Brian Hargrave will lead his band of ex-junior champions plus an Aussie invader to Wolverhampton for round two ...
Wolverhampton v Benz Bavarian Duffield
Mark Cairns (Brit O35 champ) v Dan Jenson (World 31)
Chris Ryder (Eng 36) v Paul Hargrave (Eng 17)
Darren Bradbury v Laurence Delasaux (Europe U19 No 1)
Jaymie Haycocks v Marcus Cowie
Shelley Kitchen (World 15) v Cassie Jackman (World 6)
Benz- Bavarian Duffield travel to Wolverhampton on Tuesday 28 October in a tie which finds both teams without top players. Wolverhampton loses three of their front line players to the Canadian Open. Anthony Ricketts, Alex Gough and Joey Barrington whilst Duffield lose only two players Nick Matthew and Jonathan Kemp.
On paper the absentees give Duffield the slight edge. To add to the Wolverhampton manager's woes replacement Liam Kenny is a late withdrawal with a recurrence of a knee injury and the very talented veteran Darren Bradbury steps into the breach. The tie could again go down to the wire to continue Wolverhampton’s run of 3-2 score lines.
With Kevin White in the middle of important exams, Duffield give a debut to Marcus Cowie, 26 years old from Norwich, who makes a welcome return to National League after an absence of some 7 years. Cowie’s junior career boasts: British U.14 Champion, European Junior Champion, British Junior Open runner-up and 17 international caps for England.
Marcus and his brother Stuart and Cassie Jackman all played for Keyline Barnham Broom from 1992-1995. Marcus was the youngest ever player to play in a National League match in 1992 winning 3-0 against Lingfield.
He went to America in 1996 to study for a BA in Anthropology at Trinity College. During which time he won the National Intercollegiate Championships twice and was instrumental in leading the College to break Harvard University’s six year unbeaten run. Since returning to the UK Cowie has become a regular training partner of Cassie Jackman.
Cowie faces Jaymie Haycocks, a very promising U19 player and Shropshire County Champion who has just started Birmingham University but a bit of an unknown entity as far as the NL is concerned.
Cassie Jackman will be hoping to continue her winning run which saw her beat Carol Owens, world No 1, in the recent final of the Carol Weymuller USA Open. The world No 6 faces Shelley Kitchen, world No 15, from New Zealand.
18 years old Laurence Delasaux steps up to No 3 string to face the talented and skilful veteran Darren Bradbury who gave James Willstrop a real fright in the NL tie two years ago. Delasuax will need to remain totally focussed and not allow Bradbury's chatter to distract him.This will be a real test for the U19 European U19 champion who impressed supporters despite losing to Phil Barker on his NL debut for the Derbyshire Club.
Paul Hargrave moves up to No 2 position and the England No 17 will need to be on top form against the very competitive Chris Ryder
Dan Jenson, world 31, as equally tough opponent in the form of the evergreen superbly fit Mark Cairns, British O35 champion still playing to a top 10 England standard. Over the years Cairns has been a real thorn in Duffield’s side. Jenson will need to recapture his form of last season in a rubber and tie which could go either way.
Duffield’s line up includes 4 former European U19 Junior Champions in the form of Hargrave, Cowie, Delasaux and Jackman.
Duffield will be hoping that their large contingent of over 20 supporters will spur the visiting team to a narrow victory assuming of course that they manage to find the Wolverhampton Club. The regular driver misses his first match home and away in over 6 years and his deputy admits to being confused by Stephen Russell’s directions which do not mention the Billy Wrights statue - a landmark that the travelling supporters all recognised last year through tear filled eyes after 2 hours travel !! Does this 'new route' imply that the Duffield supporters were incorrect last year having enjoyed much of the Shropshire countryside en route or are Wolverhampton trying to double six us and delay our supporter’s arrival!??
Andy Booth of Broxbourne fame has been chasing Peter Charlton of CitiBet about odds for NL Squash matches like last year, to which he replied
“Without compiling the form I don’t have sufficient knowledge of the league to give sensible prices. Creating & updating some sort of form database would involve quite a bit of work which would not really be justified by the amount of bets which squash generates. I need to come up with an alternative to straight odds betting - Regretfully (for me) the last attempt was not too profitable.
What is really needed is some sort of betting exchange so that an “on course” market could be created. The only problem is that I doubt there would be enough punters to make it fly.
I’ll get back to you if I come up with any ideas”
Ideas will be forwarded to Andy but in the meantime Peter has been asked to take bets on the time of arrival of the Duffield supporters. Scotland here they come.
Brian Hargrave
