MANCHESTER CLOSED FEBRUARY 2007 – REPORT

 

Manchester might not be everybody’s favourite city, but every year, just once, most of you make your annual pilgrimage to the second home of its most famous person (George Best) and attempt to play top quality old peoples squash. Two big mistakes here: next year you are going to have to go twice and no Man City supporter would agree with our (my) choice, so to balance it out we’ll add Denis Law to the mix.

 

All said and done the National Squash Centre (despite the none too clean courts + the black carpets) is actually very pleasant, as long as you play on courts 1, 2 or 3. 4, 5 or 6 are not very popular with most  players over the age of 35, but I am reliably informed that the younger element, ie the stars, prefer these as they mirror image the  glass court No 7. But just being there and seeing all your old friends and aquaintances makes up for any personal problems with black carpets. And undeniably, Judy, Paul, Chris el al do a fantastic job to make you all feel at home. Plus we had a Hotel recommended by England Squash (Express Holiday Inn) with a pub next door (The Banstead) –both at very good prices! Meals 2 for 1, big 12oz rumps for £6 and great beer! I know one or two players don’t drink, but trust me, Phil Ayton puts a bottle of wine away with ease, Alan Thomson drinks more than he eats (so Geoff Howes tells me) and have you ever seen Peter Alexander standing still without a Budweiser? What it generally proves is that most players have a sensible balance in their lives and enjoy life as well as their squash, which is how it should be.

 

Every year some people appear on the winners rostrum as if by right. Ayton certainly, Liz Brown annually , Woodliffe’s Senior and Junior, and latterly Mighty White, aka Adrian Wright. Why do these players consistently go home with the silverware? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that: a) they are better than anyone else and b) even if they technically aren’t perfect, their effort in training and practice plus a match winning confidence gives them the edge. One player said to me ‘I do all my hard work on my own, running up a local hill and doing court sprints. Nothing I ever do in a match is as hard as my training schedule.’ (But it wasn’t Ayton)

 

Your Masters Committee have three main aims, one of which is to increase age group participation. The Men’s is progressing nicely but the women’s (who only supply 10% of the membership) needs a lot of help. If every one of you Ladies playing just contributed one local friend to the next tournament to come along with you, then that leverage alone would really help! We appreciate families + husbands or other problems and a job make life very difficult but hopefully with four Ladies now on the Committee we will see a big increase.

 

In the Womens, a newcomer Claire Walker from Yorkshire came into the O35’s and took out Jo Cooper, Isabelle Tweedle and in the final Mandy Warren from Lancashire. Claire has been away from the game raising a very junior family and one assumes when she gets back into squash she will become even more difficult to beat. Mandy beat Carol Page in the other semi.

 

The O40’s saw the Cambridge Veterinary Surgeon, Carol Page, reign supreme. Carol has supported the Regionals and was in a class of her own here. But just off the main frame, Jo Cooper upset the seedings, beating the extremely focussed Fran Wallis 9/6  9/7  9/4  which certainly helped the Leicestershire girl’s quest for a cap. Linda Winder took 55 minutes to beat Diana Parums but fell to Candy Wilton. The latter was unlucky to meet a focussed Carol in the Final.

 

The O45’s was an upset. Lesley Sturgess apparently was dancing down the streets of Derby. First of all she took out Helen Gould, whose all action game is just off the pace, no doubt temporarily, and in the top half Paula Arrowsmith, the No 1 seed progressed serenely towards the final. Lesley, however, earlier on had beaten Durham’s Jackie Gardner whilst Paula had removed a not so perky Tasmin Bennett after her 57 minute battle with the experienced Jill Campion. The Final itself took only 25 minutes and Lesley will be well pleased.

 

 

 

The O50’s was always going to be Julie Field as she is a conditioned winner. Unfortunately she is away for the Home Internationals as Pauline Douglas will be waiting. Carolyn Roylance has been in control of most of the Regionals but Elke Rubsam is always there or thereabouts and beat Jan Ellis. Carolyn removed Susan Meadows but Julie was a bridge too far.

