Club squash gets under way

Press, 7 April 1987, Page 46

Club squash gets under way

By

TIM DUNBAR

Men’s open grade interclub squash will begin in Christchurch tonight with the eight teams back up to four players a side for the 1987 competition. The two-year experiment of having three players in each team is over and once again some team contests will go down to the wire with countbacks on games or points.

For the first time the teams will be competing for .as many as three trophies — the Blank Trophy (first round), Wilson Shield (second round) and a new trophy for the play-offs, when there will be a split into two sections. At the end of each round there will be automatic promotion: relegation between the open grade and division one. Lancaster Park, having only its third season in the top division, will still have a good chance of winning the Blank Trophy even though the Canterbury No. 2, Robbie Burnett, currently playing and coaching in Perth, will miss the whole of that round.

Certainly Park will be close to unbeatable for most opponents in the top two positions from the start of June when Burnett arrives back to join the New Zealand representative, Paul Viggers, a gain from Sumner. For the Blank Trophy round the regular Park combination will be Viggers, Brett Hibbert, Michael Penman and Peter Bremmers. Hibbert, who gained his A grading at the end of last season, will still be very competitive at No. 2.

Burnside, winner of the Blank Trophy-Wilson Shield double last winter, will still be placed well in spite of the loss of its No. 1, Mark Crosble. Very much a title contender will be the bolstered Christchurch I side which has the luxury of deciding between the 1983 New Zealand representative, Rod Hayes (back from Auckland), and the talented Elliott Jones, as its No. 1. Wayne Seebeck and “Red” Williams make up the side. Of the six sides in the women’s open grade Mount Pleasant looks comfortably the strongest on paper with the same winning combination of Carolyn Viggers, Ann Harliwich, Merle Holland and Sue Mullaly. The women will play two full rounds for the President’s Trophy and then split into two sections in the play-offs for the Kathy Hargreaves Shield.

The draw for tonight’s first round open grade games is.— Men: Burnside v. Linwood, Lancaster Park v. Christchurch 11, Christchurch I v. Sumner, High School Old Boys v. Football. All at Christchurch club.

Women: Sumner v. Mount Pleasant, Lancaster Park I v. Lancaster Park 11, Christchurch v. St Andrew’s. All at Lancaster Park.