Dec nicks it 11-9 in the fifth
By Squash Mad PSL Reporter
Declan James won a thrilling contest against James Earles to give PSL champions DBenz-Bavarian uffield an important win over London Coolhurst.
Somehow, Duffield keep finding ways to win PSL matches but their victory away to Coolhurst was their narrowest escape so far.
Duffield went 2-0 up with wins from Julian and Millie Tomlinson (no relation) only for the home side to hit back with wins from Nick Mulvey and birthday-boy Cameron Pilley.
It all came down to Declan James scrapping to hold off James Earles in the fifth game of the decisive match.
At 9-8 to the London player and at the end of another long rally, James was awarded a stroke when a let might just as easily have been the call and that proved to be a crucial moment as the Duffield player ground out the next two points to make it two wins out of two for the defending champions.
“It was neck and neck all the way,” said team manager Felix Frixou. “Dec said he was never going to lose but it was close. James Earles played the game of his life.”
“Gutting,” was the final Coolhurst Tweet.
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After a two-week break some of the world’s top players returned to PSL action for the second of 10 rounds of league matches, and four of tonight’s six matches finished 3-2.
In Group A it was University of Birmingham Lions who ended the day joint top of the table with Duffield as they beat Everards Leicester 4-1 to record a second win. The home side went 4-0 up but in the top string the Lions’ Peter Creed lost out in five to Daryl Selby for a 19-point haul.
Air-IT Nottingham’s Hana Ramadan and Owain Taylor won at four and five before Pontefract levelled through top strings James Willstrop and LJ Anjema, leaving Nottingham captain Mark Fuller to beat Pontefract’s Patrick Rooney to give the home team the spoils.
In Group B, Team Chichester followed up their opening win with an impressive away victory at Exeter Diamonds – whose innovative poster declared they would be going ‘one step beyond’ this season.
The visitors stormed into a 3-0 lead before Exeter’s top Egyptian duo Mohamed Elshorbagy and Mazen Hesham (below) restricted Chichester to a 3-2 win.
The Surrey derby also finished 3-2, but here home side 9 Telecom St George’s Hill, last season’s finalists, saw their two-nil lead disappear as Virgin Active Surrey, looking to reclaim the title they won in the previous five seasons, forced a decider. After taking the first game 15-13 St George’s #1 Borja Golan sealed the win as he beat Peter Barker 3-0 to put the home side second in the table.
UWE/Elite Squash Bristol enjoyed their trip to ClubNet Winchester, coming away with a 4-1 win.
Gina Kennedy, the European junior champion, was the home side’s only winner, a fitting celebration for her acceptance to Harvard University, while Bristol’s Marwan Elshorbagy was awarded the “MVP” award after his top-string win over fellow-Egyptian Zahed Mohamed.
Premier Squash League (Round 2, October 27, 2015):
Group A
Coolhurst London 2-3 Benz Bavarian Duffield (11-16)
Cameron Pilley 3-1 Chris Simpson 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 13-11
James Earles 2-3 Declan James 8-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-1, 9-11
Nick Mulvey 3-1 Joel Hinds 11-9, 6-11 , 11-5, 11-3
Nick Sutcliffe 1-3 Julian Tomlinson 11-6, 5-11, 9-11, 5-11
Madeline Perry 2-3 Millie Tomlinson 8-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 9-11
Air-IT Nottingham 3-2 Pontefract (14-7)
Eddie Charlton 0-3 James Willstrop 5-11, 8-11, 8-11
Chris Fuller 0-3 Laurens Jan Anjema 5-11, 9-11, 3-11
Mark Fuller 3-0 Patrick Rooney 11-7, 11-8, 11-7
Owain Taylor 3-1 Alex Hodgetts 15-13, 7-11, 14-12, 11-3
Hana Ramadan 3-0 Katie Smith 11-1, 11-4, 11-3
University of Birmingham Lions 4-1 Everards Leicester (19-4)
Peter Creed 2-3 Daryl Selby 11-6, 6-11, 4-11, 11-8, 5-11
Chris Ryder 3-1 George Parker 11-7, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9
Joel Makin 3-0 Angus Gillams 11-8, 11-6, 11-2
Jan vd Herrewegen 3-0 Darren Lewis 11-5, 11-3, 11-9
Sarah-Jane Perry 3-0 Mari Taylor 11-1, 11-6, 11-5
Group B
ClubNet Winchester 1-4 UWE/Elite Squash Bristol (5-18)
Zahed Mohamed 1-3 Marwan Elshorbagy 8-11, 9-11, 11-8, 12-14
Robert Downer 1-3 Lucas Serme 12-10, 3-11, 2-11, 2-11
Scott Handley 0-3 Tom Ford 6-11, 2-11, 5-11
Adam Corcoran 0-3 Josh Masters 4-11, 5-11, 5-11
Gina Kennedy 3-1 Emma Chorley 11-8, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8
9Telecom St George’s 3-2 Virgin Active Surrey (15-7)
Borja Golan 3-0 Peter Barker 15-13, 11-2, 11-7
Tom Richards 1-3 Karim Abdel Gawad 10-12, 11-8, 6-11, 5-11
Alex Ingham 0-3 Piedro Schweertman 8-11, 8-11, 11-13
Charlie Lee 3-1 Bradley Masters 10-12, 11-8, 11-4, 11-2
Yathreb Adel 3-0 Nada Elkalaawy 11-3, 11-3, 11-9
Exeter Diamonds 2-3 Team Chichester (9-15)
Mohamed Elshorbagy 3-1 Adrian Waller 11-8, 11-4, 8-11, 11-7 (46m)
Mazen Hesham 3-0 Paul Coll 11-7, 11-6, 11-4 (34m)
Tim Vail 1-3 Robbie Temple 11-9, 6-11, 7-11, 5-11 (51m)
Joey Barrington 0-3 Nathan Lake 4-11, 0-11, 5-11 (24m)
Victoria Temple-Murray 2-3 Lauren Briggs 11-8, 4-11, 11-3, 1-11, 9-11 (43m)
The remaining first half rounds are to be played on October 27, November 10 and 24, and December 8 (all Tuesdays with matches starting at 7pm).
After all 10 rounds are completed (second half dates to be set later in the year) the top two teams in each group will contest the semi-finals.