Squashways retains national club title
Canterbury club Squashways successfully retained the national interclub men’s championship Cousins Shield at the weekend pipping Thorndon 3-2 in a thrilling final at Whangarei.
The outcome was not known until the final clash of the tie when the two No 5s Jonny Barnett and Ed Dromgool, a former Canterbury player, battled out the decider.
Barnett got in the decisive blows to win in straight sets after the tie had seesawed earlier on. New Zealand player Evan Williams pipped Squashways Australian import Matty Hopkin in four sets but Chris van der Salm got the tie back on an even keel accounting for Sam Atkins in straight sets.
The two No 1s, Paul Coll (Squashways) and Thorndon’s import Harinder Singh had a titantic struggle with the scores at one stage locked at 10-10 in the fifth set before Singh, ranked world No 60 edged Coll, ranked No 68, 13-11.
Oliver Johnston then toppled Richard Pittmans to lock the tie at 2-2 to set up the decider.
Coll said Dromgool was a ‘‘good mate’’ of the Squashways team from his days in Christchurch but there was no sympathy shown with the title at stake.
Squashways had qualified for the final by downing Herne Bay (Auckland) 5-0 in the semifinal after earlier sweeping Cromwell 5-0 in the quarterfinal. Thorndon accounted for North Shore 4-1 in the other semifinal.
The women’s final for the Mitchell Cup was won by Remuera who beat fellow Auckland club Royal Oak, also 3-2.
Coll is now in Palmerston North along with Hopkin and van der Salm for the first of a series of Professional Squash Association tournaments starting Thursday. The following one is in Christchurch.