 

 

If there was a title for Britain’s best O60’s sportswoman  then Bett Dryhurst,  who won the O55’s again, would surely be on a very, very short list! I have to confess an affinity here as Bett, Ian Parke (remember him?) and myself won the first inaugural World Masters Team Final in Johannesburg, May 1997 against favourites South Africa (and we beat Australia on the way). Now a little bird tells me that Bett holds more National Racket Ball Titles than all the rest put together plus all her Squash Titles plus a couple of World’s, maybe she could let us know exactly when she does her profile for the website. At 61 she looks much younger and has obviously been training hard. I don’t think Averil Murphy and Rebecca Czuczman would have expected to lose but there you are, squash is a great leveller!

 

The Men’s events, working backwards from the O70’s saw probably the first match Pat Kirton has ever lost 3-0 in an age group final. Pat is the second consistently best age group player of all time – it’s all very well winning one and retiring, the pressure is doing it year after year. And at 70 (just) Pat is still turning on the skills, though someone who has known him for a long time was shocked to see him playing shots from all angles rather than his economical game from all those years ago. His new nemesis, fresh from a World title, John Woodliffe has probably lost to Pat more than anyone over the years and no doubt the rivalry between them will go on into the 80’s. However, for the time being, the ex-army officer has the edge and wife Terri will be well pleased as Junior Woodliffe did the double – a family Open + Closed. Not likely to be beaten, that! Missing was Lance Kinder who caught a bug from his wife Jackie. The latter was banished to a spare room so Lance could remain immune but unfortunately it was not to be, Another very long standing player, ex Warwickshire No 1, Tony Breakwell was the unlucky recipient of a Woodliffe 3-0 and Tony Seare suffered the same fate against Kirton.

 

The O65’s was really to see who would win between Chris Stahl and Len Froggitt. As it was the former somewhat struggled against Mersey’s Andrew Beeston and found the Hertfordshire retiree too strong on the next day. Adrian Wright is now only one win away from the Grand Slam, all the Regionals, The Open, The Closed and The World. Not bad for Mr Pessimistic. Wrighty always needs geeing up. Luckily his Chairman does this.

 

The O60’s, well if PK is the second best, then Britain’s No1 for the last 40 years, virtually annually, is Phil Ayton (so I wasn’t too chuffed when I appeared only five months before Mr Ayton in 1946 and have had to live with it ever since!) The white hair and knee bandages are just a smokescreen. He was taught by Sam Jagger all those years ago and has easily the best technique you will ever see on a squash court. Three things stand out: one his defensive float/lob out of reach, second his absolutely lethal boast and three his ability to change pace at will – with a good delay. But the pressure of playing at the top level, year after year and still being at No1, that takes a bit of doing. For the rest of us, John Smith came second to Phil. John trains ferociously at Newbiggin on Sea with Ken Johnson. But Smudger is not a drinker and has patented the dying boast and exquisite lobs and floats on the volley and front court. He took out Ken and then Chris Ansell, who had earlier beaten Nick Topman in 40 minutes. Ayton went through Joe Parsley, Mike Clemson and in the semi Martin Pearse, who should have had the second game. Earlier Pearse had beaten 2006 Champion Rod Boswell and before that 2003 Champion Roy Bradley. The Final saw John close in the first two games and with a distinct chance in the second. Once that was over Ayton closed out the third for yet another title. He won the O55’s last year.

 

 

 

Probably the biggest shock of the tournament was that Keith Jones came unstuck in the O55’s against Moussa Helal. The bookies would have been happy with that. Moussa has a much better pedigree than the Berkshire player who only took the game up in his thirties, but Jones has been a real force whenever he concentrates on squash. Golf is his real love but squash comes into his life every now and then and when it does he gives it 200%. He creamed everyone, whilst Helal nearly came unstuck against 9/16 Neil Nightingale who led 2/1. Helal though, possesses vast experience and a cunning court craft that would stand him in very good stead against anyone slightly off peak in a final, where Helal has been many times before. Helal doesn’t seem to hit the ball, he appears to punch it late and the hot courts obviously help his movement. Winning the first was a bonus, getting to second 9/0 must have been a godsend. Jonesy got one back but it was nip and tuck and Helal sneaked the fourth. Bring on Renault, his sponsor, for an International Cap in Dublin.

