There was a very enjoyable evening of squash tonight - good squash, an appreciative audience, good food and a very short AGM. In fact it reminded me of the old days at tournament finals when I first joined the club. There weren't quite the same numbers of people involved now as then, but the atmosphere was every bit as good.
First off was the finals of the plate. This was Richard Chinn (-3) against Wayne Hooper (+2). There was all kinds of speculation before the match - "Richard should win this one", "Wayne is playing really well at the moment", etc. The actual match was just as unpredictable. Until the final point was won, there was no way to tell who was going to succeed. Wayne got off to a really good start and played like a man possessed - he kept Richard pinned to the back with very powerful straight and crosscourt drives and won a lot of points with some very good drops. He actually got more points than Richard in this game which he took 15/8. The second game started off the same way, but Richard was hanging in much better this time. Wayne got to 10/5 with his original five point handicap intact, but then relaxed slightly. Richard took advantage of this and served down the middle several times, which seemed to put Wayne under so much pressure that he tinned a few returns - this allowed Richard to claw the game back to 10 all. Wayne recovered his concentration a little, but Richard was making no mistakes and pulled ahead to take the game 15/13. One all in games.
The third game was a scrappy affair with constantly alternating serves, but at 7/11, Richard produced a run of 6 points to take him up to 12/11. The game should have been his from here, but Wayne got back to 14/12, then it went to 14 all and Wayne called 'set one' It was a good decision, because a good drop gave him the next point. Two one to Wayne. In the fourth game, it was Richard who got off to a good start, and although Wayne was still retrieving everything, the sting had been taken out of some of his shots. Richard went into the lead and at 9/6 up, it was his for the taking. Once again, the audience was wrong footed as Wayne started pulling back strongly and unbelievably, he brought it back to 14 all. This time it was Richard's turn to call and not surprisingly he went for 'set three'. It must have been very frustrating for him to win the next point after a very tough rally and think how the game would now be his had he called 'set one'. However, he shrugged these thoughts off and won the next two points anyway. Two all.
In the fifth game, neither player seemed to be showing any signs of slowing down. The pace was as relentless as ever, and although drops were now few and far between, both players moved each other around with good width deep crosscourts and excellent attacking boasts. Wayne had a great start and shot up to a 9/-1 lead. If Richard had had any sense, he would have let it go at this stage. Fortunately, Richard has no sense at all, and he dug in and started getting some points. This pressurised Wayne into a few mistakes and in one memorable rally, where Richard had used up all his energy digging a ball out of the back right corner and had given up on thr remainder of that rally, Wayne lost confidence in his drop shot and hit the ball straight back to Richard (who then woke up and walloped it past Wayne). Wayne also stopped asking for lets. There were several times when he attempted to run around Richard rather than ask for a let, and a couple of times when he played the ball even though he probably would have been entitled to a stroke. Richard got 11 points in a row to get the game back to 10/9, Wayne kept his supporters' hopes alive by getting the next couple of points to reach 11/10. At this point in the match, no one would have dared to guess the outcome, it was that finely ballanced. Both players obviously didn't realise how tired they were as they were not prepared to let any shot go, no matter how hopeless the situation. In the end, Richard produced the last run of points to take the last game 15/11. The final score was 8/15 15/13 14/15 17/14 15/11.
This was a squash match worthy of the finals of a club championship. Obviously, there are better squash players around, but I don't remember seeing two players put so much into a match. Also, it was played in a very sportsmanlike way, with both players accepting the referree's decisions without question and owning up to fluffed shots where necessary. The audience oohed and aahed their way through the match and enjoyed the couple of moments of light comedy (like when Wayne attempted to take Richard's score and serve - well spotted Tony!).
The other match tonight was a much more elegant affair - Ian Smith (+2), server and volleyer extraordinaire against Neil Healey (-3), a seasoned veteran of this event. In fact Neil had an impressive record of 10 games won out of 10 played! Ian was obviously going to be trouble as he had taken Brett out of the tournament in the second round and in fact had scored virtually as many points as Brett in the final game of that match!
