Daily Diary from Nottingham
Parkey's column appears in the
Nottingham Evening Post
Sat 2nd: Parkey celebrates rising to
#13 in the
new May PSA rankings - one of the few
players
to increase his points tally in the month ...
Now we’re in the semi-finals!
I was a lot happier with my performance yesterday.
England are the defending champions and top seeds – and we beat the Netherlands 4-0 to come top in Pool A as we were expected to do.
It was my third match in two days and I’ve had a small blister on my heel which has been causing some problems.
But I had treatment for it before the match and felt a lot more comfortable. It transformed my movement and I was able to beat the Dutch No3 Dylan Bennett 9-2 9-0 9-5 in 30 minutes
Dylan is a talented youngster who recently won the European Junior title after mopping up a number of titles on the European junior circuit.
Peter Nicol was as clinical as ever. He didn’t waste much time beating the Dutch champion Tommy Berden for the loss of only four points.
James Willstrop is cruising through his first two days as a senior England player. He won his third successive match in straight games and seems to be getting more and more confident with each appearance – he belies his 19 years of age!
Lee Beachill played his first match for us on Thursday since having surgery on his ankle in March. He didn’t seem to have any trouble then, but yesterday he dropped a game against the former Dutch champion Lucas Buit. Lucas is quite handy, and caused a bit of an upset the day before when he beat Scotland’s Martin Heath.
It’s tough when you come back from an injury – and I know because I also had surgery on my ankle. But Lee spent some valuable time with our team Physio Phil Newton last night and he will be raring to go today, I’m sure.
We expect to meet Wales in today’s semi-finals and, like Scotland, they’ve got two world-class players in their squad. Alex Gough, the Welsh No1, is a good friend of mine who spent some seven years based here in Nottingham – so he’ll probably get some ‘home’ support!
Naturally I hope I’ll be playing, and if so the expectation will be on me and the other player at third or fourth string to get 3-0 wins to ease the pressure on our top strings.
And like our first all-British clash with Scotland, there’s bound to be a good crowd at the club spurring us on!
Parkey
Clinical Nicol
A relief to get Scotland out of the way!
It was a bit of a relief to get Scotland out of the way yesterday afternoon – we beat them 3-1 so the initial pressure is off a bit now.
There’d been a lot of interest in our opening fixture against the ‘old enemy’, particularly with our number one Peter Nicol playing for the first time for England, against his former country. What was great was the size of the crowd - it seemed as if the whole of Nottingham was crowded into the gallery to see the match, but then I guess there’s always something special about an England v Scotland clash!
Scotland, the fifth seeds, are led by two world-class players – so it was agreed at our pre-match team briefing that James (Willstrop) and I had to get 3-0 wins to take the pressure off our top two players, Peter and our captain Mark Chaloner.
I faced Peter O’Hara at third string, an unranked player I’d not met before. It was a shaky start - I went 3-0 up and before I knew it was 5-7 down. I then remembered the meeting and was determined not to let the side down. O’Hara seemed to have no fear and went for loads of winners – quite a few coming off, which was a bit surprising – but I hung in and got the due straight games win 9-7 9-1 9-2.
James Willstrop was on the adjacent court, playing his first match for England. He’s just 19 and a lot more experienced than I was when I made my debut for England at 17. A fellow Yorkshireman, James is a class act and won his match 3-0 - taking everything in his stride. And at 6’ 5” tall, they are very big strides too!
Peter followed me on the main showcourt and was his usual confident self, moving really well as he despatched Scotland’s world No4 John White 9-6 9-0 9-3 to secure his first win in his new colours.
Mark Chaloner had a tough match, losing in five games to a former Nottingham-based player Martin Heath, the world No15.
Later, we played Switzerland and cruised to a 4-0 win to leave only Netherlands, the fourth seeds, to face today.
The England women’s team had a comfortable 3-0 win over Belgium in their opening fixture. They are unbeaten in the event since it first started 27 years ago, and I can’t honestly see any team even taking a game off them.
A real sense of anticipation
After about a year of planning and preparation, we’ve finally arrived at day one of the European Team Championships being staged here in Nottingham – amazingly the first time this prestigious event has been staged in England for 25 years!
Having spent the last 14 years travelling to all corners of the globe to compete on the international circuit, it’s going to be very strange having less than a two-minute walk from my home to the venue where this event is being held.
I was practicing yesterday at the club with my England team mate Peter Nicol, the world No1 who is making his England debut after ‘defecting’ from Scotland, and there’s a real sense of anticipation at the club.
Everything’s looking great and all the staff seem really excited at the prospect of hosting the biggest team event ever to be held in this country.
There are 37 teams competing in the event, representing 23 countries – including the Isle of Man, making their first ever appearance. That’s what makes the Europeans such a unique event – big countries playing alongside smaller ones, there’s always such a great atmosphere.
England are favourites to retain both the men’s and women’s titles, but it won’t be the foregone conclusion that a lot of people seem to think. Having said that, the women’s squad has just lost world No4 Tania Bailey who is still suffering with a virus, but even with late replacement Jenny Tranfield, all four players are in the world’s top ten!
England drew 2-2 in last year’s men’s final against France, and only won the title on a countback in games – and we’re expected to meet second seeds France again in this year’s final.
But the squad has been boosted by Peter Nicol’s arrival – and our first match today is against his old comrades Scotland, so that should be an interesting clash, particularly as Scotland’s No1 is John White, the world No5 who is based here in Nottingham but originally hails from Australia!
This will be my tenth appearance in the European Championships – but I must admit that so far it seems a little strange that it’s here in England, it just doesn’t feel like the Europeans … yet.
However, I’m sure that once we start playing, the usual good feelings about the event will come flooding back - and Nottingham will generate a fantastic atmosphere and prove to be the best hosts ever.