Champions Chapel Allerton Make Strong Start
In New PSL Season
Roundup from Howard Harding

LEBC Group Chapel Allerton, the Leeds club which lifted the PSL trophy for the first time last season, made a strong start to the 26th season of the world's most prestigious squash league by beating Yorkshire rivals Pontefract 4/1 in tonight's first round tie.

But Esporta Oxford begin the season at the top of the Group A points table after winning an extra game in their 4/1 victory over league newcomers Newport, the first Welsh team to compete in the PSL this decade.

Former champions Surrey Health & Racquets top the Group B table after a 3/2 away win at county rivals Surrey Storm Guildford, formerly known as UniSport Guildford.  And Exeter Diamonds are only a point behind the 2008 champions following their 4/1 home win against Covers Chichester.


British National champion Jenny Duncalf put defending champions Chapel Allerton into a commanding position against Pontefract with a 9-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-2 win over Leeds-based Vanessa Atkinson, the Dutch number one.

Adam Murrills and Shaun le Roux put the overall result beyond doubt for the home side before club regular Laurence Delasaux, a 24-year-old from Hull who has recently returned to the PSA World Tour after a two-year absence, claimed a first-time victory over the county's former world number one Lee Beachill in an 11-4, 11-5, 5-11, 11-6 scoreline.

England team-mates James Willstrop and Alister Walker came face to face in the final match of the programme - and Willstrop picked up a consolation point for Pontefract with a 12-10, 11-9, 11-7 win.

"It's a great start to the new season after a long summer break since we won the title," said Chapel Allerton team manager Neil Guirey. "On paper it could have gone either way, so it was good that we were able to come away with an emphatic win."

It was a disappointing start for Welsh debutants Newport - but Esporta Oxford have strengthened their squad for the new season. Simon Rosner, a 21-year-old former European Junior champion from Germany who is making his debut for the club, put in a gritty performance to beat Newport Welshman Rob Sutherland 11-4, 10-12, 15-17, 11-8, 11-7 - and Australian Cameron Pilley stretched Oxford's winning margin to 4/1 when he despatched fellow countryman Aaron Frankcomb 11-8, 11-6, 11-6 in the day's final match.

The other tie in Group A was an all-East-Midlands derby between former champions Benz-Bavarian Duffield and MB Nottingham. The Derbyshire home side got off to the worst possible start when England star Tania Bailey lost her four-and-a-half-year unbeaten run for Duffield after having to concede her match to the visitors' Sarah Kippax after just two games. Plagued by injury and illness over recent years, Bailey underwent knee surgery earlier this year, and had been making good progress.

Duffield went on to lead 2/1 - but top-ranked Malaysian Ong Beng Hee levelled matters for Nottingham, then Dutch number one Laurens Jan Anjema celebrated his first appearance in the league for six years by beating the home side's New Zealand international Martin Knight 11-3,11-4, 11-5 to clinch a memorable 3/2 away win for Nottingham.

The Guildford crowd got their money's worth when Surrey Storm Guildford hosted Surrey Health & Racquets, the Croydon club which has consistently enjoyed success in Group B. England international; Alison Waters, a Guildford force for the past five seasons, was making her debut for the visitors - and put the knife in for her old club with a straight games win over her successor Victoria Lust.

But two mighty five-game battles by Guildford stalwarts Stephen Meads and Stacey Ross saw the home side reclaim the advantage. However, Scottish international Alan Clyne levelled the tie before England international Peter Barker cruised to an 11-6, 11-6, 11-8 win over South African Jesse Engelbrecht to establish the 3/2 win for Surrey Health which takes the club to the top of the Group B points table.

Covers Chichester got their 15th successive PSL season off to a promising start when Dominique Lloyd-Walter despatched the Devon club's Emma Chorley in straight games. But, Exeter Diamonds, in only their second season in the PSL, soon turned things around with wins by Tom Pashley, Joey Barrington and Jonathan Kemp.

But Australian international Stewart Boswell secured the victory which ensured that Exeter Diamonds start the season just a point behind the group table-toppers when he beat the South Coast club's Robbie Temple 11-4, 11-8, 3-11, 11-2 in the top-string clash.

There was further Surrey success in Group B when TWP St George's Hill edged out Avon opponents Probuild Bristol 3/2. Local boy Joe Lee had double reason to celebrate his 11-5, 9-11, 11-4, 11-4 victory over Bristol's Peter Marshall - it was his first ever win over the former world number two, and it was on his 20th birthday!

Bristol's top string was also celebrating his birthday - his 29th - and also did it by securing a win, over the home club's number one Daryl Selby. But it was to no avail, as St George's Hill had already netted three wins to ensure a home success for the night.

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