HASSRA “Top and Tail” all the Opposition at the 2018 Squash Team Championships
The late withdrawal of two teams from this year’s Squash Team National Open Championships left four strong teams to contest the prestigious CSSC Trophy. HASSRA had again arrived in numbers bringing two teams to defend the trophy they had deservedly won in 2017. Strong opposition was however to be provided to HASSRA’s quest by both DSTL and North West teams. All teams consisting of both men and ladies would play each other in a “Round Robin” format over two days starting on Friday the 26th January 2018 and finishing on the Saturday.
The first Round saw the two HASSRA teams square up against each other with the “A” Team firmly showing their class with a convincing five love result. Jackie Codman however playing for the “B” Team at Number Five put up a strong fight against Ruth Sleigh before finally conceding in their fourth game. HASSRA B’s disappointment was made worse by the injury to their Number Two player Sanjay Kain who suffered an ankle injury and was unable to continue in the Event. The other match between DSTL and North West however was a much closer encounter. The DSTL Team already one player down due to the late injury withdrawal of their Number Four player Helen Midgely had to now win three of the remaining matches to keep their Team in the hunt. The early matches were all very close with North West’s Shena Ferrie defeating Carol Stone in their fifth game. The next match again went to five games but this time DSTL’s David Nethercott was the victor with a fine win over Dan Willets. With North West’s Jim Fay having been pegged back from a two games lead, DSTL were now optimistic of another win. Somehow however the North West player found the extra yard in the final game and just managed to cross the line ahead of his opponent Paul Armstrong. This left Paul Lane from North West the task of cementing his team’s overall victory by playing the experienced DSTL Number Two player, Stuart Scourfield. Stuart however had other ideas and with an impressive display of squash dispatched his opponent three games to love.
A close encounter, the Tie just going North West’s way three matches to two.
The Second Round matches saw the holders HASSRA A and DSTL teams face each other. HASSRA’s Number Four player Keeley Grindle got her Team off to a good start with a win over Carol Stone, quickly followed by her Team mate Chris Beldon dispatching the valiant Paul Armstrong. DSTL’s Number One David Nethercott could not stop this trend and bravely went down three games to love to the talented Marc Thomas. The match between the Number Two players Adam Ward (HASSRA) and Stuart Scourfield (DSTL) was a quality affair and keenly contested. Stuart however could not find the answer to his opponent’s speed and fitness, losing a close encounter in the fourth. HASSRA A were looking good! The earlier loss to injury of HASSRA B’s Sanjay Kain meant they would start their match by giving North West’s Jim Fay a “walkover”. The HASSRA ladies soon came to the rescue however with Team Captain Sian Hughes just beating Shena Ferrie by three games to two and Jackie Codman beating Deb Atkinson three games to one. HASSRA’s Number Two Kevin Mulligan could not replicate his team’s success losing to Paul Lane three games to love. HASSRA’s Number One player Imran Bashir however got his Team over the line by defeating his opponent Dan Willets in straight games.
With the scores now so finely balanced, Saturday’s play would decide the overall results and which teams would triumph. The first tie saw HASSRA B play DSTL and with both teams being short of a player in different Team positions the outcome would be decided on the three remaining matches being played. HASSRA’s Sian Hughes again got her Team off to a flying start by defeating Carol Stone. Imran Bashir however was unable to repeat this success against DSTL’s David Nethercott who put his side on level pegging by winning in straight games.
This left DSTL’s Stuart Scourfield and HASSRA’s Kevin Mulligan to decide the outcome. The experienced HASSRA player however could not quite match the skillful DSTL man, losing a close match three games to one to concede the overall Tie. The other Tie between HASSRA A and North West would now decide the winner of the Championship – North West would however need to inflict a heavy defeat on their opponents to take the Trophy away from the holders. The first two matches soon put the writing on the wall when both Ruth Sleigh and Chris Beldon chalked up wins for HASSRA by defeating Deb Atkinson and Jim Fay. Things didn’t get any better for North West when their number two players Sheena Ferrie and Paul Lane both lost to their opponents Keeley Grindle and Adam Ward. The final match between the Number One players Marc Thomas (HASSRA) and Dan Willets (North West) was all about pride and in a long and hard fought battle, the tired Marc Thomas finally conceded victory to his determined opponent. It mattered not – HASSRA had retained their winners Title. Other placings, with three teams each level on one Tie each, were not quite so obvious and needed to be assessed on “count-back” scores. It was North West who became runners up by winning one more match than their opponents and the Plate winners were DSTL who had won by only three games from the defending Plate Champions, HASSRA B Team.
Congratulations go to HASSRA A for retaining their Championship Title and to the Runners-Up North West, their best ever placing and also to DSTL for winning the Plate Competition.
Prizes were presented by the Civil Service Squash Rackets Association Chairman Sian Hughes. A social evening and quiz was held on the Friday for players to relax and enjoy. The quiz was organised and hosted by Linda Parsley and was won by Team North West. Thanks were extended to all the participating players and to Nottingham Squash Rackets Club for the use of their fine facilities.
