Christchurch A Leads Squash

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32313, 3 June 1970, Page 18

Christchurch A Leads Squash

Scoring an easy win over High School Old Boys B, by four matches to nil, Christchurch A last evening moved into top place in the A grade squash rackets competition, with only two rounds to play for the Blank Trophy.

Christchurch A has 54 points, closely followed by Christchurch B. which had the bye last night, with 50. Other points are: High School Old Boys A 41, Old Collegians 39, Christchurch C 27. University A 22, University B 18, High School Old Boys B 18 Christ's College 11.

Christchurch C surprised by I holding the highly-placed Old Boys A team to a draw, seven games all.'The result depended) on the last match, between the I third players, A. E. Dunlop (Christchurch C) and S. Dixon, who had only to win one game to give his side victory. He led a tiring Dunlop 7-4 in the third game before Dunlop made a magnificent recovery, playing his best squash of the match and takitfg the game, 9-7.

V. Hargreaves (Old Boys A), fresh from his Christchurch closed victory over the weekend. was in fine touch early on against R. D. Monk (Christchurch C>, before Monk played himself into the match with

good wall shots which kept Hargreaves back in the court from where he made some costly erro-s.

What started out to be the best match of the night, between J. W. Mitchell (Old Boys B) and D. R. Preston (Christchurch A) failed to reach, the heights expected. Preston appeared a little jedod and Mitchell was too impatient tu wait for the right balls to hit.

Surprisingly, it was Preston whose drives were constantly short of length and this, plus an unusual number of mis(takes, should have enabled 1 Mitchell to have taken, at ileast a game, but when the (opportunity was there in the (second, when he had three game points, Mitchell could not finish the rallies off. Old Collegians' lop man, T. L. Williams, appeared set for a very easy win over B. Johns (University B), when he won the first two games with the loss of only one point. Johnf showed better control in the third, and with the aid of careless play bv Williams, took it. 10-8.

In the fourth game, a determined Williams stepped up the pace and played fine drops to go to 4-0. Then he lost his confidence, allowing Johns to dominate play.

Early in the final game, Williams again found touch with his forehand drop shot, and with Johns's tendency to hit his forehands across court, he won it. 9-3. Results:

University A 8, Christ’s CoP lege 2: A. Naughton beat P. R. Sawtell, 10-8. 9-4, 9-7; L. J. Plever beat S. W. Cowles. 9-8. 9-1, 9-4; P. Gallagher beat A. P. S. Robinson, 9-5. 7-9, 9-6, 9-10, 9-5: N. Gray lost to J. E. McBride, 8-10, 2-9, 2-9.

Christchurch A 10, High Schoo] Old Boys B 0: D. R. Preston beat J. W. Mitchell, 9-5, 10-9, 9-2; P. C. Angland beat J. Tolchard, 9-4, 9-5, 9-6: E. T Yeend beat K. W. Victor, 9-4. 9-1 9-3; J. Moseley beat K. Taylor, 9-7, 10-8, 9-1. High School Old Boys A 5, Christchurch C 5; V. Hargreaves beat R. D. Monk, 9-4. 9-7, 9-5; R. McCutcheon beat J. S. Crosbie. 9-6. 7-9. 9-7, 9-3: S. Dixon lost to A. E. Dunlop, 6-9. 2-9 7-9; C. P. Murray lost to R. G. Pattinson. 4-9, 9-7, 2-9, 2-9.

Old Collegians 8, University B 2: T. L. Williams beat B. Johns, 9-0, 9-1, 8-10, 6-9, 9-3; C. C. Kissling beat J. Martin. 9-7, 9-1, 10*8; M. R. Blank beat G. Whyte .9-6, 10-9, 9-1; L. G. Holder lost to C. Tilby, 5-9, 9-1, 16-9, 5-9.