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SOUTH
OF ENGLAND
BROXBOURNE JANUARY 2009
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SOUTH OF ENGLAND
MASTERS
West of
England
Masters
EAST ENGLAND
MASTERS
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The South attracted 109 entrants at the bright and
warm Broxbourne Sports Club, just off the M25. There were 12
dropouts, including your esteemed Webmaster, sounding even croakier
than ever with a severe dose of the flu.
The event was superbly organised by Karen Lane with her right hand
man, Vernon George and the Club Staff who did themselves proud.
The Ladies (or Womens) O50 section had World O60 Champion
Avril Murphy mixing it with the youngsters and she came a creditable
third, beating England O45 International Sue Pynegar 9/6 9/1 9/5.
The winner of the group was England Captain Karen Hume who had a
nail bitingly close match with Wales’ Lynne Davies and saved match
balls in the process, winning 4/9 6/9 10/9 9/6 9/7.
The Ladies O45 was again ravaged by injury and dropouts, so
in the end they played a Round Robin. Newcomer Fiona McLean gave
Mandy Akin a massive fright leading 5/9 9/4 9/3 but Mandy fought
back to claim a close encounter 9/5 9/7 in the latter two games.
The O35/O40 section was split and the stars of the show were
2 newcomers - 44 year old Stephanie Marriott from Norfolk and
‘youngster’ Lucy Murphy of Kent. Murphy beat Susie Scarlett and Sam
Mueller to win the O35 and Stephanie beat Isabel Tweedle 4/9 10/8
9/0 9/2 and Susie 9/7 9/5 9/4.
The Mens’ O70 saw the welcome inauguration of one Woodliffe J
to the Regionals. The former World Champion, back from a serious
illness, took out allcomers to his crown, Vernon George, Malcolm
Gilham and, in the Final, Sussex’ Tony Seare, 9/3 9/7 5/9 9/0.
John’s close friend Lance Kinder avoided him by losing to Seare
himself and had to be content winning 3rd spot from Malcolm Gilham.
The O65s’ was an eight draw and of course local hero, ‘The
Don’ Froggitt, refusing to play on his own court, took out Nigel
Belle who sounded awful and really should have stayed home in bed.
Full marks though for turning up when obviously not well. Len then
removed Roy Bradley who had had a nail biter with Jimmy Evans 4/9
10/8 9/3 9/8 (who called 9?) In the other section livewire
Humbersider Mike Clemson removed John Preston, sneaked past Tony
Clifford having been 4/8 down in the fifth, poor Tony, he will be
kicking himself, and then proceeded to liven up events and quicken
the home spectators heartbeats when he levelled the Final at 2/2.
However, spurred on by his vociferous band of supporters, Sir Len
fought back to control the court and win his first Regional!!
Congratulations!
The O60s’ saw two Quarter Final fightbacks, Chris Ansell
coming back from 7/9 7/9 deficit to overturn a fading photographer,
fresh from a walking week in the Lakes, one Geoffrey Howes Esq.
Ansell got his volley bearings spot on and easily took to the last
three 9/1 9/3 9/2. Next door England International Mike Taylor
rocketed into a 9/2 9/3 5/1 lead over Martin Pearse who then struck
gold to go 8/4 up in the fourth. Matches between these two are
nearly always nail biters as Taylor levelled at 8 all. Eventually
Pearse scraped it 10/9 only to immediately go down 0/6 and 1/7 in
the fifth. So Mike was understandably upset when he let it slip and
Pearse pulled it off at the final gallop, sneaking the last 10/8 to
go into third position in the points. None of this meant much as the
next day Barry Featherstone took out Ansell. The surprise result of
the season in this group saw Larry Grover remove No 1 seed Howard
Cherlin 10/8 9/7 9/3, the latter realising a little bit too late it
might not be his day as Grover’s volleying overhead negated Howard’s
legendary lobs. Grover then removed yours truly, quashing the
expected comeback in the fourth game. However, it was probably a
bridge too far, as although Grover led 6/1 in the first in the
Final, Featherstone upped the pace dramatically to win 3-0.
