THE MATCH:
A BIT DISAPPOINTED….

Sorry to be bland, but yes, the evening was a bit disappointing. The mayonnaise didn’t take, as we say in French. All the ingredients were there, but it just didn’t take….

No big stars for Esporta today, Peter Nicol was not playing, and Adrian Grant is in Hungary, as you probably know. So the balance between Esporta and Wimbledon was much better…

I saw 3 matches, and they were all a slight let down, for very different reasons.

At number four Phil Rushmore, the Wimbledon pro, was playing against James Robbins for Esporta. And even if Phil gave all he’d got, it was not enough.

Robbins was in control from start to finish, always in front, dictating the pace and the rallies. And even when Rushmore was able to get in front, hit a few good shots, the speedy James would counter with beautiful touch drop shots, that would surprise his opponent.

Phil visited the four corners of the court, ran like a madman, never gave up, fought hard for 35 minutes, gave it all his heart, but sometimes, all is not enough…

1/0.

On court 2, it was Wimbledon’s number 5, the determined Mark Ford that gave his club a well deserved win in four games against Issa Kamara, like himself a club player. I didn’t see the match, but I don’t know many players as “stubborn” as Mark is. He is like a dog with a bone. He never ever gives up, and I admire him greatly for it.

1/1.

In came Del Harris, former world number 5, and Rodney Durbach, world number 30. Those two had some memorable encounters, one in particular in Surrey League I think 2 years ago.

So, I was looking forward to the meeting but unfortunately, they never played well at the same time….

To start with, Rodney virtually stepped off the plane from the US the night before, and, as he says himself, “it took me a while to realise that a match was going on…”

So very quickly, Del is up 6/1, and takes the first one 9/3 in 12 minutes. In the second, Rodney seems to wake up, and the score is much closer, 3/3, 4/4, but Harris is hitting the ball very well, very hard, and Rodney’s racquet has a strange resemblance to a dish strainer… Del takes the second 9/5 in 16 minutes.

And then, Rodney started to play very well, and Del, not that well. Last three games 9/0, 9/4, 9/0 in 18 minutes, the score says it all.

2/1.

On the next court a fierce battle was going on between the number threes, Stuart Cowie for Esporta and Tony Hands for Wimbledon, a match that could have been anybody’s, where both player worked very hard for their club, but it’s Esporta that takes it eventually.

2/2.

So the decider was going to be the last match, and I really was looking forward to that one.

Steve Meads, the Grinding Machine, as I love to call him, and Bradley Ball, slim, tall, discrete and yet passionate squash player.

The first game was beautiful. The pace was high, both players attacking, hitting hard. Steve Meads’ drop shots were frequent (yes, he was the one dropping the ball, surprising, isn’t it?), he was varying the pace beautifully, and Bradley Ball was hitting good lengths, good width, good angles. Long rallies, beautiful squash, we were on for a treat.

In 20 minutes, Steve takes the first one. “We could be here for a while,” mentioned one of the spectators…

The second game is at the same level as the first, nice squash, beautiful attacks, very close indeed: 3/3, 6/6, 7/7.

“Let please”, asks Bradley of the ref.

“No let”, answers the man in charge, quite rightly.

Bradley then went up to Steve, and with a smile, shook his opponent’s hand, and walked off court.

And that was it.

3/2 to Esporta.