Posts Tagged ‘Finals Night’

A special thank you to Maurice for running Finals Day and to those who marked the matches.

The results of the 2009 Finals were:-

Ladies – Hardingham Cup
Winner: Debbie Bowen, R/U: Emma Barnard

Over 60s
Winner: Peter Hand (w/o Bruce Dilks not well)

Over 55s
Winner: Dave Batterbee, R/U Jeff Potter

Copperstore Cup
Winner: Spencer Beresford, R/U Mark Lavers

O45 Joseph Cup
Winner: Simon Barker, R/U Martin Shippey

Vivian Handicap
Winner: Simon Morris, R/U Mark Smith

Chase Cup
Winner: Mark Smith, R/U Glyn Williams

Mark Smith (winner) vs Glyn Williams in Mens Chase Cup Final

Mark Lavers vs Spencer Beresford (winner) in Copperstore Cup

The Trophies!

The Stamford Squash Club Finals, a culmination of competitions held through out the season with players ranging in age from 8 to 60 plus, was recently held at the club courts. Afterwards the trophies were presented by John Plant.

The Junior section was the first to be played, with the under 11’s starting proceedings. Liam Barnard and Sam Olver overcame some dogged resistance from Edward Barlow and Joseph Chedd in the semi finals to reach the final. The two juniors played with great skill with Liam dominating the front court he raced in to a 20 – 14 lead however Sam regained his focus and power to pull back to within a point , the comeback was short lived with Liam producing a powerful backhand drive to take the honours 21 points to 19.

The over 11’s final was a family affair the first of three, between Josh and Will Goodwin a competitive tie with Josh prevailing 3 games 0. The victory testament to his many solo training sessions.

The juniors were presented with their trophies by Stamford Squash Clubs World Ranked ladies player Tania Bailey and were later privileged to play against their hero.

The Copperstore on the night competition resulted in a father and son final between Paul and his son Sam Desbrulais. Sam playing with great skill made all the running pushing his father to all areas of the court and eventually won 15 points to 7.

The Super Veterans competition for the over 55’s was won by Mick Lewis who’s contrast between power and a delicate lob serve proved to much for fellow finalist Maurice Mosdell. The Super veterans plate competition was won by Graham Wright whom beat off a gutsy performance by Roger Banks 3 games to 1.

The veterans competition for over 45’s saw Graham Wright beat Maurice Mosdell in the plate competition 3 games to 0 for his second trophy of the day.  The final of the veterans competition was a tense affair between Dave Battersby and Mark Davies. Mark took a comfortable 2 games to 0 lead however Dave pegged the score back to 2-2 and the fifth game was a classic in which Dave had the edge and won 9-5 to win.

The Handicap final produced some exhilirating squash between Ian Burnhams driving game and Pauls Smith touch and lob style. Paul started on plus 1 to Ians scratch score with American scoring to 15 points each game. Ian took the first game and it was not long before the spectators realised that this would go to 5 games as Paul rallied and took the second it was nip and tuck all the way with the score in games reaching 2-2. Paul started the fifth the better of the two but Ian clung on, the score proceeded to 14 -10 in Pauls favour , Ian dug deep and played some of his best squash to take the tie 15-14.

The Chase Plate competition for all players played with normal scoring was the culmination of the day. The plate competition with John Fields being pushed hard by Lawrence Ball and the score of 3-0 did not reflect how hard this final was.

The main event the final of the mens competition was contested by Paul York and his brother-in-law Richard Barker. Paul was looking for a record 10th mens title and their was trepidation in Richards play . Paul took the first game comfortably. However, Richard pulled himself together narrowly losing the second and then changed his tactics by playing more drop shots and took the third. Richards mobility made the fourth game eventful and his retrieval was something to behold. But Pauls power and experience took the fourth game and his tenth Championship 3-1.

