Town’s trio in Summer League start

THE North West Counties Squash Summer League got under way last Thursday - with all three clubs in and around our town entering the sevenweek competition.

As in previous years, Prestbury will be fielding two broadly-matched squads of mixed ability to play in both the East and South Divisions.

And Bollington and Macclesfield each have a team allocated to the Southern Section, playing alongside Prestbury 1.

Prestbury’s ‘Seconds’, then, are the geographical outcasts - although the side that finished third in the East Division last summer got this latest campaign off to a good start with a 4-1 home victory over Knutsford

Facing visitors whose ranks now include players from the former AstraZeneca and Radbroke Hall clubs, the hosts set about their task with gusto, as skipper Mike Quartley and 18-yearold Rory Allen both triumphed in straight games, Chris Murray recovered from going one down to prevail over four, and - after seeing his two-game lead pegged back - Dave Jones edged home in the fifth.

The 2018 South Division champions Bollington emulated Prestbury 2, after receiving, and defeating by the same 4-1 scoreline, the other team from Bollin Grove.

Martin Ogden was triumphant in four games - while Charlotte Dewar did not concede any in overcoming junior player James Brauckmann (14), who, towards the end of the previous month, had been part of the young Prestbury side that claimed the inaugural NWCSL Junior Third Division title.

The remaining three matches at the village’s leisure centre went the full five-game distance, as Bollington’s Rob Harland and Will Jordan eventually quelled the respective challenges of another recent Junior League trophy-winner Rhys Asquith-Evans (15) and Prestbury’s highly promising South African debutant Ally Brown - before the visitors gained their sole success of the evening in a battle of the captains, which saw Gareth Evans edge out former club-mate Phil Colville.

Macclesfield, who will visit Prestbury 1 tomorrow, began the summer schedule with a home fixture against Stockport - who returned north with maximum points following a 5-0 victory.

But the hosts did at least claim some games, and get off the mark themselves, in the course of defeat - with Simon Fisher winning two, and Annika Hall, Ollie Critchley and Dave Birtwistle one apiece. NORTH West Counties Summer League: East Division PRESTBURY 2: won 4-1 (H) v Knutsford 2 (Mike Quartley, 3-0; Dave Jones 3-2; Harry Mattocks 0-3; Chris Murray, 3-1; Rory Allen, 3-0). NORTH West Counties Summer League: South Division BOLLINGTON: won 4-1 (H) v PRESTBURY 1 (Martin Ogden 3, Paul Bartle 1; Rob Harland 2, Rhys Asquith-Evans 2; Phil Colville 2, Gareth Evans 3; Will Jordan 3, Ally Brown 2; Charlotte Dewar 3, James Brauckmann 0). MACCLESFIELD: lost 0-5 (H) v Stockport (Annika Hall, 1-3; Ollie Critchley, 1-3; Simon Fisher, 2-3; Dave Birtwistle, 1-3; Ken Nicholls, 0-3).