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The largest entry
ever! 133 although there were eventually eight late withdrawals.
Luckily Coventry and North Warwickshire have 6 courts, hopefully
soon to be 8 contrary to the doom and gloom merchants who don’t
realise that squash and racket ball are the fastest growing sports
in the world, looking at some internet comments……….
PARS scoring, as
before, was cross referenced against all the score sheets. IT MAKES
HORRIBLE READING. Virtually all the matches were much shorter, some
over 50%, the mean average being 32%. In one case someone who lost
3-0 easily would have won 3-0 with PARS! Because the scores
fluctuated umpteen times around the 2/2 3/2 mark before player A
rocketed ahead! AND there will be a major announcement in the New
Year if my information is correct, that one National Body having
tried PARS, has JUNKED it after a couple of months, due to peer
pressure…
Talking to a
spread of Masters players, not one wanted less squash, a few have
PARS in their local leagues and only in one case, Humberside, where
it is to 15, was it seemingly liked ( guess who is i/c Humberside?)
by the people we spoke to. So we will keep you posted.
To the Squash.
Brilliant, some of it, absolutely brilliant! Let us remember that
the quality and ‘technique’ in the top level of the age groups is
just as good as anything you see on the professional circuit. It is
just that obviously the Pro’s are much faster, fitter, more mobile,
younger, athletic – it’s their job!!
Starting with our
Ladies, there were a couple of dropouts in the O35’s
(!?) and a flu victim in the later groups. Carolyn Roylance shaded
Jane Law in the O50’s whilst Fran Wallis, as ever, got her monies
worth in the O45’s, beating Jackie Gregory and Sally Jee. The
former beat the latter to claim second place.
The O35’s and
O40’s were a Sam Willis, Diane Parums duet! In the O35’s Suzie
Scarlett toughed it out with newcomer Sam Mueller but found Diane
too strong late on. Sam breezed through and beat Diane in both
Finals.
The Men’s O70’s
saw a very, very tight three horse race (although one is really a
greyhound} Lance Kinder sneaked a narrow 1 hour victory over Martin
Sweeney briefly back in noisy territory before a slapped wrist and
then beat Malcolm Gillham. Idiotic scheduling (sorry!) saw Tony
Seare fall to Sweeney, again narrowly. Gordon Ross then nearly took
out Lance Kinder, but doesn’t, another 10/8 in the fifth. Finally
Sunday am, Little and Large, and Large wins 3-0 against a very tired
Little. So placements had to be computerised before a final verdict
1 Sweeney 2 Seare 3 Kinder 4 Ross!! Well done boys. However, a note
of sadness from this group. Long standing top National player Tony
Breakwell, the Coventry and Warwickshire No 1 for absolutely ages
and stalwart Masters player is now suffering from Motor Neurone
disease and showed his legendary resilience in coming to the club to
see some matches. On behalf of all Masters players we send him all
our best wishes.
In the O65’s,
an amazing admission in my ear. The high life of doing absolutely
nothing is obviously catching up with our Little Champion who
confessed to me he was tired on court. So much so, in the next
match, he lost to Len Froggitt who always has the ability to win but
doesn’t often do it against MC. William Wilson had taken out Tony
Clifford before falling to our Webmaster. Adrian, getting his head
slightly back in order managed to play the crucial points better as
Len threw away a commanding lead and Wrighty re-claimed another
Regional.
The O60’s
saw the first nail-biter and then immediately after, the next. Court
4 first of all, saw Tony Wheeler v Dave Hardern. Lots of nip and
tuck for the right to play Cherlin. As it got towards the end, circa
8/8 in the fifth it was obvious that Tony would be better suited to
play HC and that BFD was, to put it politely, knackered. He has made
the solemn promise (he has made it before at 60) that he will cut
out the beer, the chips and get fit for 65. Unlikely! But if he did
he could realise his dream of an English title? Immediately after
was Mike Taylor v yours truly see sawing all the way through with MP
leading 6/2 in the fifth for the Semi Final. Taylor, however, struck
lucky at the crucial time and emerged the winner 9/7. In the other
section, Rod Boswell was too clinical for Geoff Howes but gave
Cherlin a fright leading 8/1 which he lost, and losing 5/8, which he
won. Score 1-1. Cherlin sneaked ahead and in the other Taylor,
completely out of sorts from his late night battle 14 hours before,
succumbed to Barry Featherstone. The latter started well in the
Final but Cherlin’s ability to slow things down at will plays havoc
with most and he emerged the 3-1 victor for another Regional.
