Results of 2nd Winter Minileague 2010

This was another record breaking league, with an incredible 217 games played, and record participation of 114 players.

The results of the league are here ..... 2010 Winter League 2

Well done to leagues 8 and 11 for playing maximum games. League 8 was a league of 7, so everyone played 6 games! Rob Henry and Chris Braun got promotion, losing only one game each. Chris Ba-loch and David Gillespie just came out on top in a tightly fought league 11. Some other leagues came very close to playing all games, so well done.

I'm not going to mention any more stats at this point, to avoid the risk of revealing the Minileaguer of the Year prizes - all will be revealed at Finals Night on the 26th!

For the 5th league, we are down to 105 players and a total of 17 leagues, a few hardy souls electing to switch to tennis among the drop-outs. Wrap up well!

For those interested, here is the full set of new leagues ..... 2010 Winter League 3

The league is extended to 7 weeks to avoid clashing with the tournament.

Enjoy your games,

Dougie Brown

Mini Squash - Next Session Sunday 14th November 10am

Our youngest players came back for a second high energy session of Mini Squash this Sunday. Next week is the last of our 3 come-and- try sessions. If you want to come along, contact Alasdair Gordon grangesquash@yahoo.co.uk or 0131 667 6326.

Grange 1 @ Mamma's Pizzeria(5/11/2010)

Pos	Player	Rubbers	Games	Points			Player	Rubbers	Games	Points
1	Allan Hamer	1	3	27			Roger Moore	0	0	15
2	Will Kerr	0	2	31			Neil McAllister	1	3	32
3	Richard Van Lienden	1	3	29			Stuart Williamson	0	0	18
4	Robin Steel	1	3	27			Brian Clough	0	0	11
5	Mark Dutton	1	3	27			no player	0	0	0	Forfeit
Total		4	14	141				1	3	76
Competition Points		17						3

Grange 3 v Abercorn 1, Thursday 4th November

Abercorn came with a strong team. #1 Bruce Russell's decisive style won 3-0 against Gary Walker. #4 Allan Wallace won a hard earned 3-2 from 2-0 down against Brian Montgomery. #5 Stokesy went to the wire with David Ross, a big effort, but lost 8-10 in the fifth. #2 Ali G had arms just long enough to reach Ali MacKenzie's front court action 3-0. ~3 Christy was last on for decider of the night, and met a player even more unusual than himself in Ian Ross. Christy took longer to get used to Ian's game than Ian to Christy's, but he levelled in the 2nd and 4th, pacing up the game whilst Ian was slowing it down. Ian's ability to play the slowest longest drops in the East and from any point on the court was taking its toll, and when these started coming cross court, the fifth game went Ian's way. Final score with ref points was 12-16. Not irreparable, but we're due a win.

Al

Pos	Player	Rubbers	Games	Points			Player	Rubbers	Games	Points
1	Gary Walker	0	0	12			Bruce Russell	1	3	27
2	Alasdair Gordon	1	3	27			Alister MacKenzie	0	0	16
3	Christy Looby	0	2	29			Ian Ross	1	3	37
4	Allan Wallace	1	3	31			Brian Montgomery	0	2	27
5	Alan Stokes	0	2	36			David Ross	1	3	36
Total		2	10	135				3	11	143
Competition Points		10						14

Grange 5 @ Abercorn 2 (Thurs, Nov 4,'10)

Continuing our travels, this week saw Grange 5 Barbarians head to Jocks Lodge to play Abercorn. This time, it was my turn to sit out, so thanks to Richard Nisbet for taking on captain duties for the evening and to Dave ‘Meldrew’ Grieve for the match report. Read on ...

