East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa: The South African Country Districts men’s squash team stayed on track for the defence of their Jarvis Cup title at the Growthpoint Interprovincial when they overcame a spirited challenge from Western Province in East London on Tuesday.
The second day of South Africa’s premier team event threw up some interesting results, with KwaZulu-Natal scoring another good win when they beat Joburg Squash after defeating Northerns on the opening day.
This has put them on track for a spot in the top two of their pool, but they have another proper challenge in the final pool game against Eastern Province on Wednesday.
SACD, meanwhile, had to work hard for their win over WP after No 4 Jimmy Schlebusch was defeated by John-Ross Malloch.
This gave WP a whiff of hope, but Jonty Matthys stood up to the pressure as he registered an important 3-1 win over WP No 5 Justin van der Poel after losing the first game 12-10.
Then the potency of the SACD team was revealed as No 1 Dewald van Niekerk, the Growthpoint SA Nationals champion, and No 2 JP Brits ultimately made the victory fairly comfortable with wins against Mighael Lombard and Rodney Durbach respectively.
The EP team made up for a narrow loss to Joburg squash on the first day as they inflicted another defeat on Northerns, No 2 Gerard Mitchell sealing the win with a 3-0 result over Damian Groenewald.
Earlier there had been some tough battles despite EP taking the honours.
Sipho Ncube drew first blood for Northerns against Warren Bower, but 3-0 and 3-1 victories by Jason le Roux and Sean Bailey set EP up for victory.
Neither of these was achieved lightly, however, with Reece McLachlan and Mark Schickerling fighting all the way for Northerns before eventually bowing out.
Joburg Squash’s hopes of figuring in the top places received a setback with the loss to KZN although they could still comeback with a big win on Wednesday.
KZN’s 17-7 victory was sparked by Luke Bakke, who trailed 2-0 against Joburg No 3 Grant Woodward before surging back for a win in five games.
Justin de Neef and Adrian Hansen then finished things off for KZN and only Joburg No 1 Christo Potgieter could salvage a win for his team.
In the women’s Kaplan Cup, Eastern Province continued their good form with a solid 20-3 win against Zambia.
Despite losing to Northerns in their second match on Monday, EP are well-placed on the log, but face the acid test against defending champions SACD on Wednesday.
Northerns A faced their third demanding challenge in a row but came through against Joburg Squash, winning 15-10, while defending champs SACD A powered to a 20-0 win against Midlands A.
The results were:
Women’s Kaplan Cup
EP A bt Zambia A 20-3 (EP first): Hayley Ward bt Sharon Chimfwembe 3-0 (11-1 11-2 11-4), Jacqui Ryder bt Namwene Muchaile 3-0 (11-6 11-6 11-0), Anlen Jarman bt Majory Mwamba 3-0 (11-3 11-5 11-4), Janet Byrnes bt Monica Chimese 3-1 (11-9 10-12 11-7 11-4), Mikayla Boy bt Natasha Chimese 3-2 (11-4 11-8 2-11 11-13 11-3)
SACD A bt Midlands A 20-0 (SACD first): Lizelle Muller bt Savannah Ingledew 3-0 (11-4 11-3 11-6), Alexa Pienaar bt Nadia Dippenaar 3-0 (11-2 11-6 11-4), Shelomi Truter bt Noel Lee 3-0 (11-3 11-4 11-7), Keschia Scorgie bt Ana Chemaly 3-0 (11-4 11-8 11-6), Elske Garbers bt Melanie de Wet 3-0 (11-1 11-2 11-1)
Northerns A bt Joburg Squash A 15-10 (Northerns first): Milnay Louw lost to Cheyna Tucker 3-1 (4-11 11-7 11-7 12-10), Helena Coetzee bt Teagan Roux 3-2 (10-12 7-11 11-6 11-8 15-13), Awande Malinga bt Jennifer Preece 3-1 (11-9 9-11 11-9 11-8), Lara Patrick bt Shannon Harvey 3-1 (8-11 11-5 11-6 11-9), Megan Shannon lost to Mariske Wiese 3-0 (11-2 11-6 11-7)
Latest log: EP 51 (3), Northerns 46 (3), SACD 40 (2), Joburg Squash 30 (2), WP 28 (2), Midlands 8 (3), Zambia 3 (3)
Men’s Jarvis Cup
Pool A
SACD A bt WP 18-4 (SACD first): Dewald van Niekerk bt Mighael Lombard 3-0 (11-2 11-2 11-7), JP Brits bt Rodney Durbach 3-0 (11-8 11-6 11-6), Tristen Worth bt Gary Wheadon 3-0 (11-5 11-6 11-9), Jimmy Schlebusch lost to John-Ross Malloch 3-1 (11-6 11-13 11-4 11-8), Jonty Matthys bt Justin van der Poel 3-1 (10-12 11-4 11-3 11-8)
Zambia A bt Midlands A 19-5 (Zambia first): Kelvin Ndhlovu bt Justin Gouweloos 3-0 (11-6 12-10 11-2), Sam Siame bt Josh vd Wath 3-1 (9-11 11-5 11-4 11-8), Manda Chilambwe bt Luke McFarland 3-0 (12-10 11-9 11-9), Ken Mwape lost to Daryn Pieters 3-2 (8-11 11-4 8-11 13-11 11-2), Samuel Kabwe bt Mick Gouweloos 3-1 (10-12 11-8 11-5 11-8)
Pool B
KZN A bt Joburg Squash A 17-7 (KZN first): Matthew Boote lost to Christo Potgieter 3-0 (11-5 11-4 11-4), Daniel Smith bt David Sibanda 3-1 (11-8 5-11 11-8 11-3), Luke Bakke bt Grant Woodward 3-2 (8-11 9-11 11-7 11-1 11-6), Justin de Neef bt Dean Nortier 3-0 (11-5 12-10 11-4), Adrian Hansen bt Makho Ntuli 3-1 (11-6 11-8 5-11 11-8)
EP A bt Northerns A 15-7 (EP first): Dean Venter lost to Ruan Olivier 3-0 (11-5 11-8 11-5), Gerard Mitchell bt Damian Groenewald 3-0 (11-3 11-8 11-5), Warren Bower lost to Sipho Ncube 3-1 (13-15 11-9 11-8 11-4), Jason le Roux bt Reece McLachlan 3-0 (11-5 14-12 13-11), Sean Bailey bt Mark Schickerling 3-1 (11-7 11-9 11-13 11-6)
Latest logs
Pool A: SACD 38, WP 19, Zambia 26, Midlands 7
Pool B: KZN 34, EP 26, Joburg Squash 24, Northerns 14
Ends
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