At this time of the year there is a chance to take some time off and reflect on the past 12 months. We hope you take this time to refresh your body and mind and then to come back next year so that we can improve on our good results this year.
So if you are going away, please drive carefully and come back in one piece.
Best wishes to you and your family from the Chamber Exiles Squash Club
Last match reports of the season.
Well done to Ladies 4th League 02 who won the league by a mile, not losing a match all season.
Also to the Mens 1st league, who had a superb season losing only once - narrowly to Parkview.
Also 2nd were the Ladies 3rd league.
A couple of thirds were 3rd and 5th (G-team) leagues.
Well done to everybody who competed this season and especial thanks to the Captains for organising so efficiently
Well done to Ladies 4th League 02 who won the league by a mile, not losing a match all season.
Also to the Mens 1st league, who had a superb season losing only once - narrowly to Parkview.
Also 2nd were the Ladies 3rd league.
A couple of thirds were 3rd and 5th (G-team) leagues.
Well done to everybody who competed this season and especial thanks to the Captains for organising so efficiently
2nd LEAGUE vs Parkview
We played Parkview at Parkview for our last match of the season, and used the green dot ball. For some of us, for the first time ever.
Gary played first against a much younger opponent, got a hiding in the first game, but got to grips of the bounce of the strange ball and won the next three.
Stan played next against Steph, won the first comfortably, but then lost the next two. Thankfully Stan managed to keep the ball going and wore Steph down (15-13 in the 5th).
Willem was next up against Adam, won the first but then struggled for the next three. Getting married takes it out of you.
Last up was Jeff, but no good. Jeff hasn’t been playing much singles, is struggling with a knee problem and a sore hamstring. He didn’t win a game.
So we managed 7 points for the night; which puts us 2 points behind the 2nd placed Wits. Wits and us each have 1 more result to submit, if ours is 3 points more than theirs, we come second.
1) Stan 3-2
2) Willem 1-3
3) Gary 3-1
4) Jeff 0-3
Match result : 7 - 11
4th League vs Wanderers
Finally a great team performance in the final game of the season, albeit against fairly weak opposition. Dave played Brian still not 100% fit, gave a game away in winning comfortable 3-1. Ryan had is usual slug fest coming out on top this time, winning 3-2, Flip had a competitive match, played well for a 3-1 win, Vevek won easily against a demoralised opponent 3-0.
Final Result
Ryan 3-2
Vevek 3-0
Flip 3-1
Dave 3-1
Match result : 16 - 4
5th League “the G Team” vs Alberton
The last match and the G-team played TOP of the table Alberton having lost to them by 1 game in the 1st round. REVENGE WAS SWEET. This was a Great, Gigantic Glorious victory
First on was BigG, continuing his fine end of season form (peaking for Summer League as usual) and despite a 1 game aberration set the evening off well with a 3-1 win. Even another groin injury in the 4th wasn’t going to stop BigG.
kpmGrumpy on next against a classy opponent. KpmG’s power was awesome in the 1st but gradually class took over and a 1-3 loss left the match level. At least there were no F-bombs this week.
LG started slowly, VERY SLOWLY and was soon 2-0 down. However a few heated discussions with the ref seemed to pump LG up and demoralize Shaun, his oppo, (he had a very strange interpretation of the rules which said if you didn’t hit the ball you couldn’t get a let). 3 easyish games later saw a fine 3-2 victory for LG.
That left G-spot with the heavy burden of winning the match – only a victory would do. An imperious first game was followed by a close 2nd game loss - followed by another imperious game and another close game loss to leave it at 2-2. The fifth went down to the wire and of course 14-all was reached. A 500 shot rally was finished with a perfect drop and then a perfect drive to the back corner eventually finished off the match. A very entertaining (apparently) 3-2 win.
This result could have robbed Alberton of the title as Wanderers were only 5 points behind going into this match. To date the final results have not been posted.
Match result : 13 - 8
6th League A vs Wanderers
Gavin up first, went down 1 - 3 to a smoking/drinking Louis. That's just not right.
