Crusaders women make it a double

CRUSADERS made it a double triumph in Eastern Province women’s squash this year when they added the first league title to their Super league crown by taking an unassailable lead with one round remaining.

Although the logs must be ratified by the logkeeper, the Saders A team defeated their last remaining hurdle, Londt Park A, 10-5 on Tuesday, taking them to 142 points.

Londt Park do have some outstanding matches to make up but they have only 91 points and even full points in those remaining fixtures will not be enough to overhaul Saders.

Lizelle Goosen made a welcome return this week for Londt Park after an illness and was back into the swing of things, beating Saders No 1 Anlen Murray 3-1.

However, the powerful Saders team swept aside the remaining opposition for another impressive haul of points to preserve their unbeaten record this season.

In the Super league in March, Saders retained the title they won last year, while their B team are also performing with distinction in the first league and have a strong chance of finishing as runners-up.

The men’s first league remains in the balance with NMU A holding a 13-point lead over Londt Park A, who have a match in hand.

Londt Park lost ground slightly this week when they could get only 10 points against Westview, with Garth Plaatjies recording the Westview victory.

A lot will be riding on Tuesday’s round when NMU host Londt Park in a match the visitors will probably need to win to have a chance of taking the title.

Old Grey B continued their excellent form when they inflicted the first defeat of the second half on Crusaders.

Saders No 2 Dane Bigara won the family feud against younger brother Jason, but Keanu Langford, Gerard Mitchell and Brinley Forbes made sure of the win for Old Grey.

Results:

Men Old Grey B bt Crusaders 10-5 (OG first): K Langford bt P Mason 3-1, J Bigara lost to D Bigara 3-1, G Mitchell bt A Reekie 3-0, B Forbes bt D Schultz 3-1 Londt Park A bt Westview 10-4 (LP first): R van Niekerk bt L Sigele 3-0, G Hall bt D Strydom 3-1, T Whitby lost to G Plaatjies 3-1, W Watermeyer bt D Claasen 3-0 Old Grey A bt NMU B 10-6 (OG first): B Nomkala lost to R Pretorius 3-1, T Mngcete bt F Swart 3-1, J Wessels bt L Ford 3-0, S Mpini bt J Frauenstein 3-2 Profiles bt LP B 11-4 (Profiles first): M Schepers bt A Senekal 3-0, R Raubenheimer lost to A Maree 3-2, J Venter bt M Witteveen 3-1, D Venter bt T Finlay 3-0 ý The latest log, subject to ratification by the logkeeper, is (matches in brackets): NMU A 130 (12), Saders 127 (13), Londt Park A 117 (11), Old Grey A 85 (12), Profiles 81 (11), Londt Park B 59 (12), Old Grey B 57 (10), Westview 54 (12), NMU B 50 (12) Women Profiles bt Westview 11-5 (Profiles first): K Schepers bt C Rose 3-0, A Thiel bt E Olivier 3-1, L van Heerden bt S Molony 3-1, D Steele lost to K Rowe 3-2 Saders B bt NMU A 12-1 (Saders first): J Byrnes bt B Brown 3-0, A Oshry bt S O’Grady 3-1, D Douglas bt M Scholtz 3-0, A Fraser bt G Bage 3-0 Saders A bt LP A 10-5 (Saders first): A Murray lost to L Goosen 3-1, D Schultz bt A Erasmus 3-0, B La Mude bt J Dodd 3-2, K Hoy bt C Shone 3-0 LP B bt NMU B 9-6 (LP first): J Ryder bt H Ward 3-1, K Trevarthen lost to D Shone 3-0, C Levey bt H Knott-Craig 3-2, D Human bt K Behrens 3-0 ý The latest log, subject to ratification by the logkeeper, is (played seven): Saders A 142 (13), Saders B 119 (13), Londt Park B 94 (12), Londt Park A 91 (11), NMU A 85 (13), NMU B 73 (11), Profiles 52 (13), Westview 35 (11)