The O55s’ saw a draw missing the big names – Duckworth
(saving himself) Redfern (flu) Holmes (still lost in New Zealand),
Judge Goodrich (sentencing) and Limb (fine tuning up for the
Closed). However, the draw was very evenly matched. Steve Rudd blew
his chances by easily losing to Mick Broomhall 9/0 9/3 9/6 after the
latter had removed No 1 seed Paul Reader 10/9 7/9 9/3 10/8, Barry
Alder overturned Brian Hawkes 9/1 in the fifth before going down to
dogged Alistair Niven who had another 3-2 later in the day with Phil
Collins who retired injured in the fifth. Broomhall though will
fondly remember court 2 as his drives and volley dabs and drops from
his right and left hands – you guessed it, he’s ambidextrous – edged
into the corners at will and poor Niven was given short shift losing
1/9 1/9 3/9 for the likeable Cheshire player to record his first
Regional.
The O50s’ saw a strong draw and what a selectional problem
our Mr Alexander is going to have. Two players are virtually assured
as they have racked up points ie Messrs Cowley and Hardy, both
succumbing here in the Quarter Finals, Cowley to newcomer Jeremy
Goulding and Hardy to injured fetlock, at 8/7 game ball up against
Duleep Adihetty. The Flying Doctor Chris Harland ran through Steve
Marshall, Tom Burton and Goulding 3-0 whilst Peter Alexander, making
a return from injury, saw off Duleep 9/4 in the fifth. Alexander’s
famous stretch and back hand drop was enough to propel him to match
ball in the fourth in the Final with Harland, but the Yorkshireman
stuck in, saved at least two sudden executions and eventually
steamrollered through in their fifth. Alexander, along with Hardy
and Cowley will be in the 55s’ next season so it was a very
creditable effort to come so close against a ‘youngster’.
The O45s’ saw some action on and off the court. All early
matches were fairly perfunctory until Messrs Loach and Price met in
the Semi Final. Combination of a Marker who ‘explains’ and a player
who ‘contests’ and the match lasted much longer than it should have
done. All the time Eamonn was quietly seething. Notwithstanding all
this, it was a superb match with Greg playing tightly and
efficiently down the backhand with his volley very accurate.
However, one rally over all others finished it and Loach, despite
plenty of walkabout, hadn’t the beans in the tin to retrieve it.
Mighty close – 9/6 in the fifth. Next door Greg Pearman was
efficiently murdering John Cordeaux and at 9/2 9/2 7/0 suddenly
stopped and stopped again. 7/0 became 7/8 and Cordeaux seemed the
likely recipient of a withdrawal. Somehow Greg won 10/8 and
immediately had to lie down with presumably low blood sugar levels.
He felt better the next day and gained his revenge over Price 9/5
9/3 9/1, to record another Regional.
The O40s’ had a small draw of 8 heralding the return of
Broxbourne’s Peter Gunter who beat Steve Evans 9/3 9/3 9/4 to enter
the Final. David Youngs very nearly beat his nemesis Rick Weatherall
in a very, very close encounter 7/9 9/7 6/9 9/4 9/6, but the latter,
against all the odds, played extremely well to completely nullify
Gunter winning the Final 9/7 9/3 9/2.
Finally, the O35s’ saw Wilfred ‘Floyd’ Wilks beat Jason Smith
4/9 9/0 8/10 9/3 9/0 before losing to Steve Townsend 9/6 9/1 9/5.
Jamie Goodrich, at home when he should have been on court, travelled
the 130 miles in less than the mileage time and beat Matt Fiveash
9/1 9/0 9/2, before edging past Steve Townsend 6/9 9/5 9/2 4/9 9/1,
just after. Ashley Bowling struggled initially with Chris Stanley
9/3 7/9 9/1 9/2 and then took out Jason Foster 9/0 10/8 9/7. The
Final saw Goodrich’s fitness prevail as Bowling, looking in control
at times, finally succumbing to the never ending retrievals 5/9 9/7
9/0 5/9 9/5. This was Goodrich’s first actual win as his two
previous wins were by default! He was happy!
Finally, thank you to all the Official Markers headed by Jack Allen,
who presided over the event.
Martin Pearse
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West
of England
Masters
2008
Whilst
the cat’s are away the mice are allowed to play….. Unfortunately all
the cats drank too much milk and got nowhere in New Zealand whilst
their nearest (and dearest) challengers got the cream at South
Marston. Whilst the East was played in 85º and glorious sunshine,
the West took place in foul weather, well suited to Squash and
indoor entertainment (of all sorts).
This was an extremely
well run tournament, not that all of them aren’t, but Paul Clark and
Beate, the Professional and Hotel Manager at Nightingale, were very
efficient and also got Brian and Ros Brock to run the whole shebang.
Brian, a MOD and computer expert and Ros had got everything sorted
before it happened and any problem that emanated had an immediate
answer. Although they couldn’t do anything about the appalling
performance of our cricket team in Antigua!