Bill Marshall began the evening at number 5 as a replacement for Captain Mike Douglas who claimed to be too busy at work. Bill's opponent Bernard however showed himself as a master of his own court by producing more drop shots and boasts than Rocco has done in a season. Bill struggled to adjust to his opponent's game and despite several service changes promptly lost the first two games 0-9. Just as the remainder of the team in team in the balcony were beginning to compose suitable rhymes Bill, Nil, etc, he rallied and for a while threatened to recover the third before eventually losing out 4-9. It should be pointed out to the reserves that just because you are stepping in for Captain Mike doesn't mean you have to contribute the same score. At least Mike gets a couple of refereeing points each week. (Editor note: quite unnecessary!)

Next up was Rocco. After taking the first comfortably (Forza Rocco Forza) Rocco managed to implode (Cattivo Rocco Cattivo) against his opponent Martin and managed to lose the following 3 games. Hopefully less wine and pizza will see the Italian stallion fit better into his National team jersey and resume his winning ways next week.

Steven took the court at number 3 and as I headed to my game was in the process of losing the first 2 games. Things were looking bleak.

I took the court at number 2 against Steve and strolled easily into a 1 game lead. At this point however the stomach upset I had been suffering from all week began to take its toll and I was instantly regretting the decision to wear white shorts. Thankfully I managed to hold things in however I also managed to lose the following 2 games, partially due to some interesting umpiring decisions. Somehow I managed to win the 4th from 5-8 down. During the break in games I passed Steven in the corridor hoping that he had lost 0-3 so I could happily lose the 5th without feeling guilty. However to my dismay he told me he had fought back to win 2-3 so I was obliged to try and win my match and square up the tie. I went on to win the 5th 9-8 after being 6-8 down and exchanging a few service points at 8-8.

Everything was now hanging on the last rubber with Richard playing at number 1. It was a brief affair with Richard playing some great squash to trounce his opponent 0-3, largely due to Rocco's prompting about needing to get a lift home quickly from the balcony.

Thanks are due to Abercorn for their excellent hospitality after the match and their interesting team selection which contributed to a close score on the night. (Report: David Grieve)

Grange 4ths versus Waverley 4ths ... 2nd November 2010.

A tough, close match saw Grange 4ths victorous by 16 points to 11 at the Waverley courts.

First up was Brian Sloan at no5 in his first match this year for the 4ths. It didn't start too well with Neil Kempsell putting him convincingly to the sword in the first game. The second game was a much closer affair with Brian just managing to nudge Neil out in a long game. After that, Brian must've managed to nick the sword between games as he comfortably closed the match out with only two further points going Neil's way. A 3-1 win for Brian.

At the unaccustomed height of No1 was your's truly (Mark Dutton) against Colin Cruikshank. A pretty poor start from me saw Colin take the first game easily and while the second was a little closer Colin managed to quickly peg back my 4-0 start to take the game again going away. Colin's command of the front of the court being the key factor. The third game was also going very badly for me at 2-7 down and a pretty big thrashing was on the cards. Somehow I managed to get a grip and clawed back to a 10-9 win in that game with a few very nervous match point saves along the way. The fourth game was a very different story though and a 9-0 win was the result achieved primarily through the medium of a ridiculous barrage of corkscrew serves, straight-at-the-body serves, straight down the middle serves…all the usual nonsense. The fifth game proved to be the talking point of the night. I'd started that the way of the previous game and had established a 5-1 lead. I'd certainly been somewhat vocal during the match (especially with some "self-encouragement" in the first two games) and in the later games had discussed a few points with the referees (…in a reasonable fashion, I felt). Colin had expressed some displeasure at the distractions from the actual matter of playing squash and two queried decisions in a row at 5-1 proved to be the final straw for Colin and he announced to the umpire that he was conceding the match and walked off. As Colin's unable to put his side of the case in this blog I won’t take advantage by putting mine and will just leave it at that. 3-2 win for Mark.

Next up was Will Henderson against Peter Cochrane at No2. Will started well and managed to nick the first game when it looked to be going away. A similarly close second game went against him. At that point it was clear that both players were struggling with the on-court heat and the heaters were switched off. Two further relatively mixed games followed with plenty of good rallies being interspersed with some unforced errors that disappointed both players. Peter managed to retain the better control and an out the winner. 1-3 loss for Will.

