Richie’s Kids triumph in SRA Cup
The SRA Cup was played on Saturday 8th February at the NSC This was a Team Blitz competition using the Monrad format, which means teams get a match every round. It was played by teams of three players, but handicaps were applied to the individual matches. These were calculated using the Squash Levels handicapping method.
The Tournament was well supported with 8 teams which is the ideal number for this type of event. Buchanan & Pitts Misfits entered an A and a B team the Junior Academy entered three teams; Pat’s Team, Ben’s Team and Richie’s Kids. There were also entries from reigning SRA Cup champions Derivco Sharks, ‘B’ league team Outcasts Dragons and a team called All Fun & Games.
In Round 1 the best performances came from Buchanan & Pitts Misfits B team who beat Ben Peach’s Junior Academy team by about 70 points. The Misfits Beth Jones and Allan Walkingshaw did particularly well against their opponents making significant points gains. The closest match of the round was between All Fun & Games (AFG) and Richie’s Kids. AFG’s Lewi Long finished 17 points ahead of his opponent and his team-mate Fatheha Essa ended up 5 points ahead. However Richie’s Kids player Isaac played really well to claw back that 22 point deficit to ensure that the Kids finished the match 4 points ahead of their opponents.
The Semi-Finals saw reigning champions Derivco Sharks take on Richie’s Kids and Buchanan & Pitts Misfits B play Outcasts Dragons. Both these matches were close with the Sharks Dave Freer and Mark Stratford making small 4 point gains on their opponents, however the Kids Isaac Quayle played great squash against his opponent to make a 15 point gain and ensure the kids got a place in the final. Outcasts Dragons Stuart Highy played superb squash to get a 24 point gain on his opponent only to see Allan Walkingshaw make 40 points against his opponent and earn his team, the Misfits, a place in the final. In the 5 to 8 place play off matches there were very good wins for All Fun & Games and Pats Junior Team.
So the final round would result in all the teams being ranked from 1 through to 8 in their finishing places. Ben Peach’s Junior Academy team secured seventh place when they beat Buchanan & Pitts Misfits A team by 19 points with Amaline Batty gaining the biggest margin of 9 points on her opponent in the match. In the 5th/6th place play off Pats Junior Team had a 60 point win over All Fun & Games. This match saw some of the best squash of the tournament as top 10 players Pat Fitzpatrick and Jason Blue battled it out at number one. However the juniors Emma Leith and Callum Larkin gained 17 and 42 points respectively against their opponents which accounted for the big points win.
In the 3rd/4th place play off Derivco Sharks managed to overcome Outcasts Dragons by 11 points thanks mainly to Greg Ansara’s victory. The matches between Dave Freer versus Peter Ginty and Stuart Highy versus Alan McNair were very close but in the third string match Greg won by 13 points to make sure the Sharks came third overall.
The final saw Richie’s Kids take on Buchanan & Pitts Misfits B team. Beth Jones got the Misfits off to a superb start gaining 28 points on her opponent. The Kids Christian Webster reduced the deficit by only 4 points in his match with Stephen Pitts. So the Kids were behind by 24 points going into the third string match between the Kids Isaac Quayle and Misfit Allan Walkingshaw. It seemed like certain victory for Misfits but then the onlookers witnessed a quite outstanding performance by Isaac Quayle who just kept on going against a tiring Allan Walkingshaw, eventually won 77-49 to make the Kids the SRA Cup winners for 2020 by just four points.
SRA Cup Winners – Richie’s Kids
Steve Baker (organiser), Richard Webster (Captain), Isaac Quayle, Les Callow (organiser), Christian Webster, Oliver Wait and Max Birchall
The Tournament was organised by Les Callow and Steve Baker with technical help from Chris Butler and Dave Freer. The Organisers would like to thank the competitors for supporting the event and competing in such a sporting way.