So to the final, after a gruelling semi-final it was felt that Daryl
Selby had to win the first game. Alan Clyne never gave him an inch,
patient rallies and dragging Selby forward at every opportunity he
developed a 7-0 lead. Next rally first point for Selby but that was
to be his only one in this game, 1-0 Clyne 11-1. The next game was
the longest, nip and tuck up to 8-8, Selby playing tight and taking
it early goes into the lead 10-8, a chance to even things up. Clyne
was having none of It, the next rally probably the longest of the
match with Clyne chasing every ball down. Selby misses a straight
drop and its 10-9.
Another long rally and again a mistake from Selby, 10-10, every inch
of the court was used by both players with some amazing retrieving
and delightful shots but a cross court from Clyne hits the sidewall
nick 11-10. The look on Selbys face told it all another hard rally
which Selby put everything into but Clyne has him out of position
and its 2-0, 12-10. The first rally showed the tenacity of Clyne,
never gave up anything, he was not letting Selby off the hook. 2-2
became 5-2 a couple of lovely cross court nicks from Selby and it
was 5-4. Although he gave everything he had left in the tank it was
not enough to prevent Alan Cyne from winning the Cleethorpes
Invitational on his first visit.
Mike Hallam thanked all the sponsors and the crowd for their
continued support of the tournament and John Massarella who has been
coming from day one. The players were impressed with the set and
hospitality given to them and expressed a wish to return. Many
thanks to Malcolm Willstrop who a is also becoming a permanent
fixture for his write ups and company, never a dull moment that’s
for sure.
It’s a pleasure to welcome you to Cleethorpes Cricket Club, as
our squash section goes from strength to strength. It never gets any
easier trying to raise sponsorship for the event so I have to give a
massive thanks to those who have kindly agreed to be main sponsors.
They include Bring logistics, Cristal UK, Buildbase, A P Robinson,
Paul Rudd Solicitors, The Van Franchise, Centrica Energy, Eye Squash
Rackets and Oceanblue Logistics. Without your support I would never
be able to bring such talent to our club, I can never thank you
enough.
To assemble the standard of players we have each year is nothing but
remarkable and this year we have some of the very best young talent
around. Along with some familiar faces, we have a great line up, I
would like to thank each and every one of them for giving time to
play in our tournament.
To all the companies that place adverts in the program, I thank you
all, you make a huge contribution towards me being able to put the
tournament on.
The Players
What with the top golfers in the world and the Russian drug fiasco
can you imagine how the squash players feel. It appears that now
most of the worlds sporting bodies have several skeletons in the
closet. The world top squash players would run to Brazil or anywhere
else for that matter to play in an Olympics, shame on the Olympic
selection committee.
We in Cleethorpes have been spoilt over the years with the calibre
of players that have graced our court and this year is no different.
James and Daryl back to support the tournament both well regarded by
the spectators and with them some new faces and the most exciting up
and coming talent around.
New face Alan Clyne, Scotland No1 will be hard to beat, Declan James
impressed the crowd last year, Richie Fallows and George Parker both
first time, I know the Cleethorpes will take to these two, Scotland
No3 Dougie Kempsell and Australian Matt Hopkins, both first time and
again just the sort of players the crowd here loves. It is a
privilege and a pleasure to welcome them all to Cleethorpes.
To make it complete we have the ever present sevices of John
Massarella, not only do we have some of the worlds top players but
in John we have one of the world class referees.
