An exciting evening for the 2025/26 Optasia Squash Super League campaign, as the Bristol Buccaneers claimed their first victory of the season, winning 3-1, against the Leamington Royals.
Despite the home defeat for the Royals, they were able to move themselves into the top spot, after clinching a vital point to overtake St. George’s Hill Knights on the leaderboard.
Read below for the report and results from this Optasia Squash Super League fixture.
If you missed out on the action, full replays will be available to view on the England Squash YouTube Channel.
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Leamington Royals v Bristol Buccaneers
The Bristol Buccaneers were able to claim their first victory of the 2025/26 Squash Super League campaign, with a commanding 3-1 win at the Leamington Lawn Tennis & Squash Club.
In the opening match of the night, both Club Heroes went head-to-head with Leamington Royals, Sam Cross securing the points in a tightly contested battle against Evan Davies-Clarke over 42 minutes.
The first game proved to be a battle of endurance as Davies-Clarke claimed the opener 11-9, but that wasn’t without a response from his opponent. Despite going down in the first, Cross came back into the match with confidence, taking a 6-1 lead, which he maintained, winning the second 11-4.
Heading into a deciding third game, Cross extended the lead to 6-1, and looked on course to secure a vital point for the Royals. However, unlike the previous game, Davies-Clarke refused to give up, pulling the scores back to 6-6.
Unfortunately, this comeback was short-lived, as the Royals Club Hero was able to reassert his lead and close out the contest 11-8.
With the Royals winning the first match of the night, attention turned to the U25’s tie where Sam Todd and Bristol Buccaneers’ Ameeshenraj Chandaran went head-to-head. Much like the opening battle, this match would be spread across three games, with Chandaran claiming the first 11-7, and Todd clinching the second 11-9.
With the match being closely contested, it seemed as though Englishman was more in favour of winning the tie, as Todd took a healthy 6-3 lead in the third. However, it wasn’t to be for the Royals’ debutant, as the Malaysian would go on to win eight of the next nine to secure the points for the Buccaneers.
And the travelling teams fortunes would continue as Georgina Kennedy was able to beat World No.7 Satomi Watanabe in straight games in 28 minutes. The opening game saw the duo share the points, forcing a tiebreak, with Kennedy eventually finding enough to overcome the Japanese No.1, winning 11-10.
The battle continued into the second, with both players refusing to give the other any room on the scoreboard. Kennedy and Watanabe would share the first 16 points, before the World No.10 grew a small advantage to claim the second game 11-9.
The final match of the night saw the Royals’ Declan James face off against the World No.18 Eain Yow Ng. The Malaysian would take a quick 4-1 lead in the first, but that wasn’t enjoyed for too long, as James would fight his way back to win 11-9.
Results:
Club Hero
Sam Cross [LR] bt. Evan Davies-Clarke [BB] 2-1: 9-11, 11-4, 11-8
Men’s U25
Ameeshenraj Chandaran [BB] bt. Sam Todd [LR] 2-1: 11-7, 9-11, 11-7
Women’s Pro
Georgina Kennedy [BB] bt. Satomi Watanabe [LR] 2-0: 11-10, 11-9
Men’s Pro
Eain Yow Ng [BB] bt. Declan James [LR] 2-1: 9-11, 11-5, 11-5
