The Eastern Province men’s side bounced back from their opening loss to register an important victory over KwaZulu-Natal A on the second day of the Growthpoint Jarvis-Kaplan interprovincial squash tournament at Londt Park on Tuesday.
In a match in which the battle for the five winning points was furiously fought, the hosts managed to shrug off a loss by Jason le Roux in the tie’s opening match to win 17-4.
Justin de Neef was the early hero for KwaZulu-Natal and though they put in a huge effort to avert defeat, EP were able to come through on the back of wins by Sips Mpini, Gershwin Forbes and Dean Venter.
With the pressure off, EP No 1 Gerard Mitchell rounded off the day with a solid 3-0 win against Daniel Smith.
In other action, defending champions Cape Fruit SA Country Districts and Northerns A remained on a collision course for the top honours as they both collected their second victories.
The SACD side, after dropping one match on Monday, moved into top gear with a clean sweep against Western Province A to move to 38 points after two rounds.
It was another clinical performance by JP Brits’ team and a clear indication that it will take a huge effort to stop them winning the Jarvis Cup trophy for the fifth year in a row.
The skilful Northerns side, though, may have something to say about that after they successfully negotiated a tricky hurdle in neighbours Joburg Squash A, winning 17-8.
John Anderson gave Joburg Squash the perfect start with a solid 3-0 win over Judah Phillips, but Northerns were soon back in business, though not without some real effort.
Joburg No 4 Ethan Robinson fought all the way before going down 3-1 to Connor Earl, 15-13 in the fourth game.
Then followed a match which went down to the wire, with Northerns again taking the spoils as Nikhil Pather outlasted Amukelani Zitha by winning the decider 11-3.
Up 2-1 in matches, Northerns No 2 Jarrod Cousins was able to manage the trickery of Christo Potgieter, who showed his skill to win the third game but, in the end, was not able to get one across his younger opponent.
That sealed the deal and Damian Groenewald wrapped it up with a 3-1 win over Joburg rival Tristen Worth.
In the women’s Kaplan Cup, the Cape Fruit SA Country Districts A side laid down their challenge when they outplayed hosts Eastern Province, winning four of the five matches.
Only EP No 1 Hayley Ward could win for her team as SACD continued their impressive form to make it two wins out of two.
They did not drop a game in the matches they won and that’s a sign of their depth, and puts them on track for a shot at regaining the title.
Northerns A also confirmed their credentials as they moved past a spirited Border team, winning all five matches but receiving some tough competition on the way.
Border’s Kelly Emslie picked up one game against Lara Patrick and her colleague at No 5, Hayley Wyer, became involved in a humdinger with Northerns opponent Elzandri Janse van Rensburg.
Three of the games reached the 10-10 stage, but it was the young Northerns player who held her composure under intense pressure to win 3-2 by taking the decider 11-6.
Defending champions Western Province A bounced back after their opening-day loss with a comfortable clean sweep against Joburg Squash A.
The Herald