Stuart nearly triumphed but (according to his oppononet) one tinned drop saw him losing 2 - 3.
Manie the prodigal son returnethed to the team with aplomb to win 3 - 0.
Gerhand "the banker" had end of season fatigue and succumbed quietly 0 - 3.
Wanderers pub afterwards for great pizza's, steaks and beers.
.
Match result : 6 - 12
6th B League vs Wits
For the final game there were indeed surprises at hand. Phil arrived early – this has never happened before and it’s likelihood is on par with that of the Dalai Lama being allowed entry into the country. Hell has officially frozen over. Wits almost didn’t arrive at all. By 6:45 there was no sign of an opponent and we resorted to internal round robin. Just as we’d tired ourselves out, lo and behold, the Clever Boys made an appearance.
With 2 courts on simultaneously it was Nigel vs Halil on one side and Mark vs Shawn on the other. Halil’s shots were just too tight for Nigel and apart from some reprisal in the third game the result was never in doubt. 1 – 3 down. Mark reversed the scoreline in his game – didn’t get to see it, but it appears that Mark’s performance was stellar against a handy opponent, moving well, playing a good line and not giving anything away. A good 3 – 1 win for Mark in the final game of the season.
Next on was Phil vs Dhiren. Obviously Phil’s coaching lessons have been paying off and he was in control from the start. No real chance for Dhiren. Phil was devious and clinical. 3-0 in short order.
Finally Bruce vs Roland. Despite giving away more points than he should have, Bruce played plenty well enough to cruise to a 3 – 0 win. And, in so doing, he ends the season with only a single loss from 14 matches. Almost as good a record as Nic Papa.
Then it was off to the Doppio to end off with the last supper. Good win and good meal to end the season.
Match score: 13 - 4
7th A League vs. Snot-snivellers
Last match of the season and a home derby! (I better write this up before I forget.)
As is customary we played at CCJ (go figure). Six matches were arranged and eventually everyone pitched up. The 4 matches that count were randomly drawn at the ensuing dinner.
George Bowen, as is also customary, arranged to play early against Pete Fillmore.
Guess what, the result was the usual, Pete won. I don't think George has ever beaten Pete in a home derby.
Paul Fallon faced up against Graham Vermaak and a weary looking Graham succumbed to some good court coverage from Paul.
All square at this stage.
Gary D'Alessandro, famous for his TV ads and occassional brilliant squash shots, was up against Pete Le Roux.
Sadly for the A team, despite some uncharacteristic unforced errors, Pete played a solid match to give the snot snivellers the lead.
But then Mike Hunt went on against Chris van Zyl! Mike found some form (at last) and gave us the only fair and just outcome.
The A team rules!
7A 7B
George 1 Pete F 3
Paul F 3 Graham V 1
Gary D 1 Pete lR 3
Mike H 3 Chris vZ 0
So what about the other matches? I hear you ask. Well, Nic the Greek, who swears he has never lost to a snot sniveller, lost to Diggers (1-3) and Steph lost a closish encounter to Dave H (2-3). So I suppose some might argue that the B team did not have the luck of the draw. Shame.
The pub dinner was attended by most of the participants, with George's heartwarming speech relinquishing Captainship to a stunned looking Gary, being one of the evenings many highlights.
Regards,
Steph.
Match score: 10 - 7
9th LEAGUE vs Wendywood
Stratford won 3-2
Gabriel lost 2-3
Roger lost 0-3
Sean lost 2-3
Match result : 7 - 14
10th LEAGUE vs Suburbs
The last match of the 2011 season. We had a disappointing second half and slipped in the log to 4th (maybe 5th as Edenvale have outstanding results).
Our whole squad turned up last night – even Keith Arnott with his broken body! – to either play or support and a final dinner at Doppio 0 in Greenside at which we reciprocated by hosting the full, jovial Suburbs team. It’s a pity that more clubs don’t encourage the social side of league squash.
Another notable thing was that our team again all played in the current (DStv sponsored) Chamber shirts as we have mostly during the season.
