Superleague 2022
05/07/22 at Westway: Aston House Stampede beat Aston House Thoroughbreds 6-0
R.Houlden & N.Shaw beat A.Abrahams & N.Choustikov 15-10
N.Turnbull & M.Chinery beat S.Thatcher & S.Chapman 15-5
R.Houlden & M.Chinery beat S.Thatcher & N.Choustikov 15-4
N.Turnbull & N.Shaw beat A.Abrahams & S.Chapman 15-9
R.Houlden & N.Turnbull beat A.Abrahams & S.Thatcher 15-6
N.Shaw & M.Chinery beat N.Choustikov & S.Chapman 15-8
The two Aston House teams met at Westway in the 2022 Superleague final, with the Stampede coming out on top. The group match between the two had been a 3-3 classic, but much was dictated last night by team availability and selection. The Stampede were hit by the late withdrawal of Tom McCahon, called away to nick some little knife-wielding scrote, but still had four players available to take to the court, including tournament MVP Riki Houlden, previous winners Nathan Turnbull and Nick Shaw, and Matt Chinery, back into the starting line-up after missing the semi. The Thoroughbreds were hit harder, however, with Noah Caplin and Sahil Shah unavailable and the ever present Karen Hird succumbing to injury. Stephen Thatcher and Nick Choustikov were there to support Alex Abrahams and the absentees meant a late call to the colours for franchise supremo Spencer Chapman. It was no surprise to anyone that Spencer managed to wangle his way into the showpiece game; the only shock was that he failed to engineer it so that he was in the winning team. Must be losing his touch. The games were good and certainly not one-sided but the result was never really in doubt as the Stampede took the title with a clean sweep 6-0 win, with Riki finishing the competition with 21 wins out of 21 games and more than double the number of winners in the hole than all bar one of the other competitors. Roll on next year, by which time this year's team kit should just have arrived and the latest version of the trophy presumably lost...
28/06/22 at Westway: Aston House Stampede beat Newbury HA1 6-0
R.Houlden & N.Turnbull beat R.Tyler & O.Avery 15-3
T.McCahon & N.Shaw beat W.Seath & J.Hopkins 15-2
R.Houlden & N.Shaw beat W.Seath & O.Avery 15-0
T.McCahon & N.Turnbull beat R.Tyler & J.Hopkins 15-4
R.Houlden & T.McCahon beat R.Tyler & W.Seath 15-3
N.Turnbull & N.Shaw lost to O.Avery & J.Hopkins 15-6
The Aston House Stampede have been living up to their name during the league stages of this year's Superleague and continued to ruthlessly trample their opponents underfoot in the semi-finals, dispatching Newbury HA1 with the minimum of fuss to earn their place in the final next week and a rematch against stablemates Aston House Thoroughbreds. The quartet of Riki Houlden, Tom McCahon, Nathan Turnbull and Nick Shaw were in imperious form all evening with the result never in doubt, with Riki maintaining his perfect record and extending his winning streak to 18 successive matches and hitting another four winners in the hole; surely the MVP and Golden Gloves awards are already decided with a week of the competition still to go. The group stage match between the two teams ended in a thrilling 3-3 draw - the final next week has the makings of another Superleague classic!
28/06/22 at Westway: Aston House Thoroughbreds beat Highgate 5-1
A.Abrahams & K.Hird beat O.Hallam & R.Morgan 15-8
S.Shah & S.Thatcher beat J.Ledigo & E.Scoones 15-14
A.Abrahams & S.Thatcher beat J.Ledigo & R.Morgan 15-8
S.Shah & K.Hird lost to O.Hallam & E.Scoones 8-15
A.Abrahams & S.Shah beat O.Hallam & J.Ledigo 15-1
K.Hird & S.Thatcher beat R.Morgan & E.Scoones 15-3
The Thoroughbreds made it an Aston House 1-2 in the Superleague final with a convincing win in a potentially tricky semi-final against Highgate last night. With Noah Caplin missing, the return of Alex Abrahams was crucial in adding some firepower to the top of the order. With a couple of the Highgate bigger hitters not playing, the Thoroughbreds probably started as marginal favourites and Alex & Karen got the team off to a good start with a 15-8 win over Oli Hallam & Ralph Morgan in the first rotation. Crucially, Sahil & Stephen came through a very tight game against Jack Ledigo & Emily Scoones, winning 15-14 and giving the Thoroughbreds the early advantage; even though Karen & Sahil slipped up against Emily & Oli in the second rotation, another win from Alex & Stephen meant that the finishing line was in sight and the Highgate quartet were unable to offer much resistance in the final round of games, falling away badly as the Thoroughbreds cleared the last couple of fences and headed down the finishing straight at an unstoppable gallop to set up an all Aston House final next Tuesday evening.
