22-Oct-02 - Week TWO
Week TWO Results
Group Orders Change As
Manchester-Pontefract & Chichester Go Top
Howard Harding reports (from Malaysia)
Manchester-Pontefract and Chichester took over the top positions in Groups A & B, respectively, of the National Squash League after securing second successive wins influenced by top players' commitments to the professional tours.
The joint Lancashire/Yorkshire squad was virtually at full strength, while hosts Wolverhampton were missing team No1 David Palmer, the Australian still celebrating his weekend's success on the PSA Tour in South Africa. The visitors, led by British National champion Lee Beachill and Mancunian Nick Taylor (in his first appearance this season), clinched a 4-1 victory over Wolverhampton, with Stephanie Brind - fresh from England duties in the Women's World Team Championships in Denmark at the weekend - providing the home team's sole victory, over Kirsty McPhee.
Team No1 Peter Genever was on duty to lead Chichester to a 3-2 away win over a severely under-strength TVS Broxbourne team, led by former full-timer Danny Meddings, the squad No6! Genever beat Meddings 9-7 9-7 6-9 9-2 as Chichester celebrated their first victory over last year's runners-up from Hertfordshire in four seasons. Broxbourne's two points came from debutantes - Zimbabwean Jesse Engelbrecht who beat the Sussex visitors' Ben Ford 9-7 9-3 9-5, and England's US-based Natalie Pohrer, the world No4, who trounced England junior international Suzanne Pierrepont for the loss of just a single point.
Birmingham's 2001 champions Edgbaston Priory also made it two-wins-out-of-two with a 3-2 victory at Benz-Bavarian Duffield. The Derbyshire club was without Australian Dan Jenson, who had reached the final of a PSA event in Pakistan, but retired player Paul Hargrave claimed a notable scalp in beating Edgbaston's second string stalwart Del Harris, the world No28, in straight games. Duffield's top string Alex Gough, beaten semi-finalist three days earlier in South Africa, was unable to keep up with Australian Stewart Boswell, who returned to winning ways for Edgbaston after ending his 25-match unbeaten league run in the first round.
Former champions Nottingham knocked HLW Solicitors Hallamshire off the top of the Group A table with a resounding 5-0 win at home. Despite losing the tough five-game final to David Palmer in Pretoria on Sunday, Nottingham No1 John White returned home to defeat the Sheffield club's world No9 Anthony Ricketts 9-4, 5-9, 9-4, 9-6 to ensure maximum points for the hosts.
Former Scottish champion Neil Frankland achieved the result of the night - and the sole win for hosts UniSport Guildford - when he beat Tek Sing Lexden's Paul Price, the world No16 from Australia, in five games after losing the opener. The Colchester-based title-holders went on to win 4-1 and restore valuable credibility after losing the opening tie of the season.
Another team making up for a poor start to the season were London's UK Packaging, who journeyed to Lee-on-Solent to win 3-2. The battle between the two numbers ones was an eagerly-awaited encounter - as both Tim Garner and the hosts' Bradley Ball (the eventual winner in four games) were travelling back together from a PSA event in Pakistan, and arrived in the nick of time to battle it out on the south coast.