U19
ENGLAND
SQUASH
INTER-COUNTY
CHAMPIONSHIPS – STAGE 1
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Herts |
vs |
Essex |
Result |
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Neil Waller |
2/9, 2/9, 6/9 |
Neil Hitchens |
0-3 |
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Jonathan Fuller |
1/9, 6/9, 9/6, 9/1, 9/0 |
Rory Pennell |
3-2 |
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James Mackay |
2/9, 0/9, 6/9 |
Alex Dellow |
0-3 |
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James Cussen |
5/9, 6/9, 3/9 |
Adam Hills |
0-3 |
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Ben Andrews |
2/9, 7/9, 9/10 |
Richard Rolison |
0-3 |
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Herts lost to Essex 1 - 4 |
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Herts |
vs |
Surrey |
Result |
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Neil Waller |
6/9, 2/9, 0/9 |
Tom Richards |
0-3 |
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Jonathan Fuller |
2/9, 0/9, 1/9 |
Chris Hall |
0-3 |
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James Mackay |
0/9, 3/9, 6/9 |
Neil Desai |
0-3 |
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James Cussen |
9/7, 6/9, 0/9, 4/9 |
Jamie Matthews |
1-3 |
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Ben Andrews |
3/9, 3/9, 9/4, 2/9 |
Joe Lee |
1-3 |
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Herts lost to Surrey 0-5 |
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As Essex were unable to field a 6th man for the normal non-registered reserves match, Bradley Wiles from Herts played for Essex against his team mate, Phil Judd in the morning session. Herts beat Essex in this match 3-0 and later in the day both Phil and Bradley lost to the Surrey 6th string 3-0. This was Phil and Bradley debut appearance in a county team event and an experience that will benefit both players’ squash in the future.
We knew that both counties were very strong but with Surrey fielding three nationally ranked players (Richards, Hall and Lee) our best chance of picking up points would be against Essex. The 3 and 5 strings went on first but both James Mackay and Ben Andrews, despite valiant efforts in the third, lost 3 – 0 Ben having three game balls before losing 10-9 in the last.
Neil Waller and Jonathan Fuller were next on to try and put a dent in the Essex march forward. It was not Neil’s day and Essex clocked up another victory which is just the way that it looked like it was going for Jonathan too losing the first 9-1 against a very hard hitting opponent. However, Jonathan absorbed his best shots and hung in to frustrate his opponent and force errors that completely turned the match around and saw Herts record a 3-2 victory – 9/1 and 9/0 in the last two.
With the overall match lost 3 – 1 so far James Cussen attempted to salvage a few more points but Essex were once again too strong leaving us to go to lunch and contemplate our strategy against Surrey, a side we expected to be even stronger that than Essex barring any injury or last minute withdrawals – well we could at least hope !
Regrettably, our worst fears came true. Surrey arrived with their strongest side – no injuries and fully fit. To add to our misfortune, it was the day of the Manchester United v Arsenal football match which was being shown in the bar area just as we were starting our match against Surrey. With Team Managers prising their respective players away from the football, the matches were generally very short, Neil and Jonathan only managing to achieve 8 and 3 points respectively. All Herts players lost comfortably although James Cussen and Ben Andrews did salvage a game each to record our 2 points from this tie. There is little else to say other than that a true Premier Division side outclassed us on the day.
Final order and points:
Stage 2 will be played on 30th January 2005 where Herts will be drawn against the losers of the other 2 groupings in Region 3 and we can look forward to somewhat easier matches.
Although Herts lost against 2 very good sides, the weekend was very enjoyable and I would like to add my personal thanks to all those involved including the players, the referees Dean Clayton and Jill Wood - who did a fantastic job, the parents and to HCC for letting us host the event there.
[Report by: Dudley Fuller, U19 Team Manager]