The first games of the new Cherry Orchard League took place last Sunday at the NSC with Ballaugh taking an early advantage with whitewash of the Peel Musketeers.

Dave McTaggart continued his good form from last season with a 13-2 win in the opening game of singles. Ann Gale & Richard Faragher added to that, both winning their games 9-6. Ballaugh completed the comprehensive victory with a 10-4 win in the triples.

Ronaldsway Blockbusters also had an encouraging start with a 7-2 win over Colby Cosmos. Chris Holland & Seamus Whelan won their singles 13-4 & 7-6 respectively, while Ann Hollingworth beat Collin Holland 10-9 to claim Cosmos only win if the day. The triples saw the Blockbusters come out on top 7-5.

One of the new teams this season, Andreas had a baptism of fire for their first game, coming up against reigning champions Douglas Bay Pirates. Michael Collister (20-3) & Stephen Gale (13-5) both won their games but Tony Quine hit back with an impressive 11-6 win in his singles. The Pirates ran away with the triples however recording a 16-2 victory to win the match 7-2.

The other new team, Port Erin New Kids fared a little better against an experienced Laxey Minors side with Bernie Durcan winning 9-7 and Stephen Durcan taking his singles 7-6 for the New Kids. David Cottier got the Minors only win in the singles with a 14-7 victory. The Laxey Minors finished up taking the triples 8-5 and thanks to David Cottiers impressive result in the singles took the bonus point to win 5-4.

Next week is the opening games of the Haldane Fisher Fours League with reigning champions Ronaldsway Rockets playing Colby Cosmos and Douglas Sharks facing Port Erin.