15/06/22 at Westway: Aston House Thoroughbreds beat Westway Warriors 6-0
N.Caplin & S.Thatcher beat A.Field & T.Campbell 15-9
K.Hird & N.Choustikov beat F.Lebon & C.Wheeler 15-5
N.Caplin & N.Choustikov beat F.Lebon & T.Campbell 15-12
K.Hird & S.Thatcher beat A.Field & C.Wheeler 15-8
N.Caplin & K.Hird beat A.Field & F.Lebon 15-5
S.Thatcher & N.Choustikov beat T.Campbell & C.Wheeler 15-7
The Thoroughbreds finished off the group stages at Westway last night with a measured performance against a strong Westway Warriors line-up, winning all six games to complete an Aston House one two at the end of the group stages and keep hopes alive of an all Aston House final in three weeks time. The Thoroughbreds quartet had to work hard to see off the Westway threat, the Bryanston pairing of Tancred Campbell & Frank Lebon in particular pushing Noah & Nick hard in the second rotation. The AHT team managed to stay in control all the way through, however, to set up a semi-final against Highgate, which has the potential to be a classic.
14/06/22 at Westway: Aston House Stampede beat Highgate 5-1
R.Houlden & M.Chinery beat O.Hallam & Ab.Bhattacharya 15-7
T.McCahon & N.Shaw beat Ar.Bhattacharya & D.Lioubimov 15-6
R.Houlden & N.Shaw beat Ar.Bhattacharya & Ab.Bhattacharya 15-0
T.McCahon & M.Chinery beat O.Hallam & D.Lioubimov 15-9
R.Houlden & T.McCahon beat O.Hallam & Ar.Bhattacharya 15-3
M.Chinery & N.Shaw lost to Ab.Bhattacharya & D.Lioubimov 10-15
The Aston House Stampede confirmed their place at the top of the final regular season table with another convincing win, this time a 5-1 victory over a strong Highgate line-up. Riki Houlden has been in a class of his own throughout the tournament and he extended his perfect winning streak to 15 consecutive matches, maintaining his current stranglehold on both the MVP and Golden Gloves competitions. An unpredictable performance from the Bhattacharya brothers turned a 0-15 defeat playing together into a final round win for Abs and Dan Lioubimov over Matt & Nick, but the job had already been done by that stage and thoughts now turn to the semi-finals in a couple of weeks time and a match against Newbury HA1.
08/06/22 at Westway: Aston House Stampede beat Westway Warriors 6-0
R.Houlden & N.Turnbull beat P.Wilkinson & M.Gwynne 15-1
T.McCahon & M.Chinery beat C.Wheeler & J.Caplin 15-2
R.Houlden & M.Chinery beat C.Wheeler & M.Gwynne 15-5
T.McCahon & N.Turnbull beat P.Wilkinson & J.Caplin 15-1
R.Houlden & T.McCahon beat P.Wilkinson & C.Wheeler 15-1
N.Turnbull & M.Chinery beat M.Gwynne & J.Caplin 15-8
Anything the Thoroughbreds can do, the Stampede can follow, with another comfortable 6-0 win putting AHS back in pole position to qualify top of the table at the end of the group phase. Westway didn't field any of their bigger hitters and the AHT quartet of Riki, Tom, Nathan and Matt cruised through the six matches without coming under any particular pressure. The main business of the evening was therefore Riki extending his perfect record to12 out of 12 and leading the standings in both the MVP and Golden Gloves competition.
