Berkshire Squash Winter League

Last Thursday saw the 4th round of games in the Berkshire Squash Winter League. The 1st team were home to Royal Berkshire 2 whilst the 2nd and 3rd teams were away to Beechdown 1 and Army 2 respectively.

Maidenhead 1 vs Royal Berkshire 2

With the 1st team yet again missing key players including our usual number 1 (sunning himself in Thailand) and also our usual number 2 being unavailable due to half term week we set out for a battle!

The first 2 matches played out evens at 1-1 with Mark Essex at #5 winning fairly comfortably but Grant Bergman at #3 outfoxed by his opponent. It moved to the number 1 and 2’s to try and settle it for us. Both playing alongside each other at the same time the tussle was evens after 25 minutes with both matches at 2-2!

The last game for both players was fiercely contested with Maidenhead’s #1 on the night Steve Turner playing a blinder (having already come back from 2-0 down) and winning 3-2 with a superb performance.

Unfortunately Steve Lansley just missed out against his opponent, a young fit and fast player. It therefore went to the final game, #4 between Maidenhead’s Darren Lane and Royal Berks number 4 Javier Corominas who during the Summer had played and beaten our usual number 2 so we went into the game with some trepidation.

No need to worry though, Darren with his pace and fitness ran out the overall winner 3-1 on games which gave Maidenhead 1sts their first win of the season from three games with a 3-2 win on games on the night and a satisfying 16-9 overall points win.

Individual Scores were as follows:

And the current standings in Division 2B are:

Maidenhead 2 vs Beechdown 1

The 2nds took a trip down to Basingstoke to play Beechdown 1.

Their winter team is a less fearsome proposition than their summer outfit with their top players playing elsewhere. Mark and Jody teed off at 4 and 5 against a lanky+more compact father/son combo. Our...lanky+more compact duo had enough to take us quickly into a 2-0 lead. David played well to get ahead and stay ahead to clinch the match. Janak also got 2-0 ahead but lost some of his intensity to let his opponent level. However, with a bit more fire in his belly he managed to take the 5th 10-8.

Final match at #1 saw Damian go 2-0 up as well, but a worrying bout of dizziness in the 3rd allowed his opponent back in and the match was level at 2-2. The call of 1 point at 8-8 saw both players serve for the match but fail. Fortunately Damian used his final bit of energy to win with his second match point, and give Maidenhead a clean sweep.

Off to the bar for beer and curry (of a fashion), and crumble which seems to have raised the catering stakes somewhat.

We remain second with Datchet and Windsor taking full points in their game too.

Individual Scores were as follows:

And the current standings in Division 3B are:

Maidenhead 3 vs Army 2

The 3rds headed off to Aldershot to play Army 2 who have a great facility with 6 glass backed courts.

Army 2 lost their #1 string to food poisoning so their team comprised of a Sergeant at #1 and then 4 Gurkhas who the #1 has recently been coaching.

The 4th and 5th strings started and we managed to overcome the Gurkhas speed and stamina to win relatively comfortably by 3-0 in both games.

The task got a little harder for the 2nd and 3rd strings. Their opponents were equally fit and fast but were also technically more capable and 2 close games ensued. Andrew at #2 lost the war of attrition against their #2 but Jerry managed to dig deep and win a close game 3-2 to also seal the match for the 3rds.

In the final game between the #1 strings, Robin lost out to their #1 whose touch on the very fast courts was just too good.

But a good win leaves us 3rd at the top of a very close table!

Individual Scores were as follows: