Cambs Squash

Report: Inter Counties Stage 2 Premier Relegation
Location: Hunts County, Cambs.
Date: 8th/9th March 2008.

Match 1: Cambridgeshire v Cheshire.

The Cambridgeshire team, sponsored by, ‘The Sports Academy’ pitched up at Hunts County with high hopes of staying up in the Premier division.  The team was slightly stronger than the first half; however the newly crowned County Champion, Sammy Chambers was missing.  This meant that the team knew they had a tough task to finish in the top two of the four counties participating.

First on the show court at Hunts County was the ‘tactician’ otherwise known as Nick Brown.  Brown started off solidly and his younger opponent just could not cope with the relentlessly tight squash especially down the backhand side.  Brownie took a 2-0 lead and was looking comfortable.  Meanwhile Kullar was taking on the Cheshire captain.  Kullar made a good start taking the first game with some fast, attacking squash.  Unfortunately after the fast start Pete seemed to drop off the pace, losing the next two games.  Despite some words of encouragement from the skipper and Leitch, Kullar couldn’t quite find the extra push.  Despite giving it everything Kullar went down 1-3.  While Rossin went on at 4th string, Brown had finished off his opponent making the score in the match 1-1.  Rossin came out strongly to take a 2-0 lead in a battle of attritional squash.  Despite losing the 3rd and feeling like his legs were made of lead, Rossin dug deep and finished off his opponent 3-1. 

Meanwhile Leitch had the unenviable task of taking on an opponent ranked in the top 10 in England.  Despite a huge effort the under-the-weather Leitch tried his best against against a very fit and attacking squash pro …. Maybe a few less beers the night before next time Harry, bloody medical students!  This left the tie in the balance at 2-2.  It was up to Morgan to get his revenge against the opponent who he lost to 2-3 in the first half.  Even though his opponent looked a young 18, Stefan still looked younger, living up to reputation of the, ‘Peter Pan’ of the squash world.  It was always going to be a long match, with some very brutal rallies and entertaining retrieving.  After just over an hour Stefan managed to get into a 2-1 and 3-0 lead in the 4th.  Brownie turned round to the skipper and said, ‘it is in the bag, skipper’.  A distraught Rossin said straight away that he should not have said that, despite thinking that it was actually in the bag!  Unfortunately the said bag had a hole in it!  Despite playing fantastically well, Stefan lost the fourth, with his opponent seemingly getting better and better as the match went on!  Eventually after 1 hour and 40 mins the Cambridge number 2 lost 2-3.  The team lost 2-3(9-15).  Onto the evening match.

Match 2: Cambridgeshire v Sussex.

With Sussex having an extremely strong number 1 and 2, the team knew that the business would have to be done at the bottom of the order.  The man in form Brownie went on first at number 3.  A small man anyway, Brown was practically dwarfed by a huge opponent, measuring 6 feet 8 in his socks!  This was going to be a tough test for the experienced Cambridge player.  Despite the ‘big guy’ having extremely good racket skills and touch, which entertained the crowd he did not want to move too much.  Brown’s solid percentage squash seemed to be just too good in the first 2 games.  So with things looking good on one court, it was up to Kullar to make amends for his performance in the morning.  It started well again with Pete taking the first game comfortably.  However fatigue set in again, with the usually spritely player looking tired.  He managed to dig in , however at 2-2 and 3-8, things looked bleak!  However with his opponent making a few unforced errors and visibly becoming nervous, Kullar found some energy from somewhere, taking the match 10-9 in the 5th.  Meanwhile the big guy had upped the pavce a little taking the 3rd game.  However Brown was simply too good for his opponent taking the match 3-1.  So at 2-0 up in rubbers, Rossin went on at 4, knowing that it was up to him.  Again despite giving it 110%, he was simply not as good as his ‘handy’ opponent.  At 6-4 up in both the 1st and the 2nd games it looked a possibility of getting something out of the match.  However he could not maintain the fast pace, eventually losing 0-3 … fitness work required!

Cambridgeshire were still, statistically capable of winning the tie, however with Vail and Genever at 1 and 2 for Sussex, Harry and Stefan were always going to have their work cut out.  And so the predictions came true.  Harry battled hard trying to read the tricky Vail.  He got close in one game 8-10, however lost 0-3.  The tired Morgan went on last.  Despite his efforts he could not stay with the sublime length of his opponent, losing 0-3.  So again the team lost 2-3(6-17). 

Match 3: Cambridgeshire v Kent.

After having a quiet night out in St.Ives (tactically avoiding the ‘dirt box!’ the team arrived bright and early in the morning knowing that if they beat Kent by 8 points Cambridgeshire would stay up.  This would have been a realistic possibility if their number 1, Ben Ford, who could not play yesterday had not decided to travel up and play the match against the ‘mighty’ Cambridgeshire!  Oh well, it was still possible!  Brownie went on first looking to extend his unbeaten record.  Despite playing some brilliant squash and defying his tiredness, he could not find an answer to his opponents relentless retrieving and length.  Brown lost is first match of the weekend, losing 0-3 in just over an hour! 

Meanwhile, Dampney, back in the County team after a long exile playing for Warwickshire was taking on a ‘handy’ opponent at 5th string.  It was good to see that Dampney had seen the error of his ways, and was back playing for the true ‘shire’.  Despite pushing his opponent at various points in the match, his opponent was far to consistent, and closed out the match 3-0 in favour of Kent.  This was not a good start, 0-2 in rubbers.  Rossin, Leitch and Morgan had to pull it out of the fire!  Rossin and Leitch went on.  A slightly fresher Harry, again put up a great fight against another full time pro.  Yet again, despite a valiant effort Harry lost 0-3.  Meanwhile Rossin was taking on a U19 ranked player.  Despite his opponent being extremely temperamental he was actually quite effective.  After another attritional battle, at 9-8 up in the 5th things looked good for Rossin.  Unfortunately an outrageous refereeing decision went against him at match ball.   Despite recovering his concentration and having another match ball, it wasn’t to be, losing 9-10 in the 5th. 

So it was up to Morgan to stop the whitewash!  Again it was not meant to be.  Morgan played some great squash against a very talented player, nearly pulling off a fantastic victory.  After 1 hour and 30 mins (most people had gone home by this point!), Stefan finally conceded, losing 6-9 in the 5th.

Overall a good performance.  It ‘could’ have been o so different, but everyone has excuses and sob-stories!  So it is back to the First Division NORTH for the senior team.  We have been punching above our weight for 3 years now, so it will be interesting to see how we get on against the likes of Nottinghamshire, Leistershire and Cheshire next year.