before, getting any points on the board was going to be a challenge. The first game saw Peter start strongly and catch George on the back foot, with some excellent kill shots. However, George warmed into the game quickly and went from strength to strength, taking the second and third games. The fourth game was a real struggle for both players, but George demonstrated great ball placement to move Peter around the court and take the match 3-1, putting a full 3 points on the board for Atla Arrows.
At number 4, Mark Grace stood for Arrows as a substitute against the higher-ranking Outcasts captain, Peter Ginty. The two had a good battle up and down the wall but Mark’s play was too precise, forcing Peter to move around and play awkward shots. Mark simply didn’t put a foot wrong and took the match 3-0, bringing the Arrows points tally to 6.
At number 3, Atla Arrows’ Captain Phil Butler took on Richard Haley. Having met on the squash court only once before, with the victory going 3-0 to Richard, it was going to be a challenge to score points for Arrows. Phil came out of the blocks at speed with some hard hitting squash and managed to catch Richard on the back foot, taking the first 2 games. The pace dropped in the 3rd game and Richard capitalised, moving Phil around the court and clinching the 3rd game to make it 2-1. The Arrows captain came back to the 4th game more focused and managed to take the win, and a further 3 points for the team.
At number 2, Lance Wyllie took on the hard hitting Outcasts’ player Mark Henson. Lance has been playing well and so this looked to be a safe 3 points for Arrows. However, Mark’s power seemed to take Lance by surprise and he managed to clinch the first game 15-14. Lance came back more settled after that and managed to take the next 3 games in a clean sweep, making it 12 on the board for Arrows.
At number 1, youngster Harvey Douglas took on the Outcasts star player Liam Davies. This was a really close match up and both competitors demonstrated excellent tight squash up and down the wall. Liam took the 1st game, but Harvey bounced back and took the 2nd and 3rd. The 4th game went to Liam, pushing it to a tie-breaker 5th game. Both players looked exhausted, but they battled it out with Liam managing to claim the victory 3-2. Harvey added 2 points to board for the Arrows which meant that, with the 5 bonus points, 19 of the maximum 20 were achieved. Arrows couldn’t have done much more.
The league title would come down to the result of the Sharks match against Mavericks. Sharks now needed 15 points to take the win, which they had managed to achieve in 10 of the 15 matches this season.
The fixture started well for Derivco Sharks, with Sharks’ Mark Stratford beating the higher ranked Dave Hedley 3-0, Dave Freer then winning against Magnus Lamprecht 3-1 and Alan Macnair beating Rich Cretney 3-2. It was then the turn of the top two strings, which both went to MES Mavericks 3-0. Mavericks’ Rob Colquitt and Chris Walton played Douglas Jacobsson and Mark Webster Smith respectively. Thus despite Derivco Sharks being victorious, they scored 14 points which was not enough points to prevent Alta Arrows leapfrogging them to win the 2022/2023 B League by just a 1 point margin. Congratulations goes to Atla Arrows for taking the league title, to Derivco Sharks and to all teams for the fantastic effort put into the game over the season. Final scores: Arrows 239, Sharks 238, Mavericks 182, Outcasts 154, Racketeers 143.
A League
Crazy Billions fought hard but ultimately lost to Cannell Print 3-1. The solid wins for Cannell Prints’ Tom Whiteway and Ben Peach were then offset by a good win from Crazy Billions’ James Ramsey before the eventual victory for Cannell Print’s Rob Colquitt.
Team Aon ended the Jaguars’ five game unbeaten run by an overall scoreline of 3-1. Josh, the Jaguars’ captain, won their only match. There was a 5 set thriller between Michael Fernandes and Liam Davies which proved to be one of the matches of the season and was eventually won by Davies. Team Aon are the current leaders in the A league but closely followed by Cannell Print with 10 points difference.
C League
There were several close games in the Island Exhaust Vets vs Hansard Racketeers fixture this week. Firstly, Mark Grace for Vets went two games ahead against Racketeers’ Andy Brown, who then won a very close 3rd game 15-14. However Mark then won the 4th game. Gerrit du Toit managed a 3-0 win over Daryl Richards to give Island Exhaust Vets a 2-0 lead in the fixture. Racketeers’ Dave Johnson was next on court against Vets’ Mark Stratford. Mark had to work hard for his 3-0 win. Les Callow for Vets beat Racketeers Mark Harrop in four very close games. Lastly, Vets’ Pete Sharples won against Racketeers Harry Douthwaite 3-0 to give Island Exhaust Vets a 5-0 match win. With a total of 340 points, the Island Exhaust Vets are the current C league leaders.
Despite the Dragons winning all matches 3-0 against Crazy Jacks, there were some very close and hard fought games. In particular, one tight match was at number 5 between Ben Arthur (Dragons) and Craig Brereton (Crazy Jacks) with two games ending closely at 15-13 to Ben. Another thrilling match was at number 1, Stuart Highy (Dragons) vs Matt Ripley (Crazy Jacks). Matt put up a great fight against the much more experienced Stuart, with some fantastic rallies. This match showcased how much the whole Crazy Jacks team has improved since the start of the season.
Buchanan & Pitts Misfits faced the Falcons this week and the evening started with Pitts’ Terry Holt playing debutant Glen Stewart at no 5 string. Stewart struggled to match the experience of Holt, losing 3-0. At 4, Misfits’ Elliott Henson beat Adam Jones 3-0. Due to current rankings, Pat Russell played down at 3 for Pitts and had a clear 3-0 win over Falcons’ Joe Butler. Misfit’s captain Stephen Pitts and Sarah Simpson for Falcons had some excellent rallies but Pitts eventually won. Ian Barnes made a return appearance for Buchanan & Pitts to play Jon Cox for Falcons. Barnes’s experience and skill led him to victory. The final score was Buchanan & Pitts Misfits 5-0 Falcons.
This week saw the Global Monetary Solutions Juniors compete against Strix Squash Squad. The first match was between Strix’s Andrew Igoea and Richard Webster. Richard’s experience and advantage on the backhand led him to win 3-0. Match 2 between Sam Elliot and Junior’s Harrison Callow had some close games with great rallies. Harrison’s drive technique was very good, which gave him the first two games but Sam came out fighting for the third and managed to get a win. Nevertheless Harrison re-focused in the final game giving the second match to the Juniors. The next match was between the number 2 seeds, Strix’s Clare Townsend and Callum Larkin. Despite Clare hitting some tough drop shots and taking an early lead, Callum’s excellent drives and quick court movement gave him the advantage to win 3-0. In the final match, Strix’s number 1 George Rumney took a 2-0 lead over Emma Leith. The third game was very intense with some long rallies but Emma managed to win 15-14. George struggled in the next two games which gave Emma an amazing comeback. The final score was 3-2 to Emma which meant that the Juniors won 4-1 as they lacked a fifth player to go against Ewan Cannan for number 5 seed.
With the A and C league still having some more matches left, it will be interesting to see if Team Aon and Island Exhaust Vets can hold their top places or whether another team will overtake them at the last minute like the victorious Atla Arrows.
Atla Arrows (left to right): Michael Fernandes, Phil Butler, Lance Wyllie, Harvey Douglas and Macklin Wilson