Tue 4th Oct:
Surrey Health & Racquets 3
Oberthur Strings
2
Peter Nicol 3-0
Cameron Pilley 9/5, 12/10,
9/1 (33m)
Bradley Ball 0-3 Alister Walker
9/11, 7/9, 9/11 (42m)
Phil Barker 3-1 Alex Stait
5/9, 10/8, 9/5, 9/4 (34m)
Tim Garner 2-3 Daryl Selby 6/9, 6/9, 9/1, 9/4, 7/9 (40m)
Nicol David 3-0 Carla Khan
9/4, 9/1, 9/6 (34m)
HOME VISIT ...
 How
nice is Pete Smith… Since I’ve moved to Esporta (as it’s actually
closer for me than Colets was), I was enjoying the Surrey League there,
and I must confess I did encourage Pete to have a good look at what was
then called the National League.
Next thing I knew, here I was, on Tuesday 4th October, in a renamed club,
the Surrey Health and Racquets Club, looking at a brand new team, led by
the two Nicols, in the brand new Premier League…
 And
all that, just round my corner…
Like I said, how nice is Pete Smith…
Mind you, I was told that we also have Catherine Ferma, Surrey H &
RC Manager to be grateful to, not to mention the sponsors that I had the
chance to have a bite with after play, a bunch of delightful squash fans
with a great sense of derision/humour, whose only fault was not to know
about SquashSite…
No, seriously, I feel that getting this team has pumped a bit of energy
into the South Group, and rebalanced the equilibrium of the whole Premier
League edifice, and I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season…
Framboise |
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Nicol David 3-0 Carla Khan
9/4, 9/1, 9/6 (34m) |
SPIRITED CARLA,
LETHAL NICOL…
 It’s
in front of a full house (only 60 seats only could be fitted, and 60 seats
were sold) that Nicol David, the little marvel from Malaysia played
her first ever English League competition, against the determined Carla
Khan.
 You
cannot imagine two more different styles of play, both as pleasant to
watch as the other. Nicol with an exquisite touch and amazing retrieving
abilities, Carla very physical, moving extremely well and hitting very
hard indeed.
In other words, a pretty good match, especially in the first and the third
games, where the two girls fought pretty hard, long rallies, nice visits
to the four corners for both, with Carla getting in some pretty good
winners and never giving up, but just lacking a bit of gas in the end…
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 "I’m
happy with the way I played generally, but in the third, my shots were
less tight, I started to flick a bit, and gave Carla some space, and
you can’t do that against somebody like Carla, and she started to make
me work hard…
"So I reassessed, got the control of the rallies again, got my
momentum back, and I was lucky at the end of the game, as she started
to make a few unforced errors.
"As far as my career is going, this year, I wanted to go just one
ranking up, and I’m happy, as I did, I’m now third instead of fourth.
I’m very pleased, as at that level, each place is very hard to get…
Now my aim is to consolidate, as it’s not easy to stay up there, and
then slowly, try to close the gap with Vanessa and Rachael.
"In other words, I’m going to do my best, and hope that I can stay
there…"
Nicol David |
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Tim Garner 2-3 Daryl Selby
6/9, 6/9, 9/1, 9/4, 7/9 (40m) |
EXPERIENCE AGAINST YOUTH…
I could only see one game, the fourth, of the match between Tim
Garner and Daryl Selby, the up and coming youngster who took
Shahid Zaman in Hungary just a few days ago. But boy o boy, they’ll both
be hurting today, let me tell you…
Tim’s still got his subtle touch and places delicate redrops that miss
the tin by a millimetre… And Daryl has got the legs, heart and technique
to put anybody on the circuit under pressure…
I know that the match had a lot of followers, quite enthusiastic ones,
and the cheering, the clapping, and the ovation at the end are the proof
that those two gave it all, and more than that…
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 "I
started to play squash at 2/0 down, as up to then, I was playing
around, trying to pretend that I was a 21 year old kid that I’m not
anymore…"
Tim Garner |
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 "I’m
so tired… Do you realise that I was in Barcelona when I realised that
I was in the qualifying draw for Hungary? I was the last one on the
list.
"So, from Spain, I booked a flight to go straight to Budapest, and
it’s no excuse for the squash lesson Peter gave me over there, but my
match against him was my 8th match in 9 days… Then this weekend, we
were celebrating Peter Barker’s birthday, no, not a wild one, but
still…
"I really enjoyed my game tonight, I’ve been playing in the National
League/Premier League for a few years now, and I really like the 9
scoring. I thought I played rather well against Tim today, but then he
started to come back. Tim is so good at holding the ball, especially
on his forehand, and so many times, he sent me completely the wrong
way…
"To be honest, I think that in the end, we were both struggling to
walk by the end of it. The last rally had about 30 shots played at 30
miles an hour, that all bounced of the backwall… I was lucky to get
the nick to end it all off…
Daryl Selby |
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Bradley Ball 0-3 Alister Walker
9/11, 7/9, 9/11 (42m) |
ALISTER ON FIRE,
BRADLEY BROKEN…
I really felt for Bradley Ball during this match against young 23
year old Alister Walker, as I know that Bradley has been suffering
for months with niggling injuries, which spoiled his past season, and also
his English Open…
Don’t misunderstand me, Alister played beautifully well, controlled the
match from start to finish, only a few unforced errors came to spoil the
fun. This boy’s game is improving by the day, and his work with the two
Davids, Campion and Pearson is doing him a hell of good.
But from the word go, although Bradley gave it everything he could, he was
constantly on the back foot, unable to move fast enough to get in the good
position to dispatch his hard hitting winners…
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 "I
felt I was able to control Bradley today, and it’s not an easy task,
as he hits the ball so fast, and can get a winner out of nowhere. The
games were still very close, and I was just lucky to get the last
points of each game.
