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Season 2009/10

January 2010

Just a short 77 page summary of the development of the youth policy in the over 60s team.

Last weekend, Cheshire played their inter county weekend at Fairways Lodge, Prestwich. We were in the Division 1 promotion group and needed to finish 1st or 2nd in the group to go back to the Premier divisions.

No problem !!!!!!

Lancs won the group with 38 points, we had 33, Yorkshire 2nds 20 and Warwickshire 10.

In reference to the above mentioned 'youth policy', we welcomed 'young' Terry Norman into the age group and playing at 1st string, he did not let us down.

We first played Warwickshire and won 3 - 0 (3 man team). Colin played at 3rd string and after a slow start, murdered his opponent 3 - 2. Terry and I won fairly comfortably 3 - 0.

An excellent start as we suspected Lancashire would be the strongest team, Yorkshire 2 were not allowed to gain promotion, so we had to beat Warwickshire to stand a chance of promotion - job nearly done.

We then played Yorkshire 2 (slightly weaker than we expected - shame) and won again 3 - 0. Bill played at number 3 despite wearing 17 calf bandages, a neck brace, an artificial hip and also suffering from an infected toe, due to a rather nasty blister. However, he won a tough game 3 - 1. Terry won 3 - 0 against a very highly ranked player and I managed a 3 - 1 win as well.

Therefore, after 2 wins we were assured of promotion.

Meanwhile, our opponents on Sunday, Lancashire, had also won their 2 Saturday games, so both they and us were going to be promoted. As our objective has been accomplished, we gave Terry permission to go home early on Saturday - he was muttering something to do with a 'promise' - whatever that is.

Anyway, against Lancashire we managed a 1 - 2 defeat. Bill, despite struggling with his injury, still overcame a tricky opponent and won 3 - 2. I got absolutely battered (say no more) and Colin played really well to take an extremely good player to the wire and just lost 2 - 3.

Overall, an excellent weekend.

I would like to thank all the guys for supporting the county team with special thanks to Terry for travelling so far and Bill for playing while injured.

Regards

Rod

The over 60s team were victorious on Saturday 17th October in the Inter Counties Championships, division 1B.

Just over 2 years ago, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire organised an over 60s team event weekend which was very successful and became the forerunner for the now England Squash supported national inter county weekends for the over 60s.

Although the above counties now play in the national event, we decided to continue with our 'local' competition. Barry King of Lancashire kindly donated a cup (named The Northern Cup) to be awarded to the winners and this year it was CHESHIRE.

We played as a 5 man team and firstly beat Lancashire at Rochdale by 4 - 1. Winners were Bill Wilson, Colin Elson, Tim Worrall and Harvey Purcer. The name of the loser escapes me for a moment - OH yes, I've just remembered - it was me.

Anyway, over to Pontefract to play 2 Yorkshire teams on the same day. Yorkshire sensibly split their strength between their 2 teams and this made for a more enjoyable event as most players got 2 good games. We thrashed Yorkshire Tykes 3 - 2. Winners were Eric Parkin. Colin Elson and Tim Worrall. Bill and I lost but gained some team points. Meanwhile Lancashire beat Yorkshire White Rose 3 - 2.

After a light buffet and 15 pints of lager, we went into battle with Yorkshire White Rose. We absolutely murdered them 3 - 2 !! Winners were me (for a change), Bill and Colin. Eric and Jonathan Firth battled hard and got a valuable team point. Meanwhile Lancashire beat Yorkshire Tykes 3 - 2.

The team organisers agreed 2 years ago that counties could select younger players i.e. 55 age group, if sufficient 60s players were not available. However, we did agree that the 55 players should be fringe players and not superstars. At the weekend at Pontefract, Lancashire seem to have forgotten that agreement and brought in 2 x 55 age group players, who played and 1st & 2nd string. Lancs therefore had a strong enough team to beat both the Yorkshire teams and in some respects, this went against the spirit of the event.

However, we therefore won the three matches and were presented with The Northern Cup and a commemorative medal each as well.

I would like to thank all the guys for their support and for representing their county with charm, dignity, humility, decorum, propriety and last but not least, skill ! (What a load of bull - in effect - we thrashed the bums!!!)