07/06/22 at Westway: Aston House Thoroughbreds beat Emanuel Wanderers 6-0
S.Shah & S.Thatcher beat C.Nkwocha & S.Shah 15-2
K.Hird & S.Chapman beat R.Swallow & T.Bush 15-5
S.Shah & S.Chapman beat R.Swallow & S.Shah 15-2
K.Hird & S.Thatcher beat C.Nkwocha & T.Bush 15-3
S.Shah & K.Hird beat C.Nkwocha & R.Swallow 15-4
S.Thatcher & S.Chapman beat S.Shah & T.Bush 15-7
It was the Thoroughbreds who struck the first blow of Week Four of the Superleague, cruising to an easy 6-0 win over the Emanuel Wanderers, even with a much changed line-up. Sahil and Karen moved up from 3 & 4 last week to 1 & 2 this time round, with Stephen Thatcher slotting in at three and the Darren Stevens/James Milner of the WSSL, the Aston House supremo himself Spencer Chapman, making his first appearance of the season, having first established that the opposition were definitely beatable. They were, and with no more than 7 points conceded in any one match, the Thoroughbreds jumped to the top of the table, laying down the gauntlet to the Stampede before their Wednesday outing.
01/06/22 at Westway: Aston House Thoroughbreds beat Highgate 4-2
N.Caplin & S.Shah lost to J.Marks & Ar.Bhattacharya 14-15
A.Abrahams & K.Hird beat D.Lioubimov & Ab.Bhattacharya 15-9
N.Caplin & K.Hird beat D.Lioubimov & Ar.Bhattacharya 15-9
A.Abrahams & S.Shah beat J.Marks & Ab.Bhattacharya 15-12
N.Caplin & A.Abrahams beat J.Marks & D.Lioubimov 15-8
S.Shah & K.Hird lost to Ar.Bhattacharya & Ab.Bhattacharya 1-15
The Thoroughbreds kept themselves hot on the heels of the Stampede with a fine 4-2 win against previous table toppers Highgate at Westway on Wednesday evening. An unchanged foursome of Noah Caplin, Alex Abrahams, Sahil Shah and Karen Hird had to work hard against strong opposition and an interesting injury-influenced batting order. The only blemishes were a narrow 15-14 defeat for Noah & Sahil against Joe Marks & Aroop Bhattacharya in the first round and a disappointing 15-1 defeat in the final round for Shail & Karen against the Bhattacharya brothers. The other four games were all won, though, taking the Thoroughbreds into second place overall behind the Stampede and keeping hopes high of a first and second place regular season double for the two Aston House teams.
31/05/22 at Westway: Aston House Stampede beat Newbury HA1 6-0
R.Houlden & N.Shaw beat M.de Souza Girao & J.Hopkins 15-3
N.Turnbull & C.Austin beat W.Seath & O.Avery 15-3
R.Houlden & C.Austin beat W.Seath & J.Hopkins 15-3
N.Turnbull & N.Shaw beat M.de Souza Girao & O.Avery 15-3
R.Houlden & N.Turnbull beat M.de Souza Girao & W.Seath 15-8
N.Shaw & C.Austin beat J.Hopkins & O.Avery 15-2
The Aston House Stampede galloped into top spot in the table on Tuesday evening with a 6-0 demolition of Newbury HA1. The Superleague newcomers were powerless to prevent a clean sweep for the Stampede quartet of Riki Houlden, Nathan Turnbull, Nick Shaw and Chris Austin with not even former Kinnaird Cup winner Manuel de Souza Girao able to do anything to stem the tide. With the competition now at the halfway stage, AHS are in pole position to qualify for the play-offs in the top seeded slot and are rapidly becoming bookies' favourites to take the title. Head Stampeder Riki Houlden is also leading the way for the never done before double of MVP and Golden Gloves wins. Can he stay on top of both? Can the team maintain momentum next week against the Westway Warriors?