At No5 Neil Love managed a good start to share the first two games with Chris Jeffrey. The next two games were very hard fought with the only visible difference perhaps being the slightly better shot placement by Chris that on a number of occasions saw Neil fall just agonisingly short of reaching them for a return. The final game was a very close affair with Chris almost throwing it away by tinning an easy match point and Neil then very nearly stealing it, but Chris grabbed the serve back and a woop of delight as he picked up the final point showed how hard he felt the match had been. A 1-3 loss for Neil.

Last up was Andy Whitelaw at No 4 against John Allan. (Note to Andy….remember next time that Waverley starts at 6pm …not 7pm. Another note to Andy…check that your racket has all of its strings before you leave home). This turned out to be the best match Andy's played for the the team this year and he was in good control throughout. Some crisp hitting and good running saw him take the first two games using Neil Love's borrowed racket. Neil was up on the balcony fretting that he hadn't put it onto "record" mode before he handed it over as Andy was doing some good stuff with it. A period of resistance from John in the third game gave us all a momentary scare that we might see the match result go west, but Andy quickly regained control and closed it out for a 3-0 win. Mark Dutton

Grange II Vs Watsonians III – 03 November 2010

First home game of the season for the 2s was down in Stockbridge. A welcome change for some of the players who had fought their way up from the lower teams. Myself included.

Ian Forbes kicked things off at number 5 against Mike Callaghan. The game stared with some long rallies and very few points being exchanged. Ian managed to nose out in front and take the first and then sped off to an 8-2 lead in the second only to be slowly pegged back by Mike who had started to stretch out the rallies as the mistakes started to creep into Ian’s game. Ian held off and claimed the second 9-6. The third was and edgy affair as Mike kept Ian at the back with some nice lobbing. Ian was showing signs of frustration as it looked like the 3^rd could be going Mike’s way. A few errors from Mike let Ian back in though and the Grange man closed out for a good 3-0 win.

Mike Hall was playing at number 3 against Watsonian’s Hector Milne. Some tight squash was played by both players. Mike showed plenty aggression and played some excellent nicks. Hector soaked up plenty but it was Mike who came through on top 3-0.

Patrick Langley took on Jim Dougal at number 2 in what probably turned out to be the performance of the night by the Grange man. Patrick was up against a very experienced player in Jim and had his work cut in retrieving Jim’s variety of shots. Patrick took the first 9-0 in a game I didn’t actually see however Jim kept back for the second fully warmed up and took it 9-7. The game was now red hot with Jim throwing all sorts at Pat only for it to be soaked up and thrown right back!! Some spectacular rallies followed in the 3rd with Pat chasing everything down. The game was truly in the balance now as this one went to the wire! Some grit from Pat meant it went his way, 10-9. The pressure was kept on with Jim trying to find a way back in but Pat kept running and played some tight squash that didn’t let Jim in to play his game. Pat took the forth for an excellent 3-1 win.

Captain Rob Pfab was on at one against Ali Carruth. Some great looking squash from both player meant it went all the way in the first with Rob saving 3 game balls!! Rob took it 10-9 to claim the first and then put his foot down to take the next to for a well deserved 3-0 win

Pete Cockburn finally got on to play the 4^th string match at the end of the night against Gordon Fruish. Gordon played some tight boasts and drops in the first that had Pete running all sorts of ways, mostly the wrong way! 5-8 down Pete fought back to take the first 10-9. The second followed quickly 9-2 where Pete looked to be cruising only to be 0-5 down in the third when Gordon started to throw in those tricky boasts again!!!. Pete came back for the second time to finally close things out- 3-0 to the Grange.

A good win for the 2s, their first of the season. A tough defeat for the Watsonians guys who only faired marginally better on their last visit to Stockbridge.

First Marco’s of the season was consumed with Beer and some of Mike Hall’s questionable Tommy Cooper Impressions!

18-1 Grange (Report: Cockburnator of the East)