In the first game, I thought Neil did very well not to be phased by Ian's unorthodox game. Neil was returning serve well and was also getting to most of Ian's drops. The problem was that (like Brett) he was having difficulty hitting safe shots off Ian's drops and anything loose, Ian was putting away. Ian managed to maintain the five-point offset all the way through, and actually increased it a little to reach 15/9. Unlike the previous match tonight, this was a match where large numbers of points were won on drop shots. Both players produced superb drops - Neils were played with a little pace very low on the front wall, whereas Ian's tended to be played a little higher, but with no pace. Neil started the second game much better, and at 7/9 seemed to be in a reasonable position. However, Ian managed to wrongfoot him a couple of times with surprise crosscourt drops and Neil only got one pore point in that game which Ian won 15/8. In the third game, Neil was back to his old self and started off the game with an excellent run of seven points to take him into the lead at 4/2. Ian held his nerve and started getting his drop working again. Once again, Neil was getting to most of them, but finding it difficult to do anything with them. At 9/9, the outcome was still uncertain, and if anything, I thought Neil was going to take it. I think Ian was determned not to let it go to four (or even five) games, and he produced even better shots than before to go 13/9 up. This left Neil in the impossible situation of needing six points while only allowing Ian one. He nearly managed it as well! Neil levelled the game at 13/13. Then Ian hit a winning drop and at 14/13 hit a drive into the back left corner that despite Neil's best effors, just wasn't ever going to be returnable to the front wall. The final score was 15/9 15/8 15/13.
Another excellent game - a much slower pace than the first match tonight, but a good example of how devastating good drop shots can be.
The other match this evening was between Ian Smith(-9) and Derek Barlow (+7). Ian got off to a shaky start and was a bit shocked to discover that Derek could hit the ball very well, both low on the ground and in the air. A few loose volleys from Ian gave Derek the chance to put the ball away and take the first game 15/7. Ian then changed his tactics and put Derek under real pressure. Ian's overarm tennis serves were improving all the time and were arriving at speed and then dying in the back corners. Derek did well to return so many of them safely, but then set Ian up with a choice of a drop or a crosscourt drive. Derek never knew whether to move forward anticipating the drop, or hang back hoping for a length shot. This successful strategy allowed Ian to take the next three games fairly comfortably. The final score was 7/15 15/12 15/13 15/12.
The other match this afternoon was between Richard Chinn (-9) and Neil Thorneywork (+7). As Richard was very late due to motorway problems, and both players had to play at a Vet's match later that afternoon, it was decided to make it a 'best of three'. Richard had a bad start in the first, but had a run a eight points later to put him into a 1-0 lead. In the second, Richard started well and had a run of 12 points, but then floundered and gave Neil the opportunity to hit some good kills - particularly some very well executed (and winning) reverse angles off loose serves. Neil got to 13/7 and looked all set to take the game when Richard produced some more bursts of points and clawed back to 14 all. Neil asked for 'set one' and Richard obligingly hit a reverse angle that kissed the red at the top of the tin. Oh dear! Richard was in no mood to be trifled with in the deciding game. He put Neil under all kinds of pressure and did some very good retrieving to take the first 11 points. He kept up the good work to go into a lead of 11/9 at which point his concentration took a short break. A loose shot allowed Neil to hit a winner. Neil then served and Richard hit it into the tin. This gave Richard the shock he needed to get his concentration going again, and he seved out the match. The final score was 15/13 14/15 15/11.
Brian Ireland (+5) had a super match against David Potter (-6). David played extremely well in the first game and his reverse angles were giving him easy points. Brian started concentrating in the second game and had a good mixture of drops and surprise straight drives which along with some unforced errors from David gave Brian the game 15/7. The next game was very close with David getting two points to every one of Brian's. When they got to 14 all, Brian surprisingly went for 'set 3' and then won the next point! However, that was the last point he won in that game and David took it 17/15. David had a good start in the next game, but lost his concentration half way through and tinned a lot od easy shots. Even so, at 10/13 down, he had an excellent chance of stealing the match. However, Brian pulled another couple of shots out of the bag to take the game. Again, in the last game, David had an excellent start, and at 6/9 was in a commanding position. From then on, however, Brian and David alternated serves and the match just just started sliding away in Brian's direction. David kept the audience on the edge of their seats with a last minute surge to get up to 12/14, but then Brian produced an excellent kill to take the game and match. The final score was 11/15 15/7 15/17 15/12 15/12.
In the next game, Steve started off with a mistake - it was either a tinned drop or a reverse angle that was down - once again, it was as if the handicap was -17/+12. This was the incentive that Steve needed to give it 110% concentration. He got the next 28 points in a row (enough to give him 9/0 9/0 9/0 in one hand using normal scoring) and reached 11/12. It was inconceivable that Steve could lose from this position, but he did! He tinned a drop, hit a return of serve that went out of court (I've never seen Steve do that before) and Derek hit a good shot to take the second game. All that work, and for nothing!
The third game was a real nail biter. I think Steve tinned another drop, Derek had a wonderful mishit straight into the nick and all of a sudden Derek was at match ball 14/-3. The only person who's ever come out of one of these situations before is Glenn, but Steve rose to the occasion and produced some clinical squash - powerful straight and crosscourt drives, ultra safe but effective drops, solid retrieving - and slowly drew level. At last he reached 14 all. Derek was beginning to sound like a steam train at this stage. He had tried winners of all types - drops, boasts, reverse angles, good widths etc. but nothing was working. Derek called 'set 3' and Steve took the game 17/14. Only 20 points in a row this time!
As the fourth game started, it looked as if Steve was in a commanding position. He was playing superbly with total concentration getting huge runs of points whereas Derek was clearly exhausted. But, all of a sudden, Derek didn't seem to be exhausted any more. He started running for shots that he had abandoned in the previous game and he produced more attacking shots - many good boasts that almost nicked in the front corners. Steve seemed to be having difficulty with these - they were good enough to make drops risky, and his lengths were hitting the side wall and not reaching the back. At -9/12, Derek hit a very tight backhand length which stuck to the wall despite Steve's best efforts to return it. The next point also went Derek's way where he hit an excellent forehand low drive which caught Steve off balance. Could Steve recover from 14 (match ball)/-9. Well, he tried! He resorted to text book squash, wearing Derek down with his good lengths, widths, drops etc. At 0/14 the inevitable happened. Steve had been avoiding high crosscourts ever since he hit one out in the second game, but he tried a crosscourt lob that wasn't really high enough. Derek reached out his racket and produced his shot of the match - a volley into the nick. What an ending! This was a great match. It was also played in good spirits throughout - no hassle for the marker. The final score for the record was 15/7 15/12 14/17 15/0.
I've been analysing the score sheet (yes, I know I'm a deeply sad squash fanatic) and I've come up with some interesting factoids:
However, the match that was played was a good one. Steve Porter had the difficult task of taking on Lorna Robinson with a -6/+5 handicap. Steve was clearly concentrating and in the first game was getting the right kind of points ratio (2:1) to ensure a close game up until the last few points where Lorna went for some risky kills which payed off. The next game was a disaster for Steve and he got only six points to Lorna's ten through a mixture of not keeping the ball off her racket, a couple of unforced errors, and many winning shots from Lorna. There were some cracking rallies though where Steve did some phenomenol retrieving. The hard work Steve had to do in the second game set him up for an excellent third game. To use a phrase much loved by football managers, he was 'up for it'. He served well, kept the ball to the back of the court and played some safe reverse angles to kill off the ball whenever Lorna played a loose shot to the front of the court. When he got to 9 all (15 points to Lorna's 4), it looked as if he would easily take the game and maybe even the match, but Lorna had other ideas. She dug in and stayed with Steve up to 12 all before Steve broke away again and took that game 15/12. In the fourth game, Lorna moved up a gear. She attacked almost every serve with some superb drops that were unreturnable. Although Steve nearly always won back the serve immediately, Lorna's score was shooting up. After a couple of minutes, Steve found himself in the impossible situation of 0/12. Lorna kept up the winning drops and took that game 15/2. The final score was 15/10 15/0 12/15 15/2.
