Squash: Shot in arm for Auckland

Squash Auckland has given the top club competition a facelift this season, with different teams and a different scoring system in place for the opening round at Royal Oak tonight.

In a bid to provide a stronger and more competitive league, there will be eight sponsored teams comprising two men and two women playing a 14-round series.

But rather than have some teams dominate the competition through having the top players within their ranks, the best players have been split to ensure decent matchplay each week.

The scoring system has been changed to incorporate elements of the American system, where points are scored irrespective of whether a player is serving or not.

This year, matches will be best of five games, using first to eight under the American system, with the player then having to serve to win the game. The women will play best of five, first to 15 American scoring.

While the players are in sponsored teams, their wins will also count for their clubs, with the Auckland interclub trophy at stake.

Englishman Iain Higgins returns to Browns Bay for his fourth year. He will be favoured for the men's title, with his top opposition coming from the likes of Alan Crome (Remuera), Wayne Werder (Panmure), Nigel Lloyd (Herne Bay), Rick Cartmill and Jared Conning (both Royal Oak), Peter Wyatt (Browns Bay) and Phil Buscke (Eden Epsom).

The women's contest should be intriguing, with Shelley Kitchen and Lara Petera (both Herne Bay), Marie Pearson, Louise Crome, Fiona Dean, Donna Newton, Fleur Townsend and Sarah Lovelock (Remuera) squaring off.

* New Zealand's top women's player, Leilani Joyce, launches her campaign for the world No 1 spot in Egypt today at a grand prix event at the Red Sea holiday resort of Hurghada.

It will be second-seed Joyce's first competitive outing for three months and she is seeded to meet world No 1 Cassie Campion (England) in the weekend final.

From Egypt, Joyce heads to Munich for the Bavarian Open (April 13-16) before heading back to New Zealand for the squash week promotion between April 25-30.