Duffield and Nottingham face off with the play-offs still a possibility - but only for the winner ...
FPD Savills Nottingham v Benz-Bavarian Duffield
Tuesday 3 Feb at 7pm
Duffield Supporters are all geared up and the battle is still on for the second play off place. Whilst both Nottingham and Duffield will be relying on results from elsewhere the local East Midlands "local derby" will be almost a final in its own right with Benz-Bavarian Duffield expecting to have between 30 and 40 supporters making the short trip along the A52 to enjoy the renowned Nottingham hospitality and hopefully a rich feast of top squash.
The Lancashire-Yorkshire combination Manchester Pontefract has established a 7 point gap over second place Edgbaston and 11 points gap over third placed Benz-Bavarian Duffield. with Nottingham a further 3 points adrift.
Both teams hope to be at full strength but the Super League fixtures the night before could take its toll with the 4 top men players all involved.
The probable line up and formbook guide is as follows:
John White (world 3) v Nick Matthew (world 12)
Hopefully John White will have had a very tough weekend winning the Artemis BSPA Open. Nick has had a tremendous season which has seen him catipult to No 12 in the world whilst John has slipped to No 3. Former NL player James Wilstrop has passed on some tips to Nick on how to beat John. It should be a great rubber.
Simon Parke (world 30) v Dan Jenson (world 28)
Simon lost to Marcus Berrett in the Artemis but then many other top players have suffered a similar fate. Dan is getting back to his best form whilst Simon always seems to find that bit extra when playing in the NL. In January 2004 Dan, former world No 5, was one victory away from his tenth PSA Tour title after beating England's Mark Chaloner in the semi-finals of the Apawamis Squash Open in New York losing to Karim Darwish, the world No 9 in the final. Could be the most crucial rubber of the night.
David Evans ( Welsh 2 world 46) v Paul Hargrave ( eng 17 Derbys No 1)
The battle of the giants and Phil has already put this down as a 100% home banker. The former British Open champion David Evans, who was forced to withdraw from World Open with a torn cartilage, made a successful comeback on the PSA Tour in the USA with a four-game victory over highly rated Egyptian Karim Yehia in the first round of the Virginia Open before bowing out to Jan Koukal. Paul Hargrave, who last week won the Derbyshire County closed for the 10th time. knows that in the space of 7 days he has three mountains to climb. a pile of re-strings in his shop, David Evans in the NL and then Lee Beachil in the first round of the National championships.
Sam Miller (eng 35 world 108) v Jon Kemp ( eng 21 world42)
On paper Jon Kemp, the higher ranked England player should have the edge as he looks to build on recent succeses on the PSA tour including reaching the sem final of the Calgary, Canada Open In January 2004. Sam Miller will not lie down and Jon Kemp will need to stay focused.
Natalie Grinham (world 5) v Cassie Jackman (new world No 1).
Cassie now in her 7th NL season with the Duffield Club will be hoping for a repeat of her success against Natalie in the semi finals in Kuwait. Cassie was delighted to regain the World Number 1 ranking for the first time since 2000 said " it makes it more special after my two back operations. The hard part now is holding onto it but i'm looking forward to the challenge". There have been very few NL rubbers between the top world lady players but hopefully this warrants getting centre stage on the new show court.
The supporters, if not the managers', would settle for the tie standing at 2 all with at least the final rubber between White and Matthew to be played on the new show court.
The Duffield management would be happy for 3-2 in their favour whilst Nottingham know that in reality they need a whitewash.
The transport will depart the club at 5.45pm.and Duffield's travelling support intend to to ensure that for once they arrive in good time. A6 then A52 should be straightforward provided the new Airport signs Nottingham East Midlands are ignored!
Whatever the outcome hopefully the tie and the support it attracts should be a great advert for National League squash and be a stepping stone for the Nottingham Chairman Bob Spall and the newly formed working party to take the product forward.
Finally, "there is only one real failure in life that is possible, and that is not to be true to the best one knows." (John Farrar)"
