NSRA - Norfolk Squash Winter Leagues 2014/15

NORFOLK SRA WINTER LEAGUES 2014/15

REPORT

Week Ten

Premier Division

East Anglia II 14 East Anglia 8

North Walsham 7 Bannatyne’s 14

Diss 9 Barnham Broom 15

Potters 15 Broadland 8

Division One

North Walsham II 5 Barnham Broom II 20

Broadland II 6 East Anglia III 20

East Anglia IV v Diss II (match postponed)

Division Two

North Norfolk 10 Rossi Rebels 14 (re-arranged fixture)

Fakenham 20 Bannatyne’s II 2

UEA v North Norfolk (match postponed)

Barnham Broom III 20 Broadland III 1

Division Three

Bob Carter Centre 15 Potters II 9 (double-header)

Broadland IV 20 Fakenham II 3

UEA II v Cromer (match postponed)

The reigning Norfolk SRA League champions, East Anglia went through the first half of the season unbeaten but, in their first match of 2015, they lost their unbeaten record when they went down to a surprising 14-8 defeat against their own second team. Fortunately for the champions, their nearest challengers, Diss, failed to take advantage as they, too, were beaten, losing 15-9 at home to Barnham Broom. At the other end of the PremierDivision table the bottom club North Walsham continue to struggle after losing 14-9 at home to Bannatyne’s while Broadland are in danger of being sucked into the bottom two places after going down 15-8 to Potters.

East Anglia will probably argue that they were not at full strength but this did not matter to the second team who seemed to have a point to prove as both Gary Snelling and Jack Pearse won their matches 3-1 while, in the second string match, Ian Douglass beat Alex Williams in straight games. The first team did pick up two 3-0 victories of their own with Andrew Trim beating Mark Rolfe and Ashley Briggs winning the first string match against Tim Allenden but these were not enough.

At Diss the home side got off to a promising start as Tom Hunt won 3-1 and Tom Bobbins beat Peter Hubbard in straight games but they were not able to get the elusive third victory as Simon Howling beat James Ramm 3-1, Craig Aldred won 3-0 against Martin Levens and Ashley Bowling won the decisive first string match against Steve Maitland 3-2. Although Diss have got 26 points more than East Anglia the champions do have two matches in hand.

At North Walsham Matt Green and Mark Thomas both won 3-0 for Bannatyne’s while Kevin Harvey beat Brad Gallivan 3-1. Walsham did get two straight game victories at the top of the order with Tom Smith and Matthew Bolt winning against Max and Ali Dawson respectively. Paul Field and Jamie Goodrich both won in straight games for Potters but the key match was the second string one where Rob Hambrook beat Jake Bond 9-13 13-9 13-7 10-13 13-10. Paul Atterton and Mark Nicholls were Broadland’s two winners.

In Division One the top two both recorded maximums with East Anglia III beating Broadland II 20-6 and Barnham Broom II winning 20-5 against North Walsham II. East Anglia’s victory was not quite as clear cut as it might seem as both Chris Butler and Nick Ross were taken to five games before winning their matches 3-2. However Mark Phillips and Matt Johnson both won their matches 3-1 and Hadleigh Farrer won the first string match in straight games. There was a similar scenario at North Walsham where both Neil and Stuart Sutton were taken to five games by Ben Harris and James Gair respectively before winning 3-2. Alan Soames won 3-1 and both Wesley Hicks and Adam Goodson won in straight games.

There were two more maximums in Division Two where Fakenham beat Bannatyne’s II 20-2 and Barnham Broom III beat Broadland III 20-1. Rossi ‘s Rebels however remain on top of the table after winning their re-arranged match against North Norfolk 14-10. This was a close match as Henri Paul beat Gary Hastings 7-13 13-9 16-14 11-13 13-4 and Ben Herrieven won 6-13 13-7 13-10 10-13 13-10 against the league secretary, Kevin Blake. After Phil Godfrey and Tim Perry both won 3-0 for North Norfolk Richard Keeble wrapped things up for the Rebels as he beat Martin Guppy in straight games.

Broadland IV continue to set the pace in Division Three and their strong team had a convincing 20-3 maximum against bottom of the table Fakenham II who only had four players. Both Justin Millar and Andy Ford won in straight games and Anthony Steele beat Tim Venes 3-1. There was a close first string match where Richard Barnes had to come from 1-2 down to beat Sam Lanham 13-6 in the fifth.

Back In October the Bob Carter Centre’s match away to Potters II was postponed and the two teams agreed that the return fixture should be a double header. For the Carter Centre Marco Valori won 3-0 and Steve Cunningham won 3-1 but the decisive match was at No.5 where Paul Parker beat Richard Soanes 13-8 7-13 13-6 12-14 13-10. Potters two victories came at the top of the order as Darren Green beat Ian Pearson 3-0 and Cliff High won 3-1 against Graham Sibley.

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