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Martin Pearse reports
The
second Regional of 2011/12 was at a new venue – Devon and
Exeter Squash Club, run by Adam Lings. A very nice little
club with everything integral, rather like a mini
Pontefract. The club is obviously extremely well run and
popular, and the newcomers were very well treated, great
food and hospitality.
Only
downside was that Exeter was probably too far away for a lot
of regulars and the entry was 40/50 short of the normal.
Plus Exeter’s Town Planners and Council obviously hate
motorists as there were road works blocking off sections
with intricate one way systems - - and Lord Stahl of Malta’s
Sat Nav, not used to planners changes, caused him to
circumvent Exeter three times on the Sunday morning causing
him to miss his match and sweat more in his wrath than he
does on court....
The
Women’s section was merged into the
35/40
and favourite, Beverley Mackay, unfortunately won’t be
playing squash again for a few weeks/months as she badly
tore ligaments on her ankle early on against Isabelle
Tweedle. Sarah Parr, very powerful, beat Tweedle to win the
group.
Amazingly, there were no
45’s
entered and the
50/55
section were combined with the winner being Helen Gould who
beat Sian Johnson, Jane Law and Lynne Davies. Winner of the
O55 was Jan Ellis.
In the
Men’s 70/75, Lance Kinder caused an upset beating Andrew
Beeston 3-0 and with Adrian Wright in the draw the outcome
was inevitable. As it was, Wright beat Stahl and Roger
Middleton and then local George Aplin, in the Final.
In the
Men’s O65, played on a Round Robin, Chris Ansell beat
newcomer David Jones and then Mike Clemson 9/5 9/2 9/5,
whilst in the other group, Martin Pearse eased through 3-0
against Jimmy Evans, Nigel Belle and David Hughes. The Final
saw Pearse lose an 8/5 lead for Ansell to take charge and
the usual comeback never materialized as Ansell was too
sharp on the day – 10/8 9/3 9/5.
In the
O60’s, there are quite a few of the same standard
fighting for International recognition. Geoff Howes, always
dangerous, first of all took out Nigel Giffin and then No 3
seed Howard Cherlin 10/8 in the fifth. Peter Smith then
removed 4 seed newcomer Mark Benyon 3-0 and the still
perennially injured this time, his right leg, Phil Godfrey.
In the bottom half, Jersey based Alan Brown easily
progressed to the Final, his non stop retrieving and length
seeing off Terry Norman and Smith, whilst Larry Grover will
be kicking himself for snatching defeat from the jaws of
victory over Barry Featherstone. The Final saw Featherstone
stroll the first 9/0, always a bad sign... and so it
proved, because Brown, full of gourmet food from a visit to
Abode, Michelin Star, come back strongly and mentally
proved the tougher as he recorded his second Regional 9/2 in
the fifth.
The
O55’s saw at least five players chasing a lone
International place with Cowley, Alexander, Johnson,
Adihetty and Bativala, already shoe ins.---- in by far the
strongest grouping this season. Out of the five, Ronnie
Bell, Ian Holmes, Peter Reeve, Colin Shields and Stuart
Hardy, both the latter pair fell early to Reeve and O60 No 1
Keith Jones. Bell also found Jones too strong as did Reeve
against Bativala. Holmes, after his customary ten pints of
various local real ales on the Friday night was even redder
than usual, as Johnson plied his trade 3-0. It is truly
amazing that Holmes can play International quality squash on
such a diet, but he does. So the Semi’s saw the World
Champion Jones start brightly against the seven year younger
Johnson and go 1 up, but that was it (hard to see anyone
taking the title off him next year in Birmingham). In the
other Semi, Cowley was too forceful and proved his mojo is
back with an emphatic 3-0 against Johnson, sweet revenge for
Pontefract, in the Final.
The
Mens O50 has had a raft of injuries and
non-availabilities, Millman out probably for the season with
a dodgy knee, Woodliffe away, Bradburn usually detained at
a friend’s 50th, so the draw was truncated.
Still, a noisy battle between Jeremy Goulding and James
Ockwell ensued with all the noise coming from the former:
as the Ref was World O60 Champion Chris Ansell---- all the
very vocal pleas were treated with player experience.... In
the end Ockwell sneaked through 9/7 in the fifth.
In the
other half Super Strine Dermot Hurford over hauled Chris
Harland against all the odds and then in the Final in a
superb match come back from beyond, to record a 10/9 in the
fifth against the super fit Ockwell.
The
O35’s
saw Christian Donelan just defeat newcomer, local player
Paul Johnson, 11/8 in the fifth, but fall to Devon No1 Mike
Gregory, 6/11 10/12 5/11 in the Semi. In the other half,
ESR Rep Matt Baker (a John White look a like!) took out 3
seed Chris Stanley 3-0, but then fell to the ever moving all
action Barny Elworthy 0-3 in the Semi. The latter, however,
found Gregory a class act with superb delay a big advantage
and Gregory recorded a Regional at his first attempt.
Ditto in
the
O40’s
as Hampshire’s Stuart Summers lost a 2/0 lead to be edged
out by Steve Mc Loughlin 7/11 8/11 11/6 13/11 11/3, but
the latter found John Hansen too tight. Hanson, previously
had had a ding dong with Courtney Downing 14/12 11/1
8/11 11/7. In the bottom half, Glen Ragou gets a freebie
next time as Bruce St Leger didn’t appear, and in his only
match lost 2/11 11/5 6/11 8/11 to Andrew Murray. The
Final saw Murray just edge a thriller 9/11 7/11 12/10
11/8 8/11. The difference? Probably Murray’s cross court
volley nicks off serve. Hardly ever failed.
The
O45’s
saw Murray Scott progress serenely to the Final, taking out
Nick Shepherd Andrew Eilfield and Peter Lonsdale 3/0. The
latter was only just off court after his 80 minute marathon
with Martin Geear 9/7 7/9 9/1 1/9 8/10.
In the
other half, Marc Aldridge removed a quiet Rob Watkins 9/1
9/6 9/0 and then was given a dose of the same medicine by a
fired up Frank Ellis, 10/9 9/0 9/6. Ellis, looking very
fit and fast, has lost a lot of his ‘puppy fat’(!!) and as
a consequence was too good on the day for the No 1 seed
Scott, winning 9/2 9/7 9/2, a case of a Scot beating a
Scott....
Finally,
thanks to Exeter, the markers and Brian and Ros Brock for
all their hard work at the desk, everything running very
smoothly.
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