1st LEAGUE vs Bryanston

Another great win, 16 for the 1st league “Nearly All Blacks” against Bryanston

Mwansa won 3 - 2
Francisco won 3 - 2
Kelvin won 3 - 0
Gareth got a walkover that means we have 16
Well done to 1st league players.

Match Result:  16 - 4

2nd LEAGUE vs Randburg

Randburg cancelled. We won 16 – 0, followed by a team practice and Doppios.

 Match result : 16 - 0

4th League vs Jeppe

Chris played 1^st against Bruce, a tricky opponent who did not allow Chris to settle and play his game, Chris came close in the 3^rd but lost 3 – 0.

Dave went on next against a hard hitting youngster, tough games but experience counted at the end, won 3 – 1.

Flip played an opponent with a similar game, played well in winning the some close games, won 3 -1,

Vevek played Peter losing the 1^st but winning the next 3 games fairly comfortable.

1)      Vevek 3-1

2)      Flip 3-1

3)      Dave 3-1

4)      Chris 0 -3

Match result : 12 - 5

5th League “the G Team” vs Edenvale

With Edenvale sailing high above us in the league, it was with a little bit of trepidation that we ventured to the Far East.

This wasn’t tempered any when G-string took to the court at No 3 and lost hurriedly in 3 to a whirlwind of hard hitting from Lane – the man was on fire and with G trying desperately to slow the ball down in the 3rd, only 4 points were managed.

That didn’t bode well for the rest of us, anyway with a team tactics talk, LG and G-spot swopped positions in the hope that the (apparently) unbeatable youngster Dylan (who hasn’t been beaten all season) would be unsettled by the old mans game of lobs and drops.  Lo and behold G-spot (nee the Silver Fox) found himself 2-0 up with the youngster making numerous mistakes in an attempt to hurry the game along. However the 3^rd game swung the other way with Dylan playing some clever boasts. Same happened in the 4^th so 2-2 and doom descending on the team. BUT all was not lost, G-spot started playing tighter and cleverer and in the end a demoralized Dylan smashed the ball into the tin to lose 3-2.

LG then took on a very tricky player at No 2 but eventually his superb fitness overcame and “LIFE WAS GOOD” – LG 3-1

That left Tiny G to carry the night for the team against young Kent Raines (Peter’s son). TinyG was on fire this night and has been re-named G-Whizz after a 3-0 victory. A dazzling array of drives, boasts and nicks flew off G’s racket with one perfect lob being executed with the racket in his wrong hand and standing on his head (or so it seemed). All I can say is BIG G is back.

Match result : 12 - 6

6th B League vs Modderfontein

Supposed to play away this week, but, Modderfontein’s courts being in a somewhat less that playable condition, we shifted to a home game and took two courts to get things all wrapped up by 8pm. Mention must be made of invaluable support from the still recovering Brennan and beau. He has promised to start giving his ambidexterity an opportunity to impress – just what we need, another lefty in the team.

Phil vs Mike at No. 2: Phil wasn’t in the mood to take nonsense. Well, maybe a little bit of nonsense in the first game, but coming back from a 4 point deficit to take the game. This was followed by two more strong games which didn’t give Mike a chance to creep back in. Looks like quitting smoking has given Phil a new lease on lung capacity. (won 3-0).

Lyal vs Piet at No. 4: Following suit, Lyal was keen to continue the trend and hit his stride impressively. Having recently bought a new upmarket house (and avoided the Wendy Machanic fiasco), the quality of his squash has also gone upmarket. His Flying Shaolin Monk style drop shots were on the mark. When he wasn’t dropping, his length was giving Piet headaches in the back. In fact, Lyal took the last game 15-1 with the only reason for letting Piet get a point being that Lyal wanted to avoid a COTY nomination. (won 3-0).

Nigel vs Arne at No. 1: The only blemish on the team scoresheet was my game against Arne. He was big, he was unfit, but when he hit the ball he was devastating. Apart from a rally to take the second game, I was no match for his crafty ways and went similarly to bin Laden: in a hail of accurately placed shots. (lost 1-3).

Bruce vs Vaughan at No. 3: I missed the first part of this game which appears to have been the most interesting – each player taking a game. Bruce was fresh from blitzing the Two Oceans and still had enough left to blitz the Two Sides of the Squash Court. Although his shots may have been somewhat looser than usual, he was tidy enough to break Vaughan down thereafter and continue his unbeaten streak. (won 3-1).

