16/02/2005
DEVASTATING DEFEAT FOR DUFFIELD
Brain Hargrave looks on as Nottingham come back from the dead ...
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 (
32 min)
Sam Miller lost to David Evans 6-9, 5-9, 6-9 (30m)
Laurence Delasaux beat Nick Douglas 9-6, 9-4, 9-5
(21 Min)
Tania Bailey beat Natalie Grinham 9-2, 9-7, 6-9, 9-3
(65m)
Devastating Defeat for Benz
Bavarian Duffield
and
no Lemon Meringue Pie to soften the blow!
In the East Midlands derby, Benz-Bavarian Duffield got off to an
excellent start against Group A visitors Norwest Holst Nottingham when
former British Junior National champion Laurence Delasaux returning to the
Duffield fold as a squad replacement for John Rooney (glandular
fever) beat his Nottingham opponent Nick
Douglas 9-6 9-4 9-5. Delasaux repeated his win over Douglas in
the qualifying rounds of last week’s National championships. Delasaux
always had the upper hand as Douglas got frustrated with decisions
culminating in a conduct stroke when 8-1 down in the third. An angry
Douglass then hit 4 consecutive winners before serving out to lose the
rubber.
Tania Takes New Girls' Tussle
Duffield debutant Tania Bailey,
world 17, secured a great 9-2 9-7 6-9 9-3 win over Natalie Grinham, the world No 3
from Australia who was making her debut this season for Nottingham.
Bailey has the difficult task of following in the footsteps of Cassie
Jackman who would have been delighted with her friend’s display.
Jackman has graced the Duffield’s courts for the past 7 years and
produced some great displays. However, some supporters described the
absorbing contest as one of the best ladies matches seen at the Club.
Both players gave it their all covering all corners of the court at
great speed and attacking at every opportunity. Bailey played
inspired squash to take the first two games 9-2 9-7. Bailey was
fighting for her life in the third but from 6 all Grinham won 3 quick
points as Bailey began to look a little weary. However the Stamford
lady stamped her authority in the fourth and regained full control to
take the game 9-3 and win the rubber in 65 minutes as both players left
the court to loud applause.
Nottingham Bounce Back
But Nottingham hit back to take the final three matches to score
another narrow 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 in 30
minutes. Miller had answered a SOS and changed his flight to get back
from the USA to the UK just in time to play. Miller fought hard
but former British Open champion, Evans, had just too many shots in his
locker for his willing opponent.
Renan Lavigne, world 25,
was prepared to sacrifice his chances in the TOC in the USA by delaying
his flight to the USA by one day so that he could give Duffield an
outside chance of reaching the play offs. However, his recent exploits
had taken their toll. He lost a close 3-1 against Thierry Lincou after
80 minutes on Sunday in the final of the French Nationals (played
really well) and Lincou actually drilled him in his left leg, Lavigne
was not in the best shape on Monday night and was absolutely devastated with
the loss in 81 minutes to Alex Stait in the Super League. Lavigne was
hampered by a dead leg on Monday night, and could hardly walk. His injury
had improved sufficiently to play but Dutch No1 Tommy Berden, world 35, showed
his opponent no mercy as he worked him all around the court to win all
3 games by the same score of 9-5 in just 30 minutes. Lavigne
tried his best but was seen clutching an ice pack to his injured leg
making him a very doubtful starter for the New York event starting on
Thursday.
Two rubbers all and some supporters must begin to think these matches
which all seem to go to the wire are stage managed.
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 No 6, 9-7 4-9 9-6 16-14 in a late
end-of-evening thriller.
Parke has been a thorn in Duffield side for too many years and earlier
in the season he survived tie and match ball against Jonathan Kemp.
Parke could rarely have played better with the best retrieving ever
witnessed but also displaying a willingness to play more attacking
shots and using the lob to great effect. Matthew seemed to have most of
the rallies won but Parke would not give an inch. The first two games
were even Steven but Parke took the third and led 8-4 in the fourth.
Matthew dug deep and saved 4 match balls to level at 8 all and then
have game ball as the crowd gasped as the rallies got longer and
tighter. In a pulsating finish Matthew had 3 game balls and Parke had
eight match balls before Parke silenced the noisy home supporters to
take the fourth game 16-14 after 64 divine minutes.
Sick as a Lemon Meringue Pie
An absolute sickener to add to the even bigger disappointment of
Masserellas Bakery running out of lemon meringue pie
which they have been supplying to the Duffield manager to keep him
sweet and to help soften the pain of decisions going the wrong way.
Well what about tonight’s decisions. I stood by Mr Kramer, a world
class referee, for the final rubber. PK had not put a foot wrong
on the two matches played on the outside court. Nick Matthew was not
best pleased with a few crucial decisions and the biased home crowd
felt equally hard done by. In the excitement I relied on Mr Kramer for
an unbiased expert opinion and he felt that most if not all of the
marginal calls had favoured a player from Yorkshire.
The outcome was that Duffield had lost when it looked very much as
though the icing would be on the Duffield “Massarella” cream cake. The
outcome was typical of the season best summed up with the words “so
near yet so far” and “bloody parkey”. Nottingham manager Bob Spall was
completely bemused by the results which went against rankings.
If only Framboise Gommendy had been there she would have approved.
Still she might attend what may well be Duffield’s final NL home match after
11 adventurous seasons which have seen supporters get lost in all
corners of England from the cobbled streets of Halifax to the wilds of
Northumberland and from the outpost of Norfolk’s Barnham Broom to a
place called Chichester and Colchester’s Lexden where Simon Parke beat
Adrian Grant to deprive Duffield of a place in a second NL Final after
some of the worst refereeing decisions of all time. (I am not normally
one to complain about refereeing decisions but that night is still
engraved in my memory). Tonight the loyal supporters had seen excellent
squash but were lost for words at the end and yours truly had to be
content with a winning raffle ticket, a box of Thorntons chocolate
fudge.
The NL ball is firmly in the court of England Squash – never say
never !
Brian
Hargrave
Contributor: Brian Hargrave
Club: Duffield
Link: http://
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