Ranking event was a debacle

IN the last match before the break for the Border closed, Old Selbornians hang onto a slender one point advantage over Beacon Bay. With Beacon Bay gaining a full 22 points courtesy of a bye, Old Boys had it all to do against a Gonubie side that has blown hot and cold all season.

They kept their lead in the first league by winning 3-1 in matches thus securing 19 points for their efforts.

Both sides fielded new line ups due mainly to injury and this was the case for Cambridge who lost to the Colts at Beacon Bay.

Mike Farrer kept his unbeaten record intact after beating Hayden Roger-Lund 3-2 for the second time in a couple of days.

In the end it was Farrer's ability to play well in the important points that counted.

Both Lindsay Beach and Francois van Hoogstraten played out of position at two due to injury to Reed Trichaardt and Brad Worth respectively.

Beach's 3-2 victory was the only high point of the evening for Gonubie but it was touch and go right up to the end of the 4th game.

Mike Chemaly made his debut for Gonubie against Gordon Daniel and he had the uneviable task of containing a man at the top of his form.

Chemaly was particularly competitive in the early stages and actually won the 2nd game comfortably.

As the match developed however, Daniel was able to stamp his authority and he won easily in the 4th.

Johan Botha ended Wayne Osbornes impressive run of form this season with an emphatic 3-0 drubbing.

Old Boys won 19-8.

In the other encounter this week, the Beacon Bay Colts beat a depleted Cambridge side at home by 3 matches to 1.

Craig Elliot, substituting for the injured, Johan van Zyl, proved to be the only Victor for the visiting side at number four when he beat Andrew Beling in four sets. This match was played on Monday.

The games played on Tuesday night saw all the Colts successful and it was only the ever improving Sean Pearson who dropped a game at number three against evergreen Jeff Schrier.

He lost the 1st game 9-8 but bounced back to win the 2nd easily and then battled hard to clinch the affair in the next two games.

Clinton Breodelet was too strong for Craig Farrell who probably returned to the squash court a couple of days early after being sidelined due to a shoulder injury.

Broedelet whitewashed Farrell in the 1st but was made to work harder in the next two games as the Cambridge man warned up.

The last match between the number one pairing was closer than the scoreline of 3-0 suggests.

Kelvin Edwards, who appears almost over a bout of flu, was quicker out of the blocks than Cambridge's Stuart Junor winning the first 9-4.

After that it almost became a case of "hanging in" for Edwards as he squeaked in 10-9 in both second and thrid games.

The Colts won 18-6.

TOURNAMENT

A ranking tournament was held on the weekend but turned out to be somewhat of a debacle from several points of view.

It is important that players take some responsibility on themselves to make sure that they know when they are playing or marking and then ensure that they are on time for either of these functions.

Considering that everyone involved is to be considered for provincial selection it seems ludicrous that players should either, arrive two hours late for a match, not arrive at all to mark or pull out of the competition at short notice.

On a bright note for some at least, there were some interesting upsets which made the organisers life interesting.

Sean Pearson rocketed up the Border after beating number two Kelvin Edwards on the first evening.

He then maintained his status by beating Gordon Daniel in the second round who had also shot up the order after beating Ant Roberts.

Other notable casualties were Johan van Zyl who lost to both Reed Trichaardt and Johan Botha and Stuart Junor who slunk down the table due to indifferent form.

Lindsay Beach completed a satisfactory tournament by rising a number of places and nearly securing a top 10 finish.

The competition was won by Mike Farrer who beat John van Oordt in the final.

Hayden Roger-Lund beat Sean Pearson for 3rd and 4th place.

In the "B" section Brad Rogbers beat Kevin Bayman in the final but can probably feel thankful that a hand injury forced Ryan Ortlieb to withdraw in an earlier round.

TRICKER

On the saddest of sad notes the tragic death of Dudley Tricker will certainly be mourned by the squash fraternity and indeed by anyone that knew him.