Christchurch I finished a comfortable 10 points clear of its closest rival, High School Old Boys I, when the inter-club squash competition for the Blank Trophy finished this week.

The teams will now split into a top six (to play off for the Wilson Shield) and a bottom four with the new competitions beginning next week.

Final points. – Christchurch I 72, High School Old Boys I 62 Burnside 56, Linwood 52, Sumner and University 46, High School Old Boys II 36, Wigram-Lincoln 34, Suburbs 28, Christchurch II 18.

In the latest round both top teams dropped one rubber each and Christchurch I thus maintained the lead it had going into the start of the night.

The major surprise here was the defeat of the top Old Boys player, Lawrence Skurr, who went down in three to Wigram-Lincoln’s Neil Rush. Skurr was never the same after hurting his leg in the first game and hobbling from then on.

Linwood, the previously third placed team, was surprisingly beaten by Suburbs with