Two men in top form

Press, 3 July 1985, Page 38

Two men in top form

Only two regular players, both from the Sumner club, enjoyed perfect records in the Blank Trophy round of the men’s open grade interclub squash competition which ended last week. Blair Michelson, playing at No. 2 for the trophywinning Sumner II side, won all seven of his matches and in only two of them was he extended past three games. His last three contests, against the three Johns — Christensen, Knight and MacKinlay — were all potentially difficult. But he won them all, 3-0, dominating the front of the court and crunching the ball. Between them the trio managed just 22 points with eight, nine and five respectively. Paul Viggers, who has yet to lose a match in three seasons of Christchurch inter-club squash, was invincible at No. 1 for Sumner I, winning six out of six. The New Zealand representative, at present tackling the tough Australian state circuit, has so far been

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a little more generous than usual. His six inter-club opponents have managed 82 points between them — nearly 14 each — and two of them actually won a game. Of the other number ones, easily the most successful has been the Christchurch club’s new recruit, Elliott Jones, who won six matches on end after losing to Linwood’s Craig Hibbert in the opening week of the competition. Thanks to the efforts of Wayne Seebeck, who won five out of seven, mostly at No. 2, and Adrian Casey, who won four of his six contests at No. 3, Christchurch finished in a praiseworthy second position, its best placing for some seasons. Among the members of the successful Sumner 11, was the left-handed Paul Monk, who has acquired something of a reputation for inconsistency and for losing five-setters. This

TIM DUNBAR

season there can be no complaints; Monk has been beaten only once in seven trips on to the court and that loss was to Marist’s Joe Rosevear who subsequently retreated ■ back into the woodwork. Monk even had a 66 per cent success rate in his five-setters, including a win in a “grudge” match against his brother Gary. Apart from Viggers and Jones the only No. 1 players to come out on the plus side of the ledger were Hibbert and Steven Wren (Sumner II). Both had four wins and three losses. Three other players, MacKinlay and Lawrence Skurr for High School Old Boys and Kevin Gregory for Marist, had ‘excellent records with four wins in six matches. Generally, players seemed to appreciate the restructured competition, based around eight teams of three players instead of 12 teams of four.

“You get better games,” said Christensen, an interclub veteran. The team reserves were rarely used, many club sides sticking with their top three players throughout the competition. Under the old system teams would use up to eight players in the course of the competition. For next season it would seem a promotion-relega-tion system is essential. This was not so important in the men’s open grade where Lancaster Park, the promoted side for the Wilson Shield round, is probably stronger than the relegated team, Christchurch Football. But it is a pity that players of the calibre of Joanne Palmer and Suzanne Davies for Lancaster Park will not remain in the women’s open grade for the last two rounds of the competition. Christchurch 11, which has won its way up from division one, would be pushed to beat Park in a promotionrelegation match.