"My aim for the season is to get well into the top 30 by January, but
when it comes to the major tournaments, you can never say, it all
depends on the draws you get really… I’ll just wait and see, and try
to do my best…"
Alister Walker |
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"Everything is hurting, the back, the knee,
it’s been three months now that I don’t seem to be able to get out of
it. Today, I was hoping to get away with it, but I couldn’t… I just
couldn’t hit the ball…
"I’ve lost ground, I’ve lost my confidence in my body, I’m a bit of a
broken man at the moment… And I’m not going to the British Open, I won’t
do anything anymore until I get myself right…"
Bradley Ball |
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Phil Barker 3-1 Alex Stait
5/9, 10/8, 9/5, 9/4 (34m) |
BARKER LEVELS IT
It wasn't looking good for Surrey,
who were now 2-1 down, as Alex Stait took the first game
against Phil Barker. But Barker recovered to take the next three
and set up a decider ...
 "It
was my first game in the Premier League for a long time, and in the
first game, I really found it hard to get used to the scoring. Also, the
ball made such a loud noise on the front wall, it really threw me!....
"No, more seriously, Alex started very well, and I left the court right
open. I didn’t play to my strength, and I let him play to his… Not a
good combination…
"So in the second, I came back to a simple game, and did my best to stay
in front of him. As I was putting him under more pressure, he couldn’t
play his game like he was able to do in the first, and the winners, the
nicks he found to start the match, ended up in the tin a bit more often…
"The second game was really crucial, and I was lucky to get it on the
tie break, and that was the turning point I feel.
"In the third and the fourth, I could see he was a bit tired, and that
he was trying to slow down the pace, so I kept on trying to make him
move around, and that strategy was successful….
"I’m looking forward to the British this Sunday, I feel I’m playing well
at the moment, I’m one of the top 8 qualifiers, so hopefully, I should
get by. I’m also in the qualifying round for Qatar, HK, and Saudi, and
just before that, I’ll also be going to Australia as well…"
Phil Barker |
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"I didn’t feel that good on court today, I lost a bit of confidence as Phil
stopped me from playing my game, he stopped me from attacking…
"We really had a pretty tough second game, but Phil keeps on sending so many
shots back… I don’t feel I played as well as I’ve been playing lately…
"Anyway, the good news is that the two knees are holding up quite well.
Since the op, I didn’t push too hard, but I feel now that I can start play
at my full strength again, and will try and do so at the British…"
Alex Stait |
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Peter Nicol 3-0 Cameron Pilley 9/5, 12/10,
9/1 (33m) |
A
PERFECT FINISH…
When The Boss and Cameron Pilley stepped on court around
9pm, the two teams were 2-all, and everything was still possible. The
crowd very quickly got behind their man, Peter of course, as they could
feel that the young contender was starting to get to the star...
Yes, far away from being one sided, that match was, and Cameron gave the
Boss a good run for his money. Well, after a rather shaky start, as it was
obvious that the tall, discreet and humble Australian was slightly
overwhelmed by the “I’m playing Peter Nicol” syndrome.
Soon Cameron found a good tight game, and controlled most of the rallies
to start with, until 3/3 in the first, when Peter started to step in
front, still travelling a lot though, as the Australian was distributing
his shots quite well…
But it was in the second that the best came out of those two. Cameron
quickly led, and playing virtually error free squash, got to 8/5 and we
all thought he was going to be able to equalise at 1/1. But I guess that
experience plays a big part when it comes to finishing one’s opponent’s
off.
And Peter wouldn’t lay down and die…
He saved three game balls to claw back to 8/8, but still needed three game
balls of his own before actually getting the second game, and a
comfortable 2/0 lead, that must have damaged Cameron more psychologically
than anything else…
It was a blipping high hill to climb suddenly, and the Australian’s legs
must have felt very, very heavy indeed. And it took the Boss only five
minutes to win the final game, to the sheer delight of all his supporters…
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 "I
was moving quite well today, but I wasn’t fluid. During the first
two games, Cameron made me do a lot of work, but couldn’t finish me
off, whereas more experienced players probably could have..
"Today, Cameron's straightening of the ball was excellent,
surprisingly, that’s not what I was expecting from him, and he also
volleyed very well. But physically, I felt that I could take him as
long as I could keep the rallies going…
"I’m having my back looked at the moment, but then again, it could
be purely psychological. Like I told you earlier, I’m nearly ready.
Just a little bit off…"
Peter Nicol |
Like I said to start with, a perfect
ending for a perfect evening. Both teams gave it all, it was a very
balanced encounter, and I enjoyed every minute of it... Like a friend of
mine who was watching her first evening of squash told me as we were
walking to the car "I felt privileged to be here".
Took the words right out of my mouth...
Framboise |
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"It was going well in the first and second games, I was hitting the
ball well, I made Peter move around, a bit, but in the third, he
came up one notch, and that was it…
"I was a bit nervous when I started the match, as I just heard in
the afternoon that I was playing Peter, and I was like “What am I
going to do???”.
"But as often happens, when you’ve got the chance to play such a
player, you just find yourself raising your own game…
"Peter’s retrieving is just out of this world, he gets so many balls
back it’s ridiculous, and he puts it back with so much pressure…
"In the third, he added a bit more pace as well, which I’m sure for
him wasn’t that hard against me, and I was gone… But it was really
good to play him…"
Cameron Pilley |
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  A Happy
Manager ...
"It
was a very exciting evening, and I felt very privileged to be here for the
Premier League for the first time. Especially with Peter finishing the
evening with such a good match…
"I thought that Strings played really well, it was a very competitive
match, it was excellent for the crowd, and we are absolutely delighted to
have won…"
Pete Smith
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