Both of the Barbados Squash Club’s teams triumphed in last night’s semi-finals in the Barbados Squash Rackets Association’s Inter-Club League to set up an all BSC final this Friday night.
At the BSC on court #1 the team that headed the ICL standings at the end of the round robin phase, the BSC Blasters, reversed last week?s result against the Pleasant Place Strikers, to win the first semi-final tie by four matches to one. First on court for the Blasters was #5, Ronald Watson, who easily defeated Edna Corbette 9/2 9/3 9/4. Then at #4, Ashok Merai had to work a little harder to win 7/9 9/4 9/4 9/1 over the hard working Michael Best. At #1, Strikers’ captain and the island’s best player for the last six years, Gavin Cumberbatch, then defeated top local female player, Karen Meakins, 9/6 9/1 10/8 in an excellent match that was played at a very high level by both players, to give his team some hope. But the Blasters then shut the door with two hard fought victories. At #3 Cliff Nolan made things safe by impressively defeating top local junior, Cheri-Ann Parris, 9/4 9/6 7/9 9/6 and finally at #2 Craig Archer fought back from 0-2 down against Andre Donawa to win 0/9 7/9 9/5 9/2 9/5 to the delight of the home team’s supporters.
On court #2 the Boasters also won a hard fought tie by a similar four match to one margin over the BDF Battalion B team. For the Boasters at #5 13 year-old schoolboy Jonathan O?Dowd, came back from 0-2 down to defeat Bertram Butcher 6/9 4/9 9/3 9/6 9/6. Then at #4, Jasper Seymour defeated the previously unbeaten 14 year old schoolboy Liu Ross, who was hampered by an ankle injury in the final game, 9/5 9/1 9/10 9/5 to give the Boasters an unexpected 2-0 lead in the tie. At #1, Mark Sealy then rolled back the years with an impressive 3-0 demolition of John Cumberbatch 9/1 9/1 9/0 to seal the victory for the Boasters. The Battalion B team?s Nkosi Ross, who is a year older than his brother Liu, clawed one back for his team with another outstanding and hard fought 9/1 6/9 1/9 9/5 9/2 victory over Jerry Hutchinson, but then Boaster?s captain Jason Small defeated Philip Lewis 9/7 9/1 4/9 9/0 to round out the night?s work with another win for his team.
In the Inter-Club League final which will start at 5:45 p.m. on Friday, March 17th at the Barbados Squash Club, the Blasters will take on the Boasters, while the Strikers will tussle with the Battalion B team for third place. The presentation of trophies, including awards for the MVP for each position (#1 through #5) in the various teams, will take place at the BSC immediately after the end of these two ties on Friday night.
The ICL standings after Match day 8 (semi-finals) are given in the spreadsheet below.
Inter-Club League Standings after Semi-Finals – file no. 1
