Chris was bouyant after recently recording his best career win against Graham Ryding (World #20) in Baltimore and he was playing superbly tonight. He controlled the match with some excellent length and drop winners and had James under constant pressure.

James battled well but due to the workload made mistakes which allowed Chris to win the match 3/0.

An excellent game of squash by both players and I think there was only 1 let!

Probuild Bristol 0 Surrey H & RC 2
 

I know, I know, you are thinking, there she goes again, sucking up to the sponsors. Well, yes and no. Yes, I am often talking about the sponsors, but hey, wait for it, without them, so squash. So, dohhhhhhh. And no, I don’t talk about ALL the sponsors, but you’ve got to admit that you’ve got some serious squash lovers out there, and Gary Keefe is certainly one of those! Gary is the man behind the “Probuild” logo. And yes, he loves his squash.

“I’m a developer, so it’s not because I’m sponsoring a squash team that I’m going to earn any money”, he smiles. “No, I’ve been sponsoring the squash team here for four years now, and this is our first year in PSL, because the South West of England is dying to see some great squash. Normally, we’ve got to travel so far to see matches…”

And he was having so much fun that he called two mates of his to help with that new Probuild Bristol PSL team, Rob, from Youngs, a roofing company, and a solicitors company, Enriques Griffiths. And it’s not all about staying home only, you know, they travel with their team on all the away matches…

And the truth be told, they are victim of their own success, as they could have sold three times the number of tickets, and we weren’t cold, I’m here to tell you!

“This is cosy”, Gary laughed as we were slightly squashed during the closing match of the evening between Anthony and Adrian. “Well, we didn’t know what to expect. We could have had a stadium, and three spectators. So, we wanted to see how this year was going, and we’ll make some adjustments for next season”.

So, I was lucky, because my seat was in the front row, and was kept despite my constant in and out to go downstairs and talk with the players, and come up again to see the matches. But although some people had a restricted view, everybody seemed to enjoy themselves tremendously.

And if there are out there some investors who are trying to organise events, please, come around the South West of England. Spectators are dying for squash. I had the proof this PSL Night…

FRAMS NOTE

“Squash is such a mental game it’s a joke”. Dixit James Willstrop. Well, in the case of Joe Kneipp, it’s so true it is definitely a joke.

Since the man has “retired” from major events, he’s never played better in his life. No stress. No world on the shoulders. No pressure. And all the shots are just coming in like in butterspread.

On the other hand, the Boss is really retired. He doesn’t play squash at the moment. And to tell you the truth, I doubt he’ll go on playing league matches for long… How could he just be a dabbler at a game that he dominated for so long?

And after he lost the third tonight, there was not way his fitness was going to carry him two more games anyway, as he very fairly stated after the match. But he gave it all tonight, as ever. And you could see his shots, his defensive lobs in particular tuning up as the match went along. But even an elastic band has a breaking point. And that’s what happened. Hamstring gone.

The body gave up before he did…

I thought this could be a tight match and I wasn't proved wrong. Anthony came out in the 1st firing with so much pace which Adrian couldn't control and he took the game 9-1. In the 2nd Adrian started moving better and gained some pressure with some excellent length and drops to the front to take it 9-4.

The 3rd was nip and tuck all the way through with both producing some excellent retrieving and strokeplay and the odd mistake, Anthony took it 9-7. Adrian then came out in the 4th and played a brilliant game and looked very sharp onto the ball and evidently upped the pace, he took the 4th 9-5. Into the 5th both players were working very hard and it was very tight at 4all but Adrian then managed a run of points to take an 8-4 lead and match point which he clipped the top of the tin with a drop.

Anthony back in it and sensed a comeback, Adrian hit another drop down and gave away 2 strokes and with Anthony running everything down and hitting with pace he got it back to 8all saving 4 match points then continued to take the game and match 10-8 and 3-2.

A great and tense game of squash enjoyed by the crowd.

Probuild Bristol 1 Surrey H & RC 4