A league

After a two-week break, Cannell Print returned to take on Global Monetary Solutions Junior Academy in Isle of Man Squash Rackets Association’s A League last week.

Damien Loughrey and Rob Colquitt of Cannell Print earned 3-0 wins over Ben Leith and not so junior Richard Cretney.

Thomas Whiteway and Ben Peach had closer battles with Patrick Fitzpatrick and Harvey Douglas respectively but both still gained 3-1 wins to seal maximum points for Cannell Print.

After winning all their previous weeks’ matches, Cannell Print are the current leaders of the A League.

Team AON also produced a strong performance to beat Stone Art 16-3. The latter were without their number one player so they all had to move up one spot from their normal playing positions.

Liam Davies and Jason Crease of Team AON both got 3-0 wins but Doug Jacobsson pushed Davies all the way with two scorelines of 15-13 in his 3-0 loss.

Dafydd Lewis had a five-game match with Lyndon Cheetham of Stone Art, with Lewis’s accuracy on the big points eventually making the difference.

Mason McLarney lost the first game to Stone Art skipper Steve Baker, but his youth and pace proved decisive as Baker tired and he took the next three games.

The AON seniors were back to winning ways, securing maximum points against a weakened Stone Art team.

Finally, Crazy Billions and Argosy faced off with both teams missing key players.

Argosy started strongly with a 3-0 for Paul Barnett but Crazy Billions eventually won the fixture, with the finest performance of the night going to David Freer who sealed the victory. Match score was 3-1.

After four weeks of matches, the top three teams of the league are Cannell Print, Crazy Billions and Argosy respectively.

B League

First up, Derivco Sharks took on the Outcasts in a closely-fought match full of drama, with Sharks’ Greg Ansara leaving the courts in a wheelchair after rupturing his Achilles tendon.

This occurred in the fifth game of the fifth string, which Pat Russell went on to win by default (he was also in the lead at the time that his opponent had to withdraw).

In the fourth string, Dave O’Neill of Sharks proved too strong for Peter Sharples as he won 3-0.

The third string saw a much closer match than the 3-0 scoreline would indicate, with Richard Haley of Outcasts showing all of his skills in an attempt to outwit Douglas Jacobsson. In the second string Dave Freer and Mark Hensen fought it out over five games, Freer taking the decisive last game.

In the top string, Outcasts’ Liam Davies proved too strong for Allister Crossley with a victory in three straight games.

So overall a good win for Derivco Sharks marred by the loss of Ansara to the team for some weeks to come.

In the other night’s set of matches, fifth string Alta Group Arrows’ Phil Butler took on Andrew Brown of Racketeers. Although both players played nice squash down the wall, Butler proved too strong for his opponent this time, winning the match 3-0.

Fourth string saw Mike Fernandes of Alta against James Leith. This was a tricky match for both players, but the former’s power hitting proved too much for Leith as Fernandes went on to win 3-0.

At number three, Atla Arrows player Macklin Wilson struggled against Marc Taggart. He managed to take a game and almost overturn the match but Taggart held strong for a 3-1 win.

At number two, Harvey Douglas of Alta took on Baillie Watterson with the former provey to be too good and winning 3-0.

The number one match proved the closest of the night when Atla Arrows player Lance Wyllie met Fraser Dorling of Racketeers.

Rallies were long, frantic and extremely close with neither wanting to concede a single point. Dorling eventually got the better of Wyllie, winning three of the four very close games.

Alta Group Arrows won the night 3-2.

C league

In the C League the Dragons were missing their number one seed, meaning all players had to play up against a strong Buchanan and Pitts team.

Despite some good games and some brilliant rallies, the strength and experience of the latter side proved too much for the Dragons, with each match finishing 3-0, leaving Buchanan and Pitts to take the maximum number of points.

Next saw Crazy Jacks facing the Falcons for the first time this season. First up was Tek Min Ewe for Crazy Jacks against Joe Butler.

The former continued to prove he is a force to be reckoned with, giving the more experienced Butler an exciting match but the latter was the stronger of the two and won the match 3-1.

Craig Brereton then played Falcons’ Natacha Jones, with Brereton claiming his first league match win 3-0.

Despite Tom Barker for Crazy Jacks putting up a good fight against Falcons last minute substitute Kevin Cretney, the latter ultimately won 3-0.

The next match was a battle of the hard-hitters, Mark Goodall for Crazy Jacks and Falcons’ Adam Jones, with the latter winning 3-0.

The final match saw Darren Smith for Crazy Jacks face Falcons’ Sarah Simpson. The more experienced player Simpson made short work of the first game before Smith settled into the next two games to challenge his opponent, but Simpson ultimately won 3-0.

Both teams seemed equally matched for team spirit and enjoyed a fun-filled night of laughs.

The next set of matches were between Island Exhaust Vets and Strix Squash Squad.

Carl Owen for Strix played in his first team game against Vets’ Phil Shaw and the latter used his experience to win 3-0.

Mark Grace, Les Callow and Mark Stratford of Vets all won their next matches 3-0 too. Last on court and what proved to be the match of the night was Peter Sharples for Vets against Clare Townsend for Strix.

The latter showed her nerves in the first game but started playing well in the second and third games, only losing the second on a sudden death point at 14-14 and the third by a few points. The very strong Island Exhaust Vets team took a 5-0 win on the night.

Hansard Racketeers continued their winning streak, staying at the top of the league after winning 4-1 against Global Monetary Solutions Junior team.