The Wolverhampton and Manchester/Pontefract teams produced 5 great games in the one night with Man/Ponte just coming out in front.
The evening started well with a first for Wolverhampton (and possibly for any team in the League)when the players for both of the first matches started knocking up at 7 pm, rather than the 7:15 to 7:30 that we normally achieve. It did mean that the introductions had to be a bit curtailed lasting about 4 minutes and half the spectators were still in the bar but it did mean that the evening finished at a reasonable time and the laggards from the bar soon found thier seats. Enough of the preamble now the squash. First two games up were Jaymie Haycocks against Marcus Berrett and Shelley Kitchen against Vanessa Atkinson. Marcus is undoubtedly the premier number 4 in the League and, if playing on the world circuit would easily be in the top 30. Jaymie is a first year student and is really only now starting on a squash carreer, interspersed with student life. Playing his second League game Jaymie was far more relaxed and, although never seriously troubling his experienced opponent had him occasionally wrongfooted. A 3-0 defeat was probable and so it turned out, so one down.
On the adjoining main court Shelley was beggining to cause something of an upset. Hitting with considerable power, particularly on the forehand, and finding some useful nicks she was 2-0 up against Vanessa by the time the first mens match finished. This situation causes a bit of a problem to any manager as there is a desire to see both games. Briefly moving over to see Chris Ryder versus Nick Taylor meant that I missed the next two of Shelley's games. These she lost inpart, so I was told by being a bit to anxious to finish things off and making a number of errors rather than waiting for the right opportunity.
Meanwhile on the other court Chris and Nick fought out a great first game with neither gaining a clear advantage. Ultimately a couple of errors gave Nick the game at 11-9. Chris seemed a bit depressed by this and lost the second 9-3 but rallied in the third to produce a close though unsuccessful,finish. Two down after two.
All this time the ladies game was still going on and in fact lasted a full 9 minutes longer than the first two matches. Starting well Shelley regained her lengths and once again powered the ball to a length forcing errors from a disgruntled Vanessa. From about 3 all Shelley took a succession of points to lead 7-3. The serve changed hand a couple of times before Shelley hit another fierce forehand to secure match point. The last ralley had a bit of luck about it with the ball squirting across the front of the court from a Shelley drive. Vanessa got it back but could do nothing with it giving Shelley an easy winner to win the match.
At 2-1 down with both teams top two players to come anything could happen. James Willstrop has only just overtaken Alex Gough in the rankings so the game could be close and so it was. In the first neither man had a clear advantage though Alex reached game ball first but just tinned his shot. James held his game together and secured the next two points. An early lead in the second was pegged back by Alex but, although making a few unforced errors James ran out a 9-6 winner. At 3-1 to Alex in the third we saw one of the few contentious points in the game, which ultimately went James's way. Whether right or wrong this upset Alex and he unleached a series of winners and went from 3 all to a 9-3 win in seconds. (well almost). The fourth was a repeat of the first with both men matching each other shot for shot. At 8 all a couple of excellent drops once again gave James the match and the visitors a 3-1 lead. It is impossible to descibe some of the ralleys in this game with both players retrieving what appeared impossible positions on the court. Great entertainment enjoyed by all.
In the away fixture Lee beat Anthony 3-2 so some sort of revenge was required. With a heavily strapped knee Anthony started slowly (this you will inderstand is relative to his standards not the normal squash player) as if trying out the knee. Lee by comparison was moving well but decided to put a few in the tin to help out his opponent. A close game finished with Lee running out 11-9. The second was a bit quicker but followed a similar pattern though this time Anthony, on a couple of occasions, just clipped the top of the tin. That game finished 10-8 to Lee. We had a bit of drama in the third with both players enquiring of the officials, in a polite way, the reasons for particular decisions. This didn't detract from the game with both men retrieving impossible balls and Anthony in particular giving his own impression of the "John White" style of hitting balls. Very hard. Moving now more quickly Anthony closed this game down 10-8. At this point the game had been in progress for some 45 minutes and looked like extending our evening considerably. However, soon after the start of the fourth it was clear that Lee was in a little trouble as his movement seemed restricted and he was forced to go for out and out winners, often from poor positions. 9-5 to Anthony. The last game picked up from where the previous one had finished and at 4-0 Lee had to call it a day with a recurrence of the upper leg muscle problem the hampered him in the World Open. An unfortunate finish to what had been a great battle. Anthony's knee was fine and had a good work out before tournaments in America. Lee has a few weeks to get his leg back in trim before Kuwait.
Overall a great evening of squash.
An apology. In my short closing comments at the end of the game I sort of implied, no actually said, that the games on the main court were particularly good and very entertaining. This really was not what I was trying to get across as it suggested that the others were not. My apologies to Jaymie and Marcus, Chris and Nick without whom the whole evening could not have been the success that it undoubtly was. I watched most of thier games and, even with the results enjoyed them both.