We played Southern Suburbs whose points tally had by last week already won them the 10th League title for 2011.
No1 – Brian. Although he gave his all, Brian was no match for his opponent and lost 0/3. The score, Dear Reader, belies the match as Brian scored 37 points to his opponents 45. If he could have taken the third I strongly suspect he would have been in with a chance.
No2 – Johan. Got off to a slow start and was soon down 0/2. Made a concerted effort in the third game but succumbed losing 13/15 to go down 0/3. Johan is very competitive and each point won by him was worth a celebration by the crowd, not to mention Johan himself! All made for a fun and noisy match.
No3 – Bob. Never really in the game against a very fit opponent and went down in three games. It was over so quickly that in fact I’m not sure the crowd were even aware the match had been played!
No4 – Des. Our ray of sunshine on an otherwise damp parade really hammered his opponent, playing solid, hard, dominating squash to win in three.
RESULT – LOST : 3/12
My thanks to our squad for making it a fun season and although we will all be a year older next year we will again compete as Chamber’s “fish-and-chips”team.
Final result : 3 - 12
Ladies 4th LEAGUE 03 vs Suburbs
Belinda won 3-1
Paola won 3-0
Alma won 3-0
Caroline won 3-0
Overall result: 16 - 1
Ladies 4th LEAGUE 02 vs Edenvale
Jenny won 3-0
Josephine lost 2-3
Lynda won 3-1
Kelly lost 3-0
Overall result: 10 - 7
Ladies 3rd LEAGUE vs Old Eds
Here is last mondays match report.
The ladies 3rd league played against old eds on monday.
We had to win this match to make sure we stayed ahead of edenvale. It was a nail biting evening as it all came down to Audrey's game. It was a great evening of squash and we did it! Well done ladies!
Joanne won 3-1
Heather lost 3-0
Julie won 3-1
Audrey won 3-2
Overall result : 12 - 7
1st LEAGUE vs Parkview
Parkview have won the league already and beat us narrowly in the 1st round. This was REVENGE.
Kelvin lost 0-3
Gareth won 3-2
Francisco won 3-1
Mwansa won 3-0
Match Result: 12 - 6
2nd LEAGUE vs Bryanston
After battling to find players, Gary eventually phoned the opposition captain so see if they had a full team. Their captain was just about to phone Gary to say he only had 1 player (it’s that time of the season). They agreed to play another time but then later agreed to give us most of the points
Match result : 14 - 8
4th League vs Wanderers
Chris went on first and played at number 3 as no other pairing was available, gave a superb performance to finish his opponent off in three games, definitely one of his best performances of the season and gave the team an excellent start. Ryan went on next at number 1, lost the first game against Alf easily, came back well to take the next two games against a very tricky opponent,, should have had the match in the bag at 13-13 in the 4th but gave the game away with two unforced errors, tight final set with Ryan coming back from 8-13 down to level the scores at 13-13 before his lack of finish let him down once again, nevertheless a great performance in losing 3-2. Vevek went on next, lost the first two games very easily against Tyrone, came back in the third before losing the fourth in a very lacklustre performance, back to the drawing board for him. Flip went on last and needed a win for the team to win the tie, but came up against Riten, a very determined opponent who played some great squash to beat a game Flip 3-1 in all very closely contested games, unfortunately another loss for the team from a winning position. We are definitely missing our reportedly injured talisman Dave Peacock, hopefully he will make an appearance at the last match of the season.
Final Result
Ryan 2-3
Vevek 1-3
Chris 3-0
Flip 1-3
Match result : 7 - 12
5th League “the G Team” vs Northcliff
The G-team played bottom of the table Northcliff and we found out why.
G-Bow won 3-0 with consummate ease.
kpmGrumpy went Grumpy in one game but won 3-1 against a keen runner.
BigG finding his best form in time for Summer League annhialated his opponent with embarrassing ease. The marker was tasked with giving his oppo a few points in the last game through foot-faults but the game was over so quickly that he didn’t get chance.