 

Earlier on all sorts of seeds had fallen, making International places very insecure. Bob Robinson and Dave Cooper now are sweating and Grantham will be vital for them both. Neil Nightingale bought himself well into contention with victories over Cooper and Peter Smith. Earlier Ken Randall had vanished on the first night. Cherlin H reached his allotment before meeting Jones in the semi, Jones gaining a revenge of sorts for previous losses.

 

The O50’s. Rumour has it that Peter Upton sent a very large bouquet to Judy Alexander. Judy organised the family skiing holiday without discussing it with Peter, result – Peter had to snowboard instead of sunning it up in Manchester. All sorts of seeds copped it here as well. Stuart Hardy’s back injury has taken the edge off his game since his World Final, Mark Cowley lost to Upton, Dave Taylor got smashed by 56 year old Dave Lumsden , who might now be regretting not entering the O55’s and Ian Holmes got taken out early doors by Dave Stones. Mo Sarwar, having seen off Hardy, then duplicated it by running Duleep into the ground. A long injury lay-off costing Adihetty dearly. Upton then had a toughy with Lumsden, the only two games he lost. A very fit and athletic Policeman, interesting to see him play Alexander though. Congratulations to one of the very few players at the 1st attempt!

 

The O45’s. 25 years ago, approximately, I captained a young callow redhead for a couple of seasons. I captained all sorts of other redheads, including Simon Rolington, but then Mark Woodliffe was at Scraptoft Teacher Training College. Leicester were always one of the top five clubs in Britain and Midland League winners many, many times. And Mark learnt his formative years there. He hasn’t really changed and his technique is as good as ever. Now coaching in Zurich, he was far too good for everyone, beating Grant Miller, Alan Griffiths (tough), James Ockwell and Alan Thomson. Thomson must have still been suffering from his 78  minute battle with Greg Pearman which was slightly marred by some unfathomable refereeing decisions. Most of the refereeing was very good, the only slight contentiousness being age group players aren’t as flexible as the young stars plus age group players rarely know the latest rules. Squash is like rugby, it is much, much cleaner than it was 30-40 years ago. Then anything went and some of the older players still have their tried and trusted techniques available if required. But refs today aren’t quite as easy going as they were all those years ago so players now have to play the ball rather than claim easy strokes. Strong competition for International places in this group with Chris Harland and Alan Griffiths, no doubt up for Grantham.

 

The O40’s had all the very top players in action – Ray Burke happily tattooed from years of army nights out, is a bit of an enigma. But this time he had the bit between his teeth and took out Nigel Willis 3/4 seed. Having done that he gave Martin Greenslade a fearful fright which took 78 minutes before the Bournemouth coach clinched the fifth. Not the best preparation for the next days battle with Johnathan Clark though. Colin Payne took time off from the Family, Olby’s kitchens and the football field to churn through the draw until he met fellow plumbing and heating expert Peter Gunter in the semi’s. Peter has had a long season with some memorable results but this one was a bridge too far. 57 minutes later and 4 hard games, Colin was in the final, a real cracker as it turned out and Clark, despite being half down pulled back to take the title 9/3  9/3.

 

 

 

Finally the O35’s. It was the Nick Taylor and without any info, luckily he was seeded first. It was always going to be his tournament but there were some major battles going on beneath the surface. Jonathan Gliddon took out Steve McLoughlin, a big result this for the Devonian. Kevin White saw off Jason Friend and the biggest, Jamie Goodrich virtually sealed his England position beating Guy Olby, the Middlesex player, not coming to terms with the very hot courts and the fact that the Norfolk player retrieved virtually everything. To my mind, one of the best English players (who has just entered the age group) is Nick Wall, son of Bob from Sheffield. He removed smiling Glen Ragou but then gave Neil Frankland a real battle losing 8/10  7/9  8/10 in 76 minutes. Neil was staying in our hotel and highly rates the Yorkshire player.

 

Grantham is next up with a lot to play for.

 

Plus, next season-