24/05/22 at Westway: Aston House Thoroughbreds drew with Aston House Stampede 3-3
N.Caplin & S.Shah lost to R.Houlden & N.Shaw 1-15
A.Abrahams & K.Hird beat N.Turnbull & M.Chinery 15-11
N.Caplin & K.Hird beat N.Turnbull & N.Shaw 15-3
A.Abrahams & S.Shah lost to R.Houlden & M.Chinery 6-15
N.Caplin & A.Abrahams lost to R.Houlden & N.Turnbull 14-15
S.Shah & K.Hird beat N.Shaw & M.Chinery 15-10
The AH derby match promised to produce fireworks and it duly delivered last night as the Thoroughbreds and the Stampede took to the Westway courts in a bona fide Superleague heavyweight classic. Both sides came into the contest with a 6-0 week one win under their belts looking to establish themselves as the senior Aston House team; the Thoroughbreds made two changes from their first match, drafting in Sahil Shah and Alex Abrahams to join Noah Caplin and Karen Hird, while the build up for the Stampede was more disrupted, injuries to Chris Austin and Ben Merrett meaning late call ups for Matt Chinery and Riki Houlden. The presence of Riki ("Saving Lives, Saving Fives") at the top of the order naturally gave a boost to the Stampede's chances and he and Aston House stalwart Nick Shaw got off to an absolute flyer against the shell-shocked Shah & Caplin. The Thoroughbreds, on the other hand, had the luxury of Karen at number four and she and Alex ensured that the scores were level after the first rotation with a 15-11 win over Matt & Nathan Turnbull. The two "bankers" continued to prosper in the second rotation, with convincing wins for Riki & Matt over Alex & Sahil and for Karen & Noah over Nathan & Nick. 2-2 going into the final round and all to play for. With the match - and the internal AH bragging rights - on the line, things really began to hot up in the final rotation. Karen made it three out of three as she and Sahil kept Matt & Nick at bay with a 15-10 win. The Thoroughbreds looked like they might be on course for victory for a while; Alex & Noah have formed a formidable partnership for North Oxford this season and they were at it again, establishing a 12-9 lead over Riki & Nathan in the blue riband match to get within touching distance of victory. Riki & Nathan had other ideas, however and got it back to 13-13, then 14-14 before hitting the front in the nick of time to claim the win. A 3-3 draw, then, and with the form being displayed by the two AH teams, who would bet against a repeat of this match up in the final in a few weeks time?
18/05/22 at Westway: Aston House Thoroughbreds beat Newbury HA1 6-0
N.Caplin & S.Thatcher beat M.de Souza Girao & J.Hopkins 15-13
K.Hird & N.Choustikov beat R.Tyler & O.Avery 15-4
N.Caplin & N.Choustikov beat R.Tyler & J.Hopkins 15-3
K.Hird & S.Thatcher beat M.de Souza Girao & O.Avery 15-1
N.Caplin & K.Hird beat M.de Souza Girao & R.Tyler 15-6
S.Thatcher & N.Choustikov beat J.Hopkins & O.Avery 15-6
The other half of the Aston House megacorporation took to the courts at Westway on Wednesday, with a tough act to follow after the 6-0 Stampede win on Tuesday and some tougher opposition in the shape of Newbury HA1, the Harrow/Berkshire combo featuring heavy hitters at the top of the order in Manuel de Souza Girao (a second Kinnaird winner dispatched in successive nights) and Richard Tyler and enthusiastic tyros in support in the shape of Jack Hopkins and Ollie Avery. The Thoroughbreds featured Karen Hird, a veteran of many a Superleague campaign, Stephen Thatcher and newcomers Noah Caplin and Nick Choustikov and the combination blended beautifully. Noah & Stephen had to work hard to see off Manuel & Jack in the first rotation but after that it was plain cantering as the Thoroughbreds swept to a 6-0 win, the highlight perhaps the 15-6 win in the blue riband tie by Noah & Karen over Manuel & Richard, a triple change of cutter with Karen returning at 7-6 breaking the back of the opposition challenge. Next week sees the two AH teams clash in a massive encounter - expect fireworks!
17/05/22 at Westway: Aston House Stampede beat Emanuel Wanderers 6-0
R.Houlden & M.Chinery beat J.Reynolds & T.Bush 15-3
T.McCahon & B.Merrett beat J.Hammond & R.Swallow 15-2
R.Houlden & B.Merrett beat J.Hammond & T.Bush 15-3
T.McCahon & M.Chinery beat J.Reynolds & R.Swallow 15-1
R.Houlden & T.McCahon beat J.Reynolds & J.Hammond 15-2
M.Chinery & B.Merrett beat T.Bush & R.Swallow 15-2
The new Superleague season got underway at Westway last night with a new look slim line six team tournament and a new addition to the Aston House franchise, with AH supremo Spencer Chapman like a kid in a sweetshop (cake shop in this case maybe?) and playing Fantasy Fives from his spare room with a new team and new squad members joining the AH pantheon. The Stampede lived up to their name, trampling all over competition debutants Emanuel, with Riki Houlden leading the way, and Tom McCahon, Matt Chinery and Ben Merrett galloping behind hot on his heels. Not even eleven Kinnaird wins in the opposition ranks could stem the tide and the Stampede duly recorded a full set of six wins to get their campaign off to rollicking start.