G-spot with no pressure lobbed and dropped his oppo into a 2-0 lead, felt sorry for him in the next 2 games and predicting a 15-6 win in the 5th won it 15-7.
A good night was finished off at BigG’s local, the Thundergun, with a good burger and a beer or 2.
Match result : 16 - 3
6th League A vs Bryanston
A good day at the office for 6A. Gavin had a breeze winning 3 - 0 against Jan, Stuart struggled back to victory after being 2 - 0 down against Le Blue Cedric, but the evening belonged to Louis. Playing at 2, Louis kept his composure and concentration to beat John 3 -1. Jacques had another 5 setter (he uses league nights as a substitute for a good diet and regular excercise), going down 3 - 2.
Match result :14 - 6
6th B League vs Parkview
It was off to the grounds of the nemesis Parkview. When we arrived the 1stleague was already at work teaching the Parkviewtons a lesson. And with all courts full with business leaguers there were spectators galore. And with Brennan in attendance and readying himself for a comeback – limp wrist and all. Best to put on a good show then.
Yours truly was playing in the sacrificial lamb no. 1 spot against Graham – he of lower league tournament marking notoriety. And there were indeed many let calls which tested the marker’s patience (one of their players at least), but the game was generally played in good spirits. Although that didn’t help me and I was duly dispatched after only managing to win the first game. Nigel lost 1-3.
Lyal, in anticipation of his visit to Nigeria later in the week, had his running shoes on as he challenged Bernand. Well, it must be said that Bernard wasn’t much of a runner and collapsed on the floor after the second game looking as if he might be succumbing to a coronary… No real fight in him and Lyal finished him off in 3. A good end to Lyal’s last league game of the season. Lyal won 3-0.
Mark was then on against Reinhart who had some handy shots, but again wasn’t too interested in making it an action sport. Mark duly picked up everything and, despite a dubious call in the 3rd which gave the game to his opponent, game back strongly to finish things off. Some good length and nice, tight shots did the trick for him. Mark won 3-1.
Finally it was Bruce up against ??? – a fit looking young gun. Obviously he wasn’t expecting Bruce’s superior, 2-Oceans/Comrades style fitness, because his shots looked pretty, but were fetched and returned with interest. Bruce has only one loss against him this season and looks set to continue strongly right to the end. Bruce won 3-0.
And our victory was complemented by that of the 1st league. An impressive performance for Chamber at the enemy stronghold
Match score: 13 - 5
7th A League vs. Jeppe
First, apologies for the lack of previous match report, slipped my porous mind. However the dismal score line on that occasion tells it all and the humiliation suffered has ensured that the match will soon be erased from our memories.
Better news this week! We faced up to our old foe and most of us had a much better showing.
I arrived at the courts early enough to witness a supposedly injured Peacock tormenting curly Gary, who is recovering from a calf strain. Not convinced that all that running and lunging was doing Gary any good.
Despite being there first, I was unable to secure my position at 4, our esteemed captain claiming that berth for himself, citing hip damage as sufficient reason. Whispering George faced well known opponent, Anton, and managed to take the close fought match in the fifth.
Next up, Steph took on Detlef, also known from way back (think he beat me last time). Despite a lapse in the third game and a strong fight back from Detlef in the fourth, Chamber were two matches to the good. Concurrently Snapper Mike was having a tough time of it against Dave. Mike reckons he’ll get fit during Summer league.
So it was up to MVP Nick the Greek to seal the deal against Greg. I have to grudgingly agree with Nick that he did play the first game and a half “superbly”. Then Greg went down with an ankle tweak and it was game over.
The injured Greg went home while the rest of us repaired to Doppios for well earned refreshments.
Nic,Papatheodorou- vs. Greg,Brumme-
Dave,Whittle- vs. Michael,Hunt- 7-15 15-7 15-9 15-11
Steph,Stephansen- vs. Detlef,BORNER- 15-10 15-10 13-15 15-13
George,Bowen- vs. ANTON,ENGELBRECHT- 13-15 15-10 12-15 15-11 15-11
Chamber: 13 - 4
Match score: 13 - 5
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)