The A league this week saw a close match between StoneArt and Team AON. AON took a 2-0 lead after the first two matches with Mason McLarney and Chris Cave both winning 3-1. However Stoneart’s Hamish Thornton and Lyndon Cheetham made the match score 2-2, with Lyndon Cheetham having a particularly hard fought five games against Nathan Quilliam. It was then up to the number one players, Jason Blue and Robin Crease, to determine the match winners. Jason Blue eventually took the spoils with a 3-0 win, taking the match for Stoneart.
The other League A match, EasyGym v Cannell Print, was a high quality one with the Island’s top four players in action. Island number one Dave Norman proved his standing with a 3-0 win over Ashley Sandyford-Sykes, taking the only win for EasyGym. Tom Whiteway, the island number three beat Malcolm Levy in four close games. Cannell’s Rob Colquit and Mike Hayler both secured 3-1 wins in their matches at five and four respectively. The result of the night though was achieved by the up and coming Ben Peach who beat top ten player Paul Barnett in five very close games.
Outcasts and Crowe Dragons put out very strong sides for the match to decide who will go top of the B League. Outcasts won 4-1 in the end but it was a battle. At one Ben Peach beat Nathan Quilliam for Dragons only win. Liam Davies, Mark Henson and Chris Cave had comfortable wins for Outcasts. but the Dragons captain Jon Shepherd did take a game off his higher ranked opponent Chris Cave. The hardest fought and closest match was between Peter Ginty and Peter Ferguson. Ginty lost the first two games then levelled the match at 2-2 before taking the last game 15-14.
Island Exhausts beat Conister Racketeers Pioneers 4-1 resulting in them being joint second place in the B League table. At one Josh Green had a good 3-0 win over Rob Boyles but the Racketeers evened things up when Dafydd Lewis won 3-0 at second string. The third and fourth string matches went to the Exhausts through 3-1 wins by Peter Sharples and Shaun Callow. So Island Exhausts are still chasing down the league leaders and it is still all to play for in this very competitive league.
Island Exhaust Vets had a good full points victory over Santander Racketeers Academy. The match of the night saw Les Callow and Fraser Dorling battling it out over five games. Trailing by two games Dorling pulled back to 2-2 and then narrowly lost the decider to an ever youthful Callow. It was good to see Lindsey Tickle back on court as she played some trademark quality shots against Richard Cretney, but lacked the fitness to take the match past three games.
Junior Academy and Dandara Falcons had a closely contested match, just edged by Falcons 3-2. Falcons Ian Barnes and Kale Coombes had good 3-0 wins at two and five respectively while at third string Lewi Long lost his first game to the ever improving Harvey Douglas before winning 3-1. Ben Leith and Vusimbe Zivave had a good battle at four with Leith’s greater mobility proving a deciding factor and giving hm the win for Academy 3-1. At one former Sharks team mates Richard Webster and Greg Ansara played out an entertaining match with Webster taking the match 3-0 for the Academy.
Hansard Racketeers beat Jewel Tech 4-1 with some very close fought matches. At two Christian Webster and Matt Corlett went all the way to five games with Corlett just clinching it 15-14 for Racketeers. It was a similar outcome at four but this time Jewel Tech’s Asad Awan won the vital last point against Ben Dalgish. In his first game back from injury, Carl Albright put up a good fight against James Leith at one but lost 3-1. Other wins for Racketeers came from Lucy Kerr and captain Andy Dalrymple.
Browne Craine Dragons and Buchanan & Pitts Misfits had a close and friendly match with the win going to Misfits 3-2. The match of the night was between Alex Cave and Terry Holt who, with very similar styles of play, produced five games of non stop running and entertainment. Holt denied Cave three match points to win the fourth game but Cave fought back and won the fifth and the match. Dragons captain Helen Cave took the other win for Dragons 3-1. However Andy Dixon, John Watterson and Jay Dernie all won their matches convincingly with 3-0 results securing the win for Misifts.