Cambs Squash

Cambridgeshire hosted the first County weekend of the 2011/2012 season at Hunts County SC. A team consisting of Galen Le Chemiant, Dan Soar, Robert Dadds, Neil Rossin and Steffan Morgan were hopeful of finishing in the top to places to gain a spot in the ‘promotion’ weekend.

Match 1 (Cambridgeshire v Norfolk).
We have had a few encounters with the Norfolk boys over the last 4 years, many of them being pretty ugly! However this match was played with good competitive, but fair spirit. Steffan and Daddsy got the team off to a flying start with Steffan grinding out a 3-1 victory and Daddsy really digging in to win a really tight match 3-2. With 2 rubbers in the bag it was up to G-man and Rossin to attempt to seal the 3rd rubber. Galen played well, however he was always going to struggle to outlast his extremely fit opponent and went down 2-3. Rossin played steadily to win 3-1, so it was down to Soar to finish the job and defeat the Norfolk boys 4-1. Unfortunately Dan was a little under par and ended up losing 2-3. Not to matter as the team had done the job 3-2 (18-10).

Match 2 (Cambridgeshire v Buckinghamshire).
Again, as with the Norfolk lads we have got to know the Bucks boys pretty well over the last few years, so it was always going to be close. Daddsy got the team off to a flyer with a crushing victory over Tom Power. At the same time Steffan was making hard work of his much younger opponent. Despite the skipper thinking he should win and despite giving absolutely everything, the younger Power beat the ‘Peter Pan of Squash’ 3-1. Galen went on against the talented Tom Phipps. The skipper didn’t give him much chance, however miraculously Galen took it to 5, only to lose 11-9 in the decider. Rossin, on the other court was struggling to contend with his 2 jumbo sausage roll lunch and was rocking at 0-2! However he finally woke up to take a tight match 3-2. So with the rubbers at 2 all it was down to County Champion Soar to steal the victory from the Bucks boys. Unfortunately he was up against a very wilily player and tiredness kicked in, with the result of a 0-3 loss. So in the end a 2-3(9-16) loss to the hands of the Bucks boys.
Match 3 (Cambridgeshire v Bedfordshire).
Bedfordshire had just been promoted, so we fancied our chances to secure a 5-0 victory in order to secure a position in the top 2. All the team cruised to victories, apart from Steffan who insisted on getting his monies worth by winning 3-2. The team secured a 5-0(20-3) victory and are looking forward to the promotion weekend in March (Stage 2).

Final Placings:

Buckinghamshire W3 – 52
Cambridgeshire W2 – 47
Norfolk W2 – 33
Bedfordshire W0 – 10