16/02/2005
STRINGS TIED UP BY GUILDFORD
Round Eight, Tue 15th Feb, roundup from Howard Harding ...
Group A:
Manchester/Pontefract 4 Wolverhampton 1
Benz-Bavarian Duffield 2 Norwest Holst Nottingham 3
Group B:
Team Solent 2 Team Chichester 3
UniSport Guildford 3 Oberthur Strings Tewkesbury 2
Strings Tied Up By Guildford
In First National League Defeat
Exertions in the final stages of last weekend's National Championships
played their part in tonight's eighth round of the National Squash
League - but UniSport Guildford
inflicted the season's first defeat of
Oberthur Strings Tewkesbury as the Gloucestershire club went
down 3/2 at the University of Surrey. Strings maintain their
leadership in Group B, but Guildford have narrowed the gap behind
second-placed Team Chichester,
who left it to the last match to scrape a 3/2 away win at Hampshire's Team Solent.
In Group A, Manchester/Pontefract
extended their lead at the top of the table after beating Wolverhampton 4/1, while
bottom-placed Norwest Holst Nottingham
forced their way into third place in the table after coming back from
0/2 down to defeat Derbyshire's Benz
Bavarian Duffield 3/2.
Guildford End Strings' Record
Gloucester's Fiona Geaves celebrated her second successive Over-35
British national crown in Manchester on Sunday, but lost 2-9 9-2 2-9
2-9 to England team-mate Jenny Tranfield as Guildford immediately
slipped behind in their battle with table-toppers Strings. Jesse
Engelbrecht beat the visitors' late stand-in Adam Oakley to level the
score before - in what Guildford team manager Ian Robinson described as
'the match of the night' - Neil Frankland fought back from two games
behind to beat Tewkesbury's Chris Clare 2-9 2-9 9-7 9-7 15-13, saving
one match-ball in the decider.
"It was a fantastic game, played at a blistering pace," said
Robinson. "Chris was spraying winners all over the place in the
first two games, and while he kept up this level throughout the match,
Neil was also able to raise his game to meet him head on."
The final match saw Tewkesbury claw back one point as Malaysian star
Ong Beng Hee beat home hero Stacey Ross 6-9 9-1 9-6 13-11. Ross's
match preparation, however, was far from ideal as the 31-year-old had
spent most of the day in a hospital with his wife Debbie who had
tripped and broken her arm while jogging.
Linda Leads Chichester
Linda Elriani, the Sussex star who clinched the women's British title
for the first time 48 hours earlier, put in a champion's performance at
Lee on Solent when she despatched the home side's Scottish U19 No1
Alexandra Clark 9-1 9-0 9-2 to maintain her unbeaten record for
Chichester this season. Team captain Tim Vail also extended his
unbeaten record when he defeated Team Solent's Rob Sutherland in
straight games. Second and third strings Ritwik Bhattacharya and
Greg Tippings, now the Lee coach, raised home hopes after wins over
Peter Genever and Tim Garner, respectively, but Chichester clinched the
tie victory when team No1 Mohd Azlan Iskandar beat Lee Drew 9-5 9-7 9-6.
Man/Pont Roll On ...
Playing for the second time this season at their Yorkshire home venue
in Pontefract, Manchester/Pontefract marched on to their sixth
successive victory and increased their lead at the top of the Group A
table to 32 points. But it was a tired squad No1 James Willstrop
that put paid to a maximum points win, going down 4-9 8-10 7-9 to the
fresh Wolverhampton No1 Anthony Ricketts, the world No11 from
Australia. Willstrop, the 21-year-old who is ranked three places
higher, fought through two long and arduous encounters on the all-glass
court in Manchester last week before losing out to his
Manchester/Pontefract team-mate Lee Beachill in his first British
Nationals final.
Nottingham win East Midlands Derby
In their East Midlands derby, former champions Benz-Bavarian Duffield
got off to an excellent start against Group A visitors Norwest Holst
Nottingham when Tania Bailey secured a confidence-boosting 9-2 9-7 6-9
9-3 win over Natalie Grinham, the world No3 from Australia who was
making her debut this season for Nottingham. Former British
Junior National champion Laurence Delasaux was also making his Duffield
debut - and also triumphed 9-6 9-4 9-5 over his Nottingham opponent
Nick Douglas.
But Nottingham took over at this point and wrapped up the final three
matches to score a resounding 3/2 win and third place in the table -
and still the chance of a place in the play-offs. Welshman David
Evans was 'in a class of his own' as he despatched Duffield's Sam
Miller 9-6 9-5 9-6 - and Dutch No1 Tommy Berden defeated Renan Lavigne,
runner-up in the weekend's French National championships, 9-5 9-5 9-5.
The deciding final match took 65 minutes to reach its conclusion - and
it was Nottingham's rejuvenated British Nationals' star Simon Parke who
came out on top, beating fellow Yorkshireman Nick Matthew, the world
No6, 9-7 4-9 9-6 16-14 in an end-of-evening thriller.
Group A:
Manchester/Pontefract 4
Wolverhampton 1
James Willstrop lost to Anthony Ricketts 4-9, 8-10,
7-9 (25m)
Marcus Berrett beat Scott Handley 9-11, 9-2, 9-2,
9-4 (32m)
Nick Taylor beat Mark Cairns 8-10, 9-2, 10-8, 7-9,
10-8 (71m)
Andrew Whipp beat Chris Ryder 12-10, 9-4, 9-3 (22m)
Jenny Duncalf beat Wendy Maitland 9-1, 9-1, 9-5 (23m)
Benz-Bavarian Duffield 2 Norwest
Holst Nottingham 3
Nick Matthew lost to Simon Parke 7-9, 9-4, 6-9,
14-16 (65m)
Renan Lavigne lost to Tommy Berden 5-9, 5-9, 5-9
Sam Miller lost to David Evans 6-9, 5-9, 6-9 (30m)
Laurence Delasaux beat Nick Douglas 9-6, 9-4, 9-5
Tania Bailey beat Natalie Grinham 9-2, 9-7, 6-9, 9-3
(64m)
Group B:
Team Solent 2 Team Chichester 3
Lee Drew lost to Mohd Azlan Iskandar 5-9, 7-9, 6-9
Ritwik Bhattacharya beat Peter Genever 9-3, 9-7, 9-3
Greg Tippings beat Tim Garner 9-1, 4-9, 9-6, 9-3
Rob Sutherland lost to Tim Vail 2-9, 4-9, 2-9
Alexandra Clark lost to Linda Elriani 1-9, 0-9, 2-9
UniSport Guildford 3 Oberthur
Strings Tewkesbury 2
Stacey Ross lost to Ong Beng Hee 9-6, 1-9, 6-9, 11-13
Stephen Meads beat Daryl Selby 9-7, 9-7, 9-4
Neil Frankland beat Chris Clare 2-9, 2-9, 9-7, 9-7,
15-13
Jesse Engelbrecht beat Adam Oakley 9-4, 9-3, 9-1
Fiona Geaves lost to Jenny Tranfield 2-9, 9-2, 2-9,
2-9
LEAGUE TABLES
Ties Matches
Games
Pts
P W L W L W L
Group A:
Manchester/Pontefract 7 6 1 28 7 90 48 120
Wolverhampton 7 4 3 18 17 68 67 88
Nottingham 6 3 3 14 16 51 56 66
Duffield 6 2 4 12 18 53 66 63
Edgbaston Priory 6 1 5 8 22 49 74 54 Group B:
Strings Tewkesbury 5 4 1 16 9 56 36 76
Team Chichester 5 3 2 15 10 50 39 65
UniSport Guildford 5 3 2 13 12 45 49 60
Team Solent 5 0 5 6 19 33 60 33
Contributor: Howard Harding
Club: NO CLUB
Link: http://
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