This is the report of Cheshire's Over 60s team that has just competed in the National Inter County Championships. We were in the Premier Relegation group, playing against Sussex, Hampshire and Lancashire. Cheshire hosted the event and played at Manchester Northern on Saturday, 10th January and on Sunday, 11th January, at The Ladybridge Park Residents Club in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport. This is a 3 man team event, but we had the luxury of a 4th man in our squad.

Our first match, against Sussex resulted in 1 - 2 defeat. Tim, playing at 3 string, was our winner, I lost comfortably at 1 string, and Eric just lost 2 - 3 in the deciding match. Eric was distraught and threatened to fling himself off a ground floor window sill, but then realised that the bar (alcoholic) was open, so common sense prevailed in the end. Meanwhile, Hampshire beat Lancs 3 - 0.

Our afternoon game against Hampshire finished with a similar result, a 1 - 2 loss. Bill was our winner in a tough game at 2 string, I lost comfortably (again) at 1 string, and Tim struggled against a very awkward no 3 string. Meanwhile Sussex beat Lancashire 2 -1.

The results, to date, meant that Sussex and Hampshire retained their positions in the Premier group, while Lancashire and Cheshire were relegated to Division1. However, our final match, against Lancashire, although a 'dead' rubber, was contested keenly, as one would expect from a local derby. Bill and Eric won 3 - 0 and I managed a win as well (for a change!!). Meanwhile Sussex beat Hampshire 2 - 1.

Therefore, Sussex won the event, Hampshire came 2nd, Cheshire were 3rd and Lancashire 4th.

I would like to thank Bill, Eric and Tim for their efforts over the weekend and we look forward to the next inter county weekend, later on this year.

PS Eric has now gone into strict training - he has promised to keep his intake of the amber nectar, down to 8 pints a night.

Cheshire recently entered a team into an inaugural over 60s inter county weekend. Up until then the oldest age group was the over 55s (even though some team members were over 60).

In March 2007, Cheshire were invited by Dave Clarke (Mr Squash in Yorkshire) to enter a team into an over 60s weekend, competing against Yorkshire, Lancashire and Merseyside. The eligibility rules were relaxed slightly, so that the weekend event could take place, i.e. over 55 fringe players were allowed to compete.

The event was held on 24/25th March and had the blessing and support of England Squash, who were keen to see if the weekend was a success. Barry King of Lancashire hired courts at Fairfield Lodge, Prestwich, the cost of which was shared by the players. Unfortunately, Merseyside dropped out as they could not field a 5 man team. However, the other counties did manage to field 5 man teams. I organised the squad for Cheshire which included Eric Parkin, Bill Wilson, Geoff Coe (65+), Jonathan Firth (55s), Harvey Purcer and Ged Illot (55s). Neither Peter Lee nor myself were available due to injury/hospital operation, but I am very grateful to all the previously mentioned players for taking part.

As Merseyside had dropped out, Cheshire had to play both their matches on the same day (Saturday). Our opponents played one match on Saturday and one on Sunday. Cheshire beat Lancashire 3 - 2, Yorkshire beat Cheshire 5 - 0, then Yorkshire beat Lancashire 4 - 1. Overall, Cheshire came second, behind Yorkshire with Lancashire third. This is a very encouraging result as Yorkshire always field strong team at all age levels and Cheshire were without two of their strongest players.

The weekend was deemed to be a success by all concerned, so much so that England Squash have invited all counties to submit an over 60s 3 man team for inter county weekends later this year. If this project is successful and popular, then England Squash will formalise the event for the following season.

Earlier this year, with the blessing of England Squash, the organisers of Yorkshire, Merseyside, Lancashire and Cheshire veteran's teams got together and organised an over 60s event. We felt that there was a need to introduce an over 60s inter county weekend event into the competitive calendar, as county standard players of that age were unlikely to be selected for their county over 55 team and therefore would miss out on competitive squash. We hired courts at Manchester Northern with the intention of holding the event along the lines of the younger vets age groups, i.e. 4 teams of 5 players, each team playing all the others. England Squash were keen to see how well the event was supported by the counties, with a view to formalising a nationwide over 60s inter county event in the near future. The inaugural weekend was sufficiently successful for England Squash to formalise the event starting in the latter half of this year. One major change to the normal format would be that teams would be made up of 3 players, although a county could obviously have a squad of more than 3 players. The dates for the event were 20/21st October 2007 and 20 teams competed in 5 groups of 4 teams.

