Squash rule #23 – if you don’t get to squash on time, you risk being bumped up and playing in a higher position than you expected.
While under clear and unambiguous instructions from his captain, the Silver Fox took it upon himself to drop himself to number two and proceeded, nevertheless, to have a tough match against the lanky Forbes. John made a meal of what should have been pretty straight forward by losing the first two games 8-10. With the pressure now on, John was able to pull himself towards himself and rattled off the next three games for the loss of 5 points. (3-2)
Clearly John’s decision was influenced by the sight of the young whipper snapper playing one, Arne. Getting on the court with the youngster, I knew that I was in for a tough one. This guy was quick and would not stop running (and that was just the warm up)! I knew that this was not a four or five setter I was going to win, so set about mixing it up as best I could and frustrated him to take the first game 9-5. The second was a lot tighter and could have gone either way but I eventually prevailed 9-7. Mistakes were Arne’s downfall in the third and I was very relieved to wrap it up in three (3-0).
Sadesh graciously filled in at four against Jason who was at least double his girth. Sadesh had hardly played in the last three months and it showed as he battled to find his line and length. While he may have lacked a little in his game, he was tenacious and managed to eke out a game for us before succumbing (1-3).
Finally Gavin B to finish off the evening playing a sublime first game, losing only a point. However, Gavin as able to combine the sublime and the ridiculous and made a real meal of the second game before eventually taking it 10-8 and then losing the next two, both for the addition of three points in each game. In previous years Gavin would have wilted under the pressure but Gavin is made of much sterner stuff these days and pulled it out of the fire to take the final game. (3-2)
Overall – 13 - 7
We finished off the evening watching some unbelievable squash between Gareth Schnehage and Paul Atkinson. This is how squash should be played!
Match result : 13-7
