PSL: Matthew marches on with Duffield

Mighty Matthew Leads Duffield To Comprehensive PSL Win

By HOWARD HARDING
England’s world number two Nick Matthew extended his unbeaten Premier Squash League (PSL) run to 29 matches over the past five years when he led Benz-Bavarian Duffield to their second maximum points win of the season in the fourth round of the world’s most prestigious squash league.

The former champions crushed Oxford Health & Racquets 5/0 at home – with Matthew, world No3 Laura Massaro,Karim Ali Fathi and Adam Murrills all recording straight games wins and local hero Joel Hinds dropping just a single game to Oxford first-timer Simon White.

Sheffield-based Matthew – celebrating his tenth season for Duffield – beat Oxford stalwart Scott Handley 11-8, 11-5, 11-7 in his 62nd appearance for the Derbyshire club since October 2003.

Duffield’s victory extends their lead at the top of the Group A tables to 26 points ahead of PSL newcomers Chapel Allerton. The Leeds club also enjoyed a powerful home win, beating University of Birmingham 4/1.

Yorkshire’s world No6 Jenny Duncalf gave Chapel Allerton an early lead with an 11-3, 11-4, 11-7 win over Sarah-Jane Perry, the world No35 from Kenilworth who has just returned home after impressive WSA Tour title wins in Mexico and the USA over the past ten days.

The defeat sees the Birmingham team drop to the bottom of the Group A tables for the first time this season, while Chapel Allerton rise to second place.

In a good night for Yorkshire clubs, AJP Pontefract took maximum points from their visit to MB Nottingham – the 5/0 victory being Pontefract’s first since joining the PSL six seasons ago!

Undoubtedly inspired by life-long Pontefract stalwart Lee Beachill‘s 3/0 win over new British Junior champion Ollie Holland– only hours after the retired former world number one returned home from PSA duties in Mexico – Sarah Kippax, James Willstrop and Indians Harinder Pal Sandhu and Saurav Ghosal all recorded hard-fought wins to provide their club its historic PSL result.

But world number Willstrop had to pull out all the stops for his win, twice coming from behind to see off Nottingham’s top-ranked Scot Alan Clyne 9-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-5, 11-3.

“Nice 5-0 win for AJP Pontefract over Nottingham tonight! A couple of close calls but we all pulled through :)” tweeted Ghosal afterwards.

There was plenty of drama in the southern half of the country in Group B – and another confident performance by Team Chichester extended the south coast club’s unbeaten run this season.

“Congratulations to Chichester. Too good on the night,” said TWP St George’s Hill manager Danny Lee after his team went down 4/1. The Surrey visitors took the lead through Dominique Lloyd-Walter – but impressive performances byAnthony Graham, Robbie Temple, Malaysian Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan and the club’s new top string Jonathan Kemp saw the home side through.

In his first appearance for Chichester this season, world No33 Adnan saved three match-balls against the St George’s number two Tom Richards – ranked 19 places higher – before winning 4-11, 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 14-12 in 57 minutes.

Kemp faced Daryl Selby – and fought back from 2/1 down to beat the world No10 from Essex 11-8, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-1. “That fifth game was ridiculous – Kemp was hitting nicks from all parts of the court. It was the best individual game of squash I’ve ever seen in 40 years watching the sport,” said Chichester manager Mike Phillips.

“4/1 is a great result for us – it was a fantastic evening of squash.”

Selby told his Twitter followers later: “Disappointing team result tonight in #pslsquash. Still not sure how I lost from 2-1, 8-3 up but I do know Kempy couldn’t stop hitting the nick!”

Integrity Surrey Health & Racquets fielded a heavyweight squad in their clash at UWE Bristol. A maximum points away win seemed on the cards for the defending champions – especially when Bristol number one Mohamed El Shorbagytweeted earlier in the day: “Just reached England after a very long flight from Mexico…Don’t think I will be flying on court today against Peter Barker :)”

A few hours later however, with the Croydon visitors already 4/0 up, Egyptian El Shorbagy battled to a surprise 12-10, 12-10, 9-11, 3-11, 11-9 victory over Barker, the world No6 from London.