The evening had arrived. However, this year did not have the familiarity of previous years gone by. The reason – Paul York was not in the Chase Cup final. Due to an ankle injury the nearest he got to the final this year was having the honour of scoring the match. Anyway, before the mens match there were a host of other entertaining games.

The event this year, being generously sponsored by Copperstore Ltd and Lolworth Hall Farms, began with the Copperstore Cup with 15 players vying for this coveted trophy. With everybody playing each other and playing with a handicap score there were several competitive encounters. Eamonn Treanor and Tim Prior played some aggressive squash and proved to be the early front runners, however it was Paul McCormick, Mick Lewis and Steve Brown whom eventually came out on top. Paul narrowly clinched a place in the final over Mick. Steve last years champion, played Paul in a close final but Steve used all of last years experience and retained the cup for another year coming out on top 2 games to 1.

Unfortunately John Mitchell turned up injured and since he had reached two finals this created an unexpected clash for his rivals. Namely, Graham Wright (Veterans Plate Final) and Eric Wilson (Mens Plate Final). An exhibition match was decided to be played between the two whilst John watched the match from the balcony thinking of what could have been. And what a match it was. It was Eric who stormed off with the first game leaving Graham to wake up a bit more! The following games proved to be a closer affair. Both gentlemen used there many years of experience (yes, many!) to push the other around the court. Eric as usual calling for the most outrageous of lets and strokes – always knowing that he’ll never be given one because he’s invariably languishing elsewhere on the court to where the ball is! From the balcony amongst the crowd was another old wily campaigner, Roy Grundy, who has had so many operations on his knee he can no longer play, but in his youth he’s had many a battle with Eric and you couldn’t help but see that smile when Eric yelled for a shot that he would never reach – the memories. Enough of this blast from the past, the match could still swing either away, though as the match went on you sensed that Graham was looking the fitter. However, Eric had a revival in the 5th game and Graham gave him a lead he was unable to recover from. Eric was the winner.

On the next court was the battle for the Handicap Vivian Cup. Only one thing was certain in this match – Mr. Smith was going to win it! This was a close match between Mark Smith and Paul Smith (no, they’re not related). This turned out to be the tightest match of the night (good handicapping) and provided much entertainment for the crowd. Neither player was giving an inch, but in the end there is always a winner and Mark sneaked it to win 3-2. Mark now had plenty of time to recover for the Chase Cup later in the evening!

Next up was Roger Banks v John Fields in the Handicap Plate Final. This proved an interesting competition between the delicate touch of Roger and the power of John. Rogers athleticism and brilliant retrievals tested John to the full, but the full range of Johns shots saw him take the trophy 3-1.

The Veterans Cup saw the resumption of a long time duel between Mike Ferreira and Paul Redfern, these two having played each other in the previous two years.

Despite Paul playing some neat and tight squash Mike again took the title 3-0. Mike now equals Jim Cochrane in the number of times he has won the Veterans Cup (5 times, 1998-2002)- will he overtake him next year?

Finally it was the one everyone had been waiting for. Paul York (last years winner) was marking. It was a battle of the steady play of Mark Smith (who was still seen licking his wounds after last years loss against Paul), and the whack and run of Simon Barker. Mark seemed to have fully recovered from his earlier match and if anything seemed to have warmed him up nicely for this match!

Simons aggression and power was subdued by Marks tight game making Simon work very hard and producing unforced errors. Simon kept looking to the balcony for inspiration but unfortunately his brother (Richard) was nowhere to be seen.

Richard heard that Simon had reached the finals and decided to get out of the country knowing that the Barkers name was at stake! So it proved, Simon at one stage in danger of losing the third 9-0. However, he managed to gain a point to start a comeback which never happened! Mark staying calm throughout claimed his second trophy of the evening 3-0.

After the matches it was down to the Daniel Lambert for a few drinks and the presentation of the trophies.

The trophies were presented by Michael Ferreira Jnr who had flown in especially from America and cheered his dad to victory in the Veterans Cup!