| Chichester end St
George's streak
TWP St George's Hill's unbeaten
run in this season's Premier
Squash League (PSL) came
to a dramatic end when the Group B leaders slumped 3/2
to Team
Chichester in
the eighth round of the of
the world's most prestigious squash league.
Meanwhile defending
champions Surrey
Health & Racquets continued
their strong form in the group by thumping UWE
Bristol 5/0
– earning their fourth successive PSL win and
dramatically reducing the gap behind St George's Hill in
the tables. Third-placed Exeter
Diamonds weakened
their bid for a place in the end-of-season play-offs by
going down 3/2 at home to PSL newcomers IGT
Winchester.
ormer champions LEBC
Group Chapel Allerton strengthened
their lead in the Group A tables with a 4/1 away win at
MB Nottingham –
while England's world number one Nick
Matthew played
a decisive role in Benz-Bavarian
Duffield gaining
a 3/2 away win over CLFS
Esporta Oxford to
improve their chances of a play-off place.
It was a rueful St George's
Hill manager Danny
Lee who
commented "the wrong Lee won" after his son Joe
Lee lost
to Chichester's late replacement Alex
Gough, while Chichester's Max
Lee recorded
a marathon victory over British National Champion Daryl
Selby.
Guyana's Nicolette
Fernandes started
the Chichester run by upsetting the home side's Dominique
Lloyd-Walter in
five games – while the now-retired Alex Gough, a former
world No5, produced one of the shocks of the season by
despatching world No63 Joe Lee 13-11, 11-5, 11-7 in just
36 minutes.
The home crowd sensed that
normal service would be resumed as middle order
stalwarts Nafiizwan
Adnan and Mark
Krajcsak levelled
the tie – and hopes were high that Selby would
rediscover the form that saw him lift the British
National title against expectations less than a month
ago.
And the world No10 from
Essex led 2/1 against Max Lee before the Hong Kong
22-year-old – ranked 52 places lower in the world –
pulled off one of the best wins of his career to beat
Selby 13-11, 11-13, 8-11, 12-10, 11-5 in 77 minutes.
Surrey Health & Racquets
dropped just two games in their commanding victory over
former runners-up UWE Bristol. England international Alison
Waters laid
down a marker for the hosts with an 11-4, 11-8, 11-7 win
over Bristol's Sarah-Jane
Perry –
and Ben
Ford, captain Tim
Garner, Adrian
Waller duly
followed Waters' winning example before top-ranked Scot Alan
Clyne ensured
maximum points by beating rising French star Lucas
Serme 10-12, 11-5, 11-2, 11-7.
It was French number one Gregory
Gaultier, making only his second appearance for the
club, who led IGT Winchester to their 3/2 away win over
Exeter Diamonds. With the tie poised at two-all, world
No6 Gaultier recovered from two games down to beat
Exeter's Stewart
Boswell 10-12,
6-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-6 – inflicting the first defeat of
the season on the Australian international.
It was a similar story in
Oxford where Derbyshire club Benz-Bavarian Duffield, the
three times champions eager to make the final for the
first time in two years, were level at two matches
apiece against CLFS Esporta Oxford. The decider saw the
world's top player Nick Matthew take on the top Spaniard Borja
Golan. World champion Matthew took the opening two
games, but Golan battled back to draw level.
Disappointment for the
hosts was matched be elation for the visitors when
Matthew recovered the advantage to win 11-5, 15-13,
11-13, 11-7. The win strengthens Duffield's position in
third place in the Group A tables, just three points
adrift of Oxford – but with a tie in hand.
LEBC Group Chapel Allerton
began their victory bid at MB Nottingham a match down
after local star Emma
Beddoes beat the Yorkshire club's Carrie
Ramsey 11-3,
11-5, 11-3.
But stirring wins by the
visitors' Anthony
Graham, Shaun
le Roux, Laurence
Delasaux and Chris
Simpson gave
Chapel Allerton the 4/1 win which extends their lead at
the top of the Group A tables to 23 points ahead of
Esporta Oxford.
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Group A:
Oxford 2-3 Duffield
Borja Golan 2-3 Nick Matthew
5/11, 13/15, 11/2, 13/11, 7/11
Chris Ryder 3-0 Jonathan Kemp
12/10, 11/4, 11/7
Scott Handley 2-3 Andy Whipp
11/9, 11/9, 5/11, 5/11, 6/11
Ben Coleman 0-3 Matthew Karwalski
4/11, 2/11, 6/11
Madeline Perry 3-1 Jacklyn Hawkes
10/12, 11/7, 11/5, 11/6
Nottingham 1-4 Chapel Allerton
Chris Truswell 1-3 Chris Simpson
10/12, 11/0, 7/11, 11/13
Mark Fuller 0-3 Laurence Delasaux
8/11, 9/11, 7/11
Declan James 0-3 Shaun Le Roux
5/11, 6/11, 3/11
Andrew Widdison 0-3 Anthony Graham
9/11, 2/11, 8/11
Emma Beddoes 3-0 Carrie Ramsey
11/3, 11/5, 11/3
Group B:
Surrey H&R 5-0 Bristol
Alan Clyne 3-1 Lucas Serme
10/12, 11/5, 11/2, 11/7
Adrian Waller 3-0 Mike Harris
11/6, 11/5, 11/7
Tim Garner 3-1 Dan West
9/11, 11/6, 11/6, 11/8
Ben Ford 3-0 Ben Rodgers
11/3, 11/2, 11/7
Alison Waters 3-0 Sarah Jane Perry
11/4, 11/8, 11/7
St Georges Hill 2-3 Chichester
Daryl Selby 2-3 Max Lee
11/13, 13/11, 11/8, 10/12, 5/11 (77m)
Nafiizwan Adnan 3-1 Olly Pett
10/12, 11/7, 11/8, 11/7 (55m)
Mark Krajcsak 3-1 Tim Vail
5/11, 11/8, 11/6, 11/2 (33m)
Joe Lee 0-3 Alex Gough
11/13, 5/11, 7/11 (36m)
Dom Lloyd-Walter 2-3 Nicolette Fernandes 9/11, 7/11, 12/10, 11/1,
9/11 (68m)
Exeter Diamonds 2-3 Winchester
Stuart Boswell 2-3 Gregory Gaultier
12/10, 11/6, 8/11, 6/11, 6/11
Campbell Grayson 2-3 Joey Barrington 11/8, 8/11,
12/14, 15/13, 4/11
Johnny Harford 0-3 Marwan El Shorbagy
9/11, 5/11, 6/11
James Snell 3-1 Robert Downer
9/11, 11/7, 11/6, 12/10
Aisling Blake 3-1 Lauren Selby
11/2, 11/1, 8/11, 11/1
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Crystal Ball
Three rounds to go before the
semi-finalists are decided, it's getting close to the last
chance saloon for some.
Duffield look set to leapfrog rivals Oxford with a 4-1 away win,
while Chapel A should bounce back from last week's reverse with
another 4-1 at rock bottom Nottingham.
A 5-0 win for Surrey will keep them on course for the semis and
nail Bristol to the bottom, and the gap at the top could narrow
as St George's drop a point or two to the Chi. No, let's go for
a 5-0.
Exeter need a bagful of points to keep their hopes alive, but
the may have to settle for a 4-1.
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