The O55’s
saw another turn around, Geoff Redfern beat local lad Jez Horrocks
3-2 and William Todd sneaked Alistair Niven 3-1. John Limb, looking
lithe and sprightly (I am a bit of a fibber) saw off Barry Alder,
Brian Hawkes and Mike Tidy as efficiently as ever, until he
wounded himself against Cheshire’s John Duckworth who he lost to the
previous week in the ICC. The Final saw Duckworth’s control just too
good on the day and he won a tight Final 3-1, against local hero
Redfern.
The O50’s.
There is always one group…..? With the Inspector benefitting daily
from seedlings dropping out, Adihetty, Shields, Harland, Bradburn,
and then Sarwar with the flu. Simon Evendon, fresh from the Bahamas
by the look of his apparel gave CS Hardy a stern test,
unfortunately, in the end, not stern enough. Hardy survived and then
eased his Semi. James Larcombe met Scowler in full flow before
adjusting to the ferociousness of it all. In the end, a tight game,
but Mark prevailed.
Cue Rugby on TV,
Heineken Cup and also on the squash court. Alexander v Cowley is
always a real battle, so it proved again. 0/9 9/7 9/7 9/2 to
Cowley. Final! A veritable blood bath. Really. What Alexander
couldn’t do Hardy did, inadvertently. Mark, running full tilt
towards the front left hand corner for a non-existent get, shades of
Chris Ansell here, tripped------ head onto floor and wall. Crack.
Blood everywhere. Court closed by Health and Safety. Our TV bailiff
is made of stern stuff and just like the Rugby players, patched up
and sent back out to earn their money, he re-appeared. In fairness,
Stuart wanted to concede in fear that MC would do himself some
lasting damage, with the score already 2/0 Hardy took a 7/1 lead but
obviously wasn’t at the races mentally. So Mark returned to the
family home with another trophy and a bit more besides. P.S. He got
his head glued at the Middlesex Hospital .PA wanted it superglued…
The O45’s
saw John Cordeaux run Martin Levens to all ends of the 4 walls in a
tight first game and Darren Withey take out No 2 seed Greg Loach
3-0. However, Eamonn Price’s path to the Final saw Alistair Parsons,
Paul Clark and Withey all deficit 0/3 and in the top half Greg
Pearman similarly against Andrew Hood, Graham Hooper and John
Cordeaux. The Final was an hour, full of absolutely top notch
squash, see-sawing one way and the other. Price obviously has an eye
on an England Cap and must be considered a racing cert as he finally
edged a nail biting fifth to inflict an extremely rare defeat on
Pearman. Roll on Broxbourne!
The O40’s
saw Rick Weatherall take out
Nick Jones and Steve McLoughlin before taking on David Youngs in the
Final. A hard battle saw Karl Hardy beat Peter Lonsdale but Karl
came unstuck later with Youngs. The second time they have played.
Weatherall 2 Youngs 0. Rick was just too good on the day as Youngs
seemed out of sorts to go down 3-0.
The O35’s
saw Jamie Goodrich edge Jason Foster 3-1, but Kevin White was too
sharp later on in the Semi. Down in the bottom half, another WoE
winner bit the dust in the Quarters (like Niven and Pearse). Ashley
Bowling losing 3-2 to Steve Townsend after leading 7/0. Clive Ewins
who got a World Silver in New Zealand, was too good for Townsend and
showed incredible power, dexterity and touch to take out White 3-0
to record a victory in his first event.
Many thanks to Mo
Sarwar and Bob Jennings of Coventry and North Warwickshire, Liz,
Sonya and Klinda for the organisation, the staff at the club and
Jack Ellis, Brian, Christine and Giz for the marking.
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