The Civil Service Men’s Squash Team arrived at Nottingham Squash Rackets Club with something to prove. After winning the tournament the previous year for the first time in 25 years, we were determined to show that it wasn’t just a one off. Again we managed to field a very strong squad but when we arrived it was apparent that the other teams were also much stronger with several players making their debuts.
Our first match was against the Police, themselves winners of the trophy on several occasions but we got off to a fine start with excellent wins from Simon Amery and Tony Webb. Simon despatched his opponent in typical style 3-0 (believe it or not he has yet to lose a CSSC rep match); Tony’s was a much longer affair, eventually winning 3-2. This meant that one more win out of the last 3 matches would secure our first victory. Next on court was Tim Burrell from London, however Tim looked a little out of sorts and never really got going despite coming close in the 3rd. Marc Aldridge flying high at no1 knew he was in for a tough weekend, however he excelled himself against the Police’s best player and won a very high quality match 3-1. This meant we had won the match and the pressure was off myself (Merv Davies) at no2 but points were going to be important. I started off well winning the first game 9-7 however my opponent seemed to get going in the 2nd game which he won 9-5. I won the 3rd to go 2-1 up and had several match balls in the 4th but just couldn’t kill the game off. I lost that one 10-8 and despite a close 5th went down 3-2. The match had been won and we had picked up a valuable 16 points so all in all a good start.
In the other match, it was again very close with the Fire Services strength at the top order making the difference between the two teams. They just pipped the Combined Services 3-2 with some very high quality squash being played.
As usual Nottingham Squash Rackets Club provided excellent hospitality, both the facilities and refreshments were top quality as always which provided the catalyst for a great two days of competition. After leaving the club we all checked into our respective hotels before meeting to discuss tactics for the next day’s events.
The evening before must have had the desired effect on the Civil Service Team as on the Saturday morning our game against the Fire Service repeated the day before with us winning the first 2 matches. Simon again made it look easy and won 3-0. I went on court to play former Fire Service no1 Andy Corben with no real hope of winning. Although I managed to sneak the 1st game I lost the next two despite working hard to stay in the match. In the 4th I managed to find some reserves and took it 9-4. The 5th game was neck and neck up to 6 all then all of a sudden I won 3 quick points in a row and that was game set and match to the Civil Service. Mark was always going to struggle against Scottish International Peter O’Hara and despite putting up resistence lost 3-0. Tony was then next on court hoping to clinch victory for us but came up against a very experienced opponent in Ian Williams and despite having game ball in the 3rd also lost 3-0. This meant the match was 2-2 with all to play for, with perhaps the winning team going on to win the tournament. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, Tim Burrell. He was never going to lose the match despite dropping the 3rd game and went on to win 3-1. This meant we had secured another 3-2 victory with one more to go to retain our trophy.
In the other match the Police beat the Combined Services 3-2 in another close contest to keep their chances still alive. Although we were the only team to win two out of two matches so far, the only way of guaranteeing victory was to win the final match 4-1. All the other matches had been so close that still 3 out of the 4 teams could win overall!
After a short break the final matches got underway with us left to face the Combined Services. The ever reliable Simon Amery again won 3-0 and finished yet another tournament undefeated. Tony also found his form and defeated England Veteran Ray Burke also 3-0. Victory was in site despite Marc losing to ex professional Sam Miller as Tim Burrell played the best match of his weekend to beat Mike Martin in a gruelling 5 setter. Last but hopefully not least I went on to play George Webster knowing that a win would guarantee us keeping the trophy. This I managed to do and won more easily than expected 3-0. This meant we had achieved the only 4-1 win all weekend and had won the tournament 2 years in succession.
The other match between the Police and Fire Service was now academic although true to the weekend it was another 3-2 victory, this time to the Police which meant they had secured 2nd place.
This Quadrangular Tournament was probably the best we have played in as a Civil Service Team. The standard in all the teams seems to be getting better and better all the time and I’m sure next year will be even tougher. I would like to thank all my players for some magnificent performances and also to John Ashton for playing the reserve role very graciously. The Civil Service Ladies were very supportive and also played some excellent squash themselves in their Triangular tournament (please see Sian Hughes’ report) The Club must also be thanked for some excellent hospitality and for allowing us to have so many courts to complete all our matches.
