Squash Mens 1sts
Time: Friday 14.00
Location: Squash courts
Points: York 4
The squash fixtures at this Roses had been billed as one the crunch fixtures of the Friday. The ten points on offer for the squash fixtures were seen as an important early confidence boost before the high-profile fixtures taking place over the weekend. York’s tight win in Lancaster last year had been the first win for the men’s 1sts in 18 years and a similarly tight match was expected this time around.
However, perhaps buoyed by the success of the 2nds team, the 1sts cruised to a second successive 5-0 thrashing of the day, although they didn’t quite match the 2nds for perfection, as they did drop a game, with the Captain, Ben Nicholl, taking that dubious honour. In fact, in all except the captain’s game, York’s team were in absolute control, dominating the court in all of the other matches, never looking like losing a game.
This meant that match three, involving Nicholl, was perhaps the highlight of the tie. The game consisted of long and gruelling rallies, neither player able to dominate the other, and the result came down to fitness. This came to a head in game 4, with James Marenghi pausing for breath between points, while the York captain succumbed to cramp in his calf halfway through the game. He battled through, despite later admitting that he had considered retiring, to take the game 9-7, and the match 3-1. This opened an unassailable 3-0 lead in the tie and, just as the 2nds fixture, York finished off the tie with two more victories for a convincing win.
Nicholl, still breathing heavily from his exhausting encounter, claimed that the victory was a “great send-off for the 1st team, who are all leaving this year’, and concluded that the margin of victory was down to “training together for two and a half years, having a great team spirit and wanting to leave on a high”. That was certainly achieved on a triumphant afternoon on the squash courts.
Matthew Jeynes
