05-Nov-02 Week THREE
World's Best In Tense National League Deciders
Howard Harding reportsHallamshire 3 - 2 Duffield
Manchester 2 - 3 Edgbaston
Nottingham 3 - 2 Wolverhampton
UK Packaging 2 - 3 Broxbourne
Lexden 4 - 1 Chichester
Lee on Solent 4 - 1 GuildfordWeek THREE Results Latest TABLES
Tuesday's third round action in the National Squash League featured eight of the world's top ten men and six of the world's best women - with seven of the men involved in tense fifth-match deciders which remarkably ended with only one team surviving unbeaten at this early stage of the season. The evening also produced two casualties - world No6 Linda Charman, disqualified on her third conduct warning, and world No1 Peter Nicol conceding his unfinished match after collapsing on court with a badly twisted ankle.
Birmingham's Edgbaston Priory visited Manchester-Pontefract in the first
league fixture to be staged at the National Squash Centre - scene of the
Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games action three months ago - and came away as the only team to register a third successive win. The success had a largely Australian accent, as Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sarah Fitz-Gerald put Priory into the lead with a 9-2 9-3 9-6 win over Manchester-based Helen Easton, just three days after winning a historic record fifth World Open title in Qatar. At 2-2, Fitz-Gerald's compatriot Stewart Boswell, the world No4 from Canberra, stepped into England's only permanently-sited all-glass court to face twice British National Champion Lee Beachill, the world No8 from Pontefract. Despite leading twice against his great rival, Beachill was unable to prevent Boswell from eventually claiming a 4-9 14-12 9-11 9-6 9-4 victory and a 3-2 tie win.
Former champions FPD Savills Nottingham moved into second place in Group A after a 3-2 home win against Wolverhampton - in which Frenchman Renan Lavigne came from 2-1 down to clinch the all-important 3rd rubber for Nottingham with a 9-6 7-9 3-9 9-6 9-3 win over Oxfordshire's Scott Handley. The visitors had the final word, however, as Australia's world No3 David Palmer fought back from 2-0 and 6-3 down against Nottingham's world No5 John White to win 7-9
7-9 9-7 11-9 9-7 - in a match that was not only a repeat of the pair's clash in last week's Qatar Classic semi-finals, but was also described by
Nottingham team manager Phil Songhurst as 'the best squash ever seen at this club!'
The other Group A tie saw Derbyshire club Benz-Bavarian Duffield come out on the wrong side of a 3-2 result after seeing the top string decider go against them for the third successive time. At Sheffield club HLW Solicitors Hallamshire, Duffield welcomed back Australian Dan Jenson - who repeated the four-game success he achieved over Nick Matthew in last month's CAS International in Pakistan to level the tie for the visitors. Hallamshire newcomer Anthony Ricketts, the world No9 from Brisbane, then overcame a 2-1 deficit to beat Duffield No1 Alex Gough 12-10 3-9 7-9 9-4 9-2 to clinch victory for the Yorkshire club - and consign former league champions Duffield to their third narrow defeat.
The Group B bid by London's UK Packaging to bring out its two top guns on the same night looked as if it was going to reap the desired effect when second string Ong Beng Hee, the world No7 from Malaysia, beat South African No1 Rodney Durbach in straight games to level the tie against visitors TVS Broxbourne. Beng Hee's team-mate Peter Nicol, the world champion, would be expected to take the final match against the Hertfordshire club's world No10 Mark Chaloner. At one-game-all and 3-2 in Chaloner's favour, however, Nicol caught his foot on his opponent's shoe, and screamed in pain as he fell to the floor clutching his right ankle. The immediate diagnosis was ligament damage - which could not only jeopardise the defence of Nicol's YMG Capital Classic title in Toronto next week, but also hamper the world number one's chances of retaining his World Open crown in Belgium in December.
Broxbourne's unexpected 3-2 victory takes them to the top of the Group B table, where they share 13 points with title-holders Tek Sing Lexden. The Colchester club comfortably inflicted the season's first defeat on visitors Chichester, winning 4-1, but perhaps gained an unexpected point in the acrimonious women's clash between their home-grown world No6 Linda Charman and the Essex club's world No10 Rebecca Macree. Charman twice led, but also twice incurred conduct warnings for both racket and language abuse. By the latter stage of the fifth game, the referee had clearly heard enough - and duly awarded a 'conduct game' against the higher-ranked player, thus giving victory to Macree in a 4-9 9-5 4-9 9-3 7-0 scoreline.
The third tie in Group B saw hosts Lee-on-Solent claim their first win of the season - and opponents UniSport Guildford crash to the bottom of the table after the 4-1 result. Guildford's fate was determined by the outcome of the opening women's encounter - in which the Hampshire club's inspired world No15 Vicky Botwright took immediate control of the match against Guildford's England international Fiona Geaves, ranked six places above, and swiftly secured a 9-5 9-6 9-5 upset.