Paul Heneghan (the tournament organiser, and the only person who seems to be able to write commentaries - hint, hint) had the unenviable task of taking on Bob Speake with a handicap of -6/+5. Bob, a veteran of these events had already taken out Martyn Whiting with ease and as usual was going for everything. The first game went comfortably to Bob - his return of serve was causing all kinds of problems for Paul. Fortunes were reversed in the second game where Paul served hard down the middle which spoiled Bob's concentration causing many unforced errors. Paul won this game with points to spare. Unfortunately for Paul, Bob started concentrating again in the third and fourth and this combined with some good drops along with several tinned shots from Paul gave Bob the match. The final score was 15/8 9/15 15/8 15/5.
Dave Potter had no problems playing against Frances Heneghan, even with the -6/+5 handicap. Frances's backhand return of serve disintegrated and although there were still moments of brilliance on the forehand side, she couldn't keep up the pressure against Dave. The score was 15/13 15/11 15/11.
Once again, Neil Healey rose to the occasion, and apart from a momentary lapse of concentration in the third game, had an easy victory over Anthony Workman - a new club member. Neil had to overcome a handicap of -3/+2, but still had points to spare. The score was 17/14 15/13 2/15 15/10.
Ben Salcedo (+2) gave his usual firey performance and had a comfortable victory over David Preedy (-3). Dave had a shaky start in the first game and allowed Ben to win valuable points at the beginning. In the next two games however, Dave tightened up his game but was always trailing as far as points were concerned. The score was 15/5 15/12 15/11.
Lorna Robinson (0) and Tom Richardson (0) battled it out twoards the end of the evening. It was nip and tuck all the way for the first few games, with Tom keeping the ball at the back with powerful drives or flick lobs, and Lorna doing nice controlled good-width drives and some wicked boasts. The first game went Tom's way towards the beginning and Lorna trailed a couple of points all the way to 15/13. The next game went to 14 all - Lorna called 'set 3' and then proceeded to take the next three points. I think it was in the third game that Tom's drops stopped working. Lorna's ability to get to good drops put him under a lot of pressure and he fluffed a few as a result. Lorna took that game and went into the fourth game with a 2-1 lead. As usual, the next game was very close at the beginning, but at 7 all, Lorna won back the serve and took the match in a single hand (I remember she did something similar against Mary Boyle in the club championships). It has to be said that she was helped by a couple of lucky shots, which must have been demoralising for Tom, but the other shots were all played for. The score was 13/15 17/14 15/12 15/7.
I didn't see the game between Brian Ireland (0) and Mary Boyle (0), but from the score sheet, it was close. The score was 15/13 15/13 8/15 15/12.
Mary Boyle had an excellent game against Jim Goddard. They were playing off scratch, and the scores were very close in the first three games. Mary was struggling with her drop shots and boasts and when she eliminated those in the later games, she put Jim under real pressure. The fifth game was a nail-biting climax where Mary moved into a 14/7 lead and then had to watch Jim play some of his best squash to bring it back to 14/11 before she ended it with a tight forehand drive that clinched the game and the match. It was nice to have an audience for this game who were cheering the players on. The final score was 12/15 15/9 14/17 15/7 15/11.
Dave Potter had a 3-1 victory over Tony Arthur. They were playing off scratch.
Neil Healey (-3) had a comfortable 3-0 win over Tony Whitehouse (+2). It looks as if I've under-handicapped Neil for the second year in succession. He really does play well in these events. The score was 15/11 15/11 15/10. According to my calculations, he would still have won even if he were a group higher in C! I think next year, I'll just put him in group A with Glen. That should sort him out!
I didn't see the Granthan Speake (+2) Neil Thorneywork (-3) game but from the score sheet, it must have been a cracker. Granthan won 7/15 15/12 17/15 15/12.