Cheshire were grouped with Yorkshire 2nd team and Oxfordshire 1st and 2nd teams. Cheshire were the hosts and Manchester Northern was the chosen venue. On the first Saturday match, Cheshire beat Oxon (Oxfordshire) 2nd 3 - 0 (14 - 1). Cheshire's team was Eric Parkin, Bill Wilson and Tim Worrall. At the same time, Yorkshire 2nd beat Oxon 1st 3 - 1 (14 - 1).

Saturday tea time saw Cheshire beat Yorkshire 2nd 2 - 1 (13 - 6). This was a very tough match with Eric having a good win (3-2), Bill losing a very close match (2-3) and Harvey Purcer winning 3-1 in another tough match. At the same time, Oxon 1st beat Oxon 2nd 3 - 0 (14 - 0).

Their results meant that Cheshire needed a win against Oxon 1st on Sunday morning as Yorkshire 2nd team were likely to have a much easier game against Oxon 2nd. Eric managed to lose 0-3 without extending himself too much (apparently he was saving himself for the drinks he had to consume later because he had laid off the beer on Saturday evening !!). However, Bill had a good 3-0 win. Its all getting very tense now ! Meanwhile Yorkshire 2nd had beaten Oxon 2nd 3 - 0 (14 - 0). Consequently, there was no pressure on Harvey. All he had to do was beat his opponent and Cheshire were home and dry. Harvey started off like a world champion and took the first two games comfortably. Then things started to go rather pear shaped. Harvey lost the 3rd game and then lost the 4th 8 - 10 !! At this point both players looked as if they had been sunbathing without putting the sun tan cream on !. However, Harvey found his 6th wind and comfortably won the 5th game, much to the relief and joy of the Cheshire players and hundreds of supporters (well two of us).

On count back, Oxon 2nd gained 1 point, Oxon 1st gained 21 points, Yorkshire gained 34 points, but Cheshire crushed them all with a huge 38 points.

This means that Cheshire will go forward to the premier stage 2 of the event, to be held in January. All the 5 group winners plus the best three runners up will compete in a monrad event, whereby the results of that event will determine each teams ranking between 1 and 8.

Unfortunately, I was unable to play in the October event due to injury, so I was extremely grateful to Bill Wilson for taking over the running of the weekend. I would also like to thank Eric, Harvey and Tim for turning out and winning for our county. We look forward to next January, when we hope for a favourable draw and for all our opponents to have 'off' days.

On 12/13 January, Cheshire were fighting tooth and nail (or is it Ibuprofen & zimmer frames ?) to attempt to win the final of the inaugural Over 60s National Inter County Championship. Cheshire had reached the finals by winning their group matches in the latter part of last year.

The finals were held at Edgbaston Priory, Warwickshire. The weekend was supported by England Squash, who provided a meal on Saturday evening and the delightful company of the ever smiling Alison Henley.

Cheshire sent a highly tuned team based on youth, experience, zeal, ability to drive a car and also to read road maps.

The format of the finals weekend comprised the best eight teams from the previous inter county weekends. They were seeded according to previous results and the object of this weekend was to play matches on a knock out basis, but all teams would play 3 matches and end up with a ranking of between 1 and 8.

I will not dwell on the individual results as the Cheshire lads only managed 1 win out of 9 events. Thus, Cheshire ended up as 8th ranked county. However, there are a multitude of reasons why the lads did not win the finals. For a start, other counties teams included national champions and players who represent England (that's just not cricket !!). Eric, Harvey and Kevin suffered injuries and problems during their games and Bill went to the weekend having suffered a fetlock injury recently. In fact, Bill was nearly sent to Coventry by the rest of the team, because he won his match on Sunday morning !!

However, Cheshire will play in one of the premier groups later on this year and we look forward to that.

I would like very much to thank Eric Parkin, Harvey Purcer, Geoff Coe, Kevin Guyatt and Bill Wilson for representing the county. Kevin is new to the 'county scene' so I hoped he enjoyed the occasion and it was very good of him to be on standby for the weekend. As it turned out, he played twice ! Special thanks to Bill for organising the travelling and captaining the team over the weekend. Last but not least, thanks to Alison, of England Squash, for co-ordinating the whole event. I hope she feels that over 60s inter county squash is a viable event and that England Squash continue to support the event.