What was annoying was
the amazing amount of drop-outs and late payers. Including one who
did not turn up or apologise even though he knew that Brian was
trying to contact him. And this is where the Committee start getting
tough. If they haven’t paid by Coventry, I will name and shame. And
I need a Doctor’s certificate for all withdrawals as well by
Coventry. Sorry! Time to get tough.
The Squash
The Ladies O35,
again decimated by a late drop out. Only 3 were left and Sam Willis
took out both Nicola Fowler and Suzanne Scarlett. The latter two had
a toughie which Nicola scraped but Suzanne (from my old Club East
Anglia) will definitely get stronger with a good win under her belt.
The 40’s saw
another drop out, leaving only Diane Parums and Sam Willis. Sam is
too good and would have done very well in New Zealand but Diana can
console herself with the points gathered.
In the O45/50
we combined the groups. Fran Wallis, of course, was far too strong
in the former as was Helen Gould in the latter. Fran took out Helen
in the Final with the latter contesting the last game strongly.
However, the Ladies who stayed really enjoyed themselves and even
out-noised the O35 Men (in every department).
In the Mens,
Tony Seare and Gordon Ross were the only contestants in the O70’s,
Tony winning.
The O65’s saw
Brian Hardcastle suffer at the hands of Tony Clifford, whilst
William Wilson crashed out to English Welshman Brian Phillips! Mike
Clemson, playing everyone and everybody, saw off John Preston,
whilst Len Froggitt, not quite himself at the moment, went out to
his fellow County team mate Tony Clifford 3/1. Tony’s short game on
the Nightingale courts suited him down to the ground. However, come
the Final, Clemson was too quick around the court and won the
crucial points in a tight 3 setter.
The O60’s was
very tight, very tight. There are more National/Closed winners in
this group than any other. It is the one age group where the
seasoned Internationals play every year without fail. Newcomer Larry
Grover, ex Surrey and Colets, now Guernsey, gave a statement of
intent but after a hard battle with Harvey Kember, lost 0/3 in a
long match with Martin Pearse. The latter gained sweet revenge for
his Closed defeat over No 1 seed Mike Taylor, in a muted encounter,
whilst No 2 seed Chris Ansell crashed out 10/8 in the fifth to ex
British National Champion Rod Boswell, back on the warpath after a
long injury lay-off. As did Geoff Howes, a long scream as he tore
his abductor against ex professional Nick Topman. The Final was an
epic 1 hour battle, well past the other Finals finish and included 9
match balls wasted by Boswell, 2/1 & 6/1 and then 2/2 and 8/4
including an amazing retrieve followed by an equally crucial miss
to clinch the match by Boswell. Of course, sods law, your Chair
clinched his one and only match ball to claim the maximum points
available. Ironically under PARS, Boswell would have won 6/11
11/7 12/10 16/18 11/8 with a massive 49 rallies fewer.
The O55’S saw
seedings blown away, Reader out to Tidy, Nightingale to Hawkes, this
group without the stars, is very open. Eventually newcomer Alistair
Niven edged Tidy 9/7 in the fifth whilst Goodrich sneaked Tidy 10/8
in the decider for their Sunday tete â tete. Goodrich’s cold
hindered but Niven slogged it out against the Judge and clinched his
first title at only his second attempt. Congratulations to the
Surrey left hander, who was understandably delighted afterwards.
The O50’s saw
the Chief Superintendant returning to his manor where all his
constables patrolled and where his name is on all the boards at
Wessex and South Marston. And he won! Unluckily for the Junior Fox,
he collected a British Airways virus courtesy of all the filth they
spray over you from the aircraft’s long haul ventilators these days
and our TV star Mark Cowley was rendered hors de combat with a torn
thigh muscle early in his Semi with newcomer Tom Burton. So the
latter, a credible performer and very similar in mannerisms and
looks to Mr Bradburn, took on Mr Hardy but the latter played with
increasing confidence to eventually take the fourth 9/0 and with it
the match. Cue clenched fist and the first smile of the day.