Supper followed at Picobella to round off a successful evening.

Match score: 13 - 4

7th A League vs. Edenvale

I must deviate from my usual structured report and tell it like it went down – very briefly.

The only consolation I can think of are from the words of Alfred Lord Tennyson” 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” As for our love-making ability certain truths need to be confessed – Karel and myself could not even rise to the occasion let alone some decent foreplay, we got a little hot and sweaty but all we achieved was to soil our perfectly clean squash kit. Paul tried to lead the way and showed us how to hold firm and he got to first base which earned him some bragging rights and entitled him to one post-match drink. Finally our Greek papa tried to teach us young ones how it’s done and he got to second base then he too lost his way…anticlimactic in the extreme. None of us had what it takes to challenge the log frontrunners. They train on Thursday, play each other on Saturday and seek fresh blood on Tuesday. They won with style and grace and were humble in their victory. We slumped to our worst defeat and it certainly doesn’t feel good.

Surprise, surprise – Doppio was virtually empty – maybe they heard the losers were coming – maybe the soccer was more appealing – maybe they were filling their tanks with petrol.

No: 1 - Paul against Johan (1-3) 11-15, 8-15, 15-4, 3-15

No: 2 - Nick against Pam (2-3) 15-13, 5-15, 12-15, 16-14, 5-15

No: 3 - Gary against Nicholas (0-3) 12-15, 5-15, 7-15

No: 4 - Karel against Herman (0-3) 14-16, 3-15, 5-15

I heard that, in an effort to disassociate themselves from the team and its humiliating defeats, Steph tried to cut off his finger with his band saw, Michael no longer wants to come back from England and George might just keep on running in the next marathon and not bother stopping.

It dawned on us that our seven member team average age is north of 50 - we figure that the “A” in 7A stands for – “aging”.

“Ear-Ear”

   Gary

It was heartening to see Helena and Louis at the courts on Tuesday – our hearts and thoughts go out to you and your family as you deal with your loss. May your memories give you strength. Peace, prayers and blessings.

Match score: 3 - 16

7th B League vs. Wits

Another disappointing result going down 12-4 to Wits.

Fillmore playing at 1 had a good opportunity to level scores at 2-2 but choked and lost 1-3.

Next up Van Zyl at 4, he played good patches of squash but was not able to sustain them and lost 0-3.

Vermaak who has lost all his matches at 1 decided he needed a break and played at 2 and won 3-0 in a scrappy match.

Finally at 3, Hamilton to seal the match for us but he came up against a youthful and skillful Bongi (she plays no 1 ladies league for Parkview) who outclassed, outplayed and thumped Dave 3-0.

After the post mortem when it was decided that we only play squash to drink beer we headed off to Ginos where we had a good supper at good prices.

Match result : 4 - 12

9th LEAGUE vs Edenvale

Edenvale has three teams in the 9th league. Chamber played the worst of the three and only just managed a win.

Roger, playing at #4, played first and won his game 3-0 without much effort.

Stratford, playing at #2 also zapped his opponent 3-0 and things were going well.

Then Shaun (#3) played on court 1 and Vince (#1) played on court 2 - neither of them knowing that the other was getting badly mauled.

In the end Shaun lost 0-3 and Vince managed to win one game, losing 1-3.

So Chamber won 2-2 and 7-6. Too close for comfort.

(Regular #1, Gabriel was injured - that’s like Dan Carter not playing for the Crusaders!)

Match result  :9 - 6

10th LEAGUE vs Wits

Final result 12 – 7 for Wits.  We should have won but we didn’t, nevertheless we enjoyed the squash.

1. First up playing No. 1 was Keith against a fairly average youngster. Not much to say here except that Keith went down gasping 0-3.

2. Johan Mare playing Kyle in the No. 2 position put in a very spirited performance and looked like he might take the match at one stage but finally threw in the towel went down struggling at a respectable 2-3.

3. Des playing No. 1 looked like he was going to romp home an easy winner and after many miss hits and thrown away points eventually did, finally taking the match 3-0 but not without dragging the score in the final game to 19-17.

4. John played Michal in No. 4 position. Never underestimate ones opponent is the sage advice, which John did – thinking he would have an easy win which he didn’t. Finally losing 2-3 but not without having the spectators on the edge of their seats.

Final result : 7 - 12