Later, the 21-year-old underdog added on Twitter: “Just won 11/9 in the 5th!! I need someone to carry me home right now :)”

The win strengthens Surrey Health’s second place in the Group B tables, now just seven points adrift of Chichester.

Another stunning away performance in the group saw Exeter Diamonds crush Winchester Racquets & Fitness 5/0. The home team gained a sole consolation point when Scott Fitzgerald won a game in his 3/1 defeat to Joey Barrington – but straight games successes by Aisling Blake, Tim Vail, ‘Flying Finn’ Olli Tuominen and Dutch star Laurens Jan Anjema enabled Exeter to secure their second 5/0 win of the season – and earn third place in the tables, just two points behind Surrey Health.

RESULTS: Premier Squash League, 4th round, Tuesday 6 November 2012

Group A:
MB Nottingham 0 AJP Pontefract 5
Alan Clyne lost to James Willstrop 11-9, 5-11, 12-10, 5-11, 3-11
Declan James lost to Saurav Ghosal 8-11, 2-11, 11-5, 4-11
Mark Fuller lost to Harinder Pal Sandhu 11-8, 4-11, 10-12, 6-11
Ollie Holland lost to Lee Beachill 8-11, 7-11, 13-15
Emily Whitlock lost to Sarah Kippax 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 5-11, 6-11

Chapel Allerton 4 University of Birmingham 1
Ong Beng Hee bt Peter Creed 11-6, 11-8, 11-9
Chris Simpson bt Jaymie Haycocks 6-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-5
Shaun le Roux bt Nathan Lake 11-2, 15-13, 10-12, 11-1
James Earles lost to Chris Tasker-Grindley 11-8, 5-11, 11-13, 7-11
Jenny Duncalf bt Sarah-Jane Perry 11-3, 11-4, 11-7

Benz-Bavarian Duffield 5 Oxford Health & Racquets 
Nick Matthew bt Scott Handley 11-8, 11-5, 11-7
Karim Ali Fathi bt Kristen Johnson 11-2, 11-0, 11-9
Joel Hinds bt Simon White 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8
Adam Murrills bt Ross Gore 11-7, 11-8, 11-8
Laura Massaro bt Madeline Perry 11-9, 11-8, 11-9

Group B:
UWE Bristol 1 Integrity Surrey Health & Racquets 4
Mohamed El Shorbagy bt Peter Barker 12-10, 12-10, 9-11, 3-11, 11-9 (55m)
Arthur Gaskin lost to Adrian Grant 8-11, 4-11, 7-11 (30m)
Lucas Serme lost to Karim Abdel Gawad 11-8, 12-14, 6-11, 7-11 (54m)
Thomas Ford lost to Adrian Waller 8-11, 6-11, 7-11 (28m)
Kip Quiney lost to Alison Waters 1-11, 3-11, 6-11 (19m)

Winchester Racquets & Fitness 0 Exeter Diamonds 5
Stacey Ross lost to Laurens Jan Anjema 8-11, 6-11, 3-11
Robert Downer lost to Olli Tuominen 5-11, 3-11, 4-11
Scott Fitzgerald lost to Joey Barrington 7-11, 11-5, 6-11, 9-11
Tristan Eysele lost to Tim Vail 9-11, 1-11, 6-11
Selina Sinclair lost to Aisling Blake 5-11, 5-11, 3-11

Team Chichester 4 TWP St George’s Hill 1
Jonathan Kemp bt Daryl Selby 11-8, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-1 (46m)
Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan bt Tom Richards 4-11, 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 14-12 (57m)
Robbie Temple bt Charles Sharpes 10-12, 11-4, 11-1, 11-6
Anthony Graham bt Philip Nightingale 10-12, 12-10, 11-3, 11-2
Lauren Briggs lost to Dominique Lloyd-Walter 10-12, 11-9, 2-11, 4-11

PSL TABLES (after 4th round):

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