The 45’s also
saw new faces, although there were, as in other groups, some of the
big names missing. John Cordeaux progressed to the final via Nick
Peel and local hero, Wiltshire Champion Paul Clark (Paul has
promised me he will give up cigarettes, especially as he is chasing
a cap at 45!) The flying Doctor came up against Eamonn Price, five
stone lighter than he was this time last year! As Price is extremely
tactically tight and efficient, poor Chris was reduced to bits by
the end. However, he can console himself he will no doubt cause
major problems in the 50 section which he enters any day now. In the
Final, Price, who was in the same Cambridge University Team 25 years
ago (approx) saw off his old friend and adversary Cordeaux in a
very tight and edgy thriller 9/5 10/8 10/9. Couldn’t get much
closer. Well done Eamonn! Another first Regional winner.
The O40’s saw
David Youngs fulfil his seeding edging past the strong local boy Rob
Watkins 10/8 9/7 6/9 9/7 and then meeting up with no less than
Andy Murray in the Final. Only our Andy is much nicer and more
pleasant than the Tennis variety. He had earlier taken out No 2 seed
Rick Weatherall 9/0 in the fifth, but my fellow Norfolkian was
mostly in control to record a 3/1 victory showing the large gallery
his full range of racket skills off both the front and back walls.
Finally, the O35’s.
A tough ¼ Final between Peter Goodings and Jamie Goodrich, well
over an hour, whilst Jason Foster sneaked Ian Douglass. Foster,
however, got little change a few hours later from Goodrich who
played as well as he ever has. No 2 seed Steve Townsend cruised
through until he met up with newcomer Ashley Bowling from Dallington
who took him out 9/4 9/1 9/2. In the Final Ashley controlled most
of the rallies as Jamie seemed the direct opposite of the previous
day. All was not well at the end as a disgusted No 1 seed pondered
for ages on what went wrong, whilst another newcomer entered his
name on the Regional Winner’s Board.
Finally, many thanks
go to the England Squash Referees who gave up their Sunday and the
Hotel Staff for all their help and hospitality. And also to the
Wessex Club for hosting us and allowing the photos of one S. Hardy
to remain on the walls.
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EAST ENGLAND MASTERS
MORETON HALL, BURY ST
EDMUNDS
20-22 SEPT 2008
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Pot luck for 100+ squash
players that the first indoor Regional of the year should take place
on the nicest two days of the whole Summer. When I think of the
cricket matches we had rained off….! However, Moreton Hall is the
place to be if you have to play squash, every possible facility
available including both indoor and outdoor pools. Though poor Peter
didn’t bargain for some lowlife vandalising his new, extremely
expensive cover for the heated outdoor pool, rendering it inoperable
in the first few days of its use. The Police apparently know who it
is, DNA was found on some chewing gum, but hey, Cherie bought in the
Human Rights Act to protect our under classes from being unfairly
picked on, so it’s likely nothing will come of it. (Sorry if, to some
Guardianistas, I sound like Richard Littlejohn. (Even the latter would
be unable to print some of the ‘punishments’ suggested by some of our
elderly electorate present!)
To the Squash. Some
very, very high quality matches and PARS. I have to state here, we did
an analysis. Virtually every match scorecard was “PARS-ED” afterwards.
Horrible reading for squash lovers. ALL matches except for a couple of
9/0 9/2 9/0 jobs were AT LEAST 33% shorter, eg. one match - 79
rallies to finish the match on PARS instead of 126 for the actual. In
one case and completely coincidentally, it involved yours truly, the
match on PARS to 11 would have been over in just 20 minutes, in actual
fact the real match took 67 minutes!. My opponent, one Geoffrey Howes
Esq, is one of the best exponents of comebacks, so at 2/9 0/9 5/8
he no doubt would have been very p….d off at that exact moment as he
would have already been in the dressing room if PARS had been the
scoring method. 40 odd minutes later, the score was 8-8 in the fifth
and the gallery really had their monies worth, 10 match balls before
the victor emerged. Not that, in the grand scheme of things, it did me
much good. There was a long discussion afterwards and unless I am
mistaken, the vast majority of Masters want to keep the normal
scoring. Has Tennis changed? No!! It’s a political decision and it has
not been trialled properly yet for amateur enthusiasts. I spoke at
length to a friend of mine who used to train with the person who
actually introduced PARS, one Gawain Briers, and he categorically
stated it was only introduced for Professionals, to lengthen their
playing careers, shorten their matches for their health and TV and a
bit more besides. It was not introduced for Masters, who need all the
exercise they can get. Anyway, AW is emailing all the players
registered with the following:
The Ladies saw
Sam Willis win both the 35’s and 40’s as she beat both
Jo Cooper and Susie Scarlett. In the latter match Jo won 3/1.
In the O45’s Fran
Wallis blitzed all and sundry, in total losing 19 points. Fran would
have a heart attack if PARS was introduced, cutting down valuable time
smashing the ball to the back! Second was Tammy Bennett.
In the O50’s
Mother Hen was Karen Hume, whilst newcomer Anita Dixon came second,
beating Sue Vine and Bett Dryhurst.
The Mens O70’s
saw Lance Kinder eke out a 3/1 over local hero Malcolm Gilham, in the
Semi apparently some controversy, personally I can’t believe it unless
Lance hadn’t had his usual diet of neat caffeine. Martin Sweeney took
out Tony Seare 3/2 but found Lance just a little too crafty.
The O65’s saw an
upset on paper, Adrian Wright coming second to Tony Clifford. But your
Webmaster has been off for a number of weeks after 2 eye operations.
His room-mate, one BF Dave, hoped the operation would make him less
grumpy. However, he always cheers up as the day goes on. Mike Clemson
beat Len Froggatt with a bit to spare and after a first game loss,
held the whiphand over Tony Clifford in the Final.
The O60’s saw
National 55 Closed winner Howard Cherlin making his 60’s Regional
debut. After seeing off BFD and yours truly he encountered Barry
Featherstone in the Final. All Barry’s legendary training (every day
from 2-4.30) was not enough to displace Howard who has never ever done
a court sprint in his life, allegedly. But it was a tough match and
it could have gone either way, but Howard showed his class with some
amazing backhand volley kills and nicks. Earlier on, Chris Ansell had
given Barry a terrible fright leading 2/0 and 5/3, an iffy decision
allowing Barry a toe-in which he didn’t relinquish, from that moment
on he relaxed and held the whip hand.
In the O55’s No 1
seed Paul Reader crashed out to Lichfield based Irishman William Todd
9/7 9/2 10/8 who had earlier beaten Jez Horrocks who inturn had
beaten David Cooper. Alistair Niven scraped past Peter Smith and took
out Brian Hawkes, but Ian Holmes was too sharp. The Final saw Todd i/c
for a bit, but Holmes eight Saturday night pints (real ale, not the
gassy stuff) cushioned him and the Desborough player won yet another
Regional!
The O50’s saw all
the physiological problems that all squash players have somewhere,
surface. Only with PARS, neither of these matches would have been
nearly so entertaining. Stuart Hardy has never beaten Mark Cowley,
Mark Cowley has never beaten Duleep Adihetty. But both nearly, nearly
did. Stuart should have beaten Mark and Mark should have beaten Duleep.
At 8-5 in the fifth, he knelt in prayer. The ref asked if he was
injured. ‘Just a little bit.’ These were two nailbiting matches to
watch, highly enjoyable, though not to the losers.
The O45’s saw
some fantastic games. John Cordeaux, back on the scene after a serious
illness, v Chris Harland. The flying Doctor ran miles and miles but
the classy Cordeaux took it 3/1. A Semi a few hours later was probably
too much, Greg Loach showing his match winning skills 9/7 10/8 7/9
10/8. Greg Pearman was however, too good for all and sundry, losing a
handful of points. Another new face was Eamonn Price, back after a
successful Financial career in the City and retired at 45! Now he can
concentrate on squash and he will be a contender for the future for
sure.
The O40’s saw the
probable best match of the tournament (and there were some real
crackers), Cliff Martindale and Peter Gunter. A pleasure to watch.
Again, if it was PARS, Pete would have won 3/0. As it was, Cliff 0/9
2/9 down took the next two 9/5 9/5. Peter however, is made of stern
stuff having trained religiously for the World Masters. David Youngs
entertained the gallery with his victory over Steve McLoughlin but he
didn’t get the time needed as Gunter kept him deep in the corners
retrieving everything and the Middlesex player won 3/0, edging the
tight second game.
Lastly in the O35’s,
Kevin White took yet another Regional, not without a fright, as Jamie
Goodrich took him all the way to the fifth. Jamie plays squash like he
drives his car (a Noble 400 to the uninitiated) and he doesn’t beat
himself, as some of us are capable of doing. So Kevin had to work his
socks off and never ever has he been so tired as he was at 8/3 in the
fifth. Jamie had earlier beaten Darren Gray 3/1 who had removed the
ever smiling Glen Ragou. Newcomer Steve Townsend gave a statement of
intent, giving Kevin a real fright 10/8 9/2 2/9 9/6.
Finally, thanks go to
Peter Alexander and his staff for all their help and hospitality, the
SRA Refs and all the spectators. See you at Swindon!
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