Brian Ireland (-3) and Jim Wall (+2) had one of the classic handicap marathon games. Brian was trying to control the ball and move Jim around. Jim had clearly just finished a large bottle of 'human growth hormone' because he was turbocharged. He charged round the court blasting the ball in all directions and causing real trouble for Brian. I think Jim should have gone for the super-size bottle, because in the later games, he tired a little and although Brian was also tiring, he was having a lot more success at keeping the ball just out of Jim's reach. This was a very enjoyable game to watch, but suffered as did most of the other games from an almost complete lack of spectators. The final score was 15/15 15/15 15/13 15/10 15/8.
Steve Porter (-9) had a miserable time against Derek Barlow (+7). Derek surprised everyone with his ability to put the ball away, and in the first two games, Steve made mistakes and presented Derek with too many opportunities. In the third game, Steve stepped up his game considerably and showed just what he can do when he turns on 100% concentration. He won the first six points in a row, reducing the handicap to -4/7. He then faltered a little, even serving out a couple of times, allowing Derek too many easy points until the score reached 6/13. It really looked as if it were all over then, but this is when Steve produced some phenomenol squash which he is capable of on occasion. His boasts, reverse angles and kills were just millimeter's above the tin. He forged his way back to 12/13 at which point the game was his. Derek managed to hit another winner to get to 14/12. Steve pulled back to 13/14 with a ridiculously low reverse angle. All he needed was one point to make it 14 all. Derek presented him with an easy ball and Steve got excited and tinned it. Everyone groaned - we were really looking forward to the next game(s) to see if Steve could pull it off against a tiring Derek.
Chris Thompson (-3) played well against Pete Scully (-2) to begin with and took advantage of some mediocre squash from Pete to take the first game comfortably. Pete then raised his game and although Chris would frequently reduce the point difference between them down to 1 or 2, Pete kept raising it back up to 5 or 6 and took the next three games fairly comfortably. The final score was 10/15 15/9 15/8 15/8.
Brett Greene (-9) was playing David Wales (+7) - a stylish player of about lower 3rd team standard. The handicapping allowed for Brett getting three times as many points as David, but Brett's concentration and retrieving were such that David got only 12 points to Brett's 72 - a scoring ratio of 6x. If Brett carries on at this rate he looks unbeatable! The final score was 15/11, 15/9, 15/13
Steve Dyke (-14) and Tom Richardson (+10) produced a VERY exciting game - the type that handicap competitions are famous for. Both players are veterans of this type of tournament and had their game plan sorted out. Tom was going for everything, trying to force Steve into mistakes. Steve was sticking purely to lengths, cutting out all drop shots unless Tom was hopelessly out of position. In the first game, Steve won 29 points to Tom's 1 !!! In the second game, Tom rapidly advanced up to 14 while Steve was still around the zero mark. Steve hung in and clawed back point after point after point. He reached 14, Tom set 1 and then set Steve up with a very easy shot. Just to show what a generous chap he is, Tom then gave up and waited for Steve to play any winning shot he wanted. Steve stroked it into the tin. The assembled audience groaned and Steve looked like his numbers had come up on the lottery, but he'd forgotton to buy a ticket. After that Steve didn't really drop any more, stuck to powerful accurate lengths and wore Tom down over the next two games to squeeze through 15/11, 14/15, 15/13, 15/14.
Brian Ireland's tricky dropshots eliminated Glen from the competition. Glen did his usual retrieving, but had an impossible handicap of -17. Brian's handicap of +11 meant he only needed four points per game, which he got. The final score was 15/-3, 15/8, 15/8.
Ricahard Chinn (-9) played superbly at times against his opponent Jim Goddard (+7). He took the first game very easily (15/12), but lost it completely in the next (2/15). In the third, he started concentrating again and although he lost the game, he went on to play very strongly in the fourth which he won comfortably. Richard dug in the fifth and managed to get back to 10 all. From this position, there is no way he should have lost, but unbelievably, Jim hit a couple of winners, Richard hit a couple down and Jim clinched it with an off-the-wood special! The score was 12/15, 15/2, 15/13, 11/15, 15/14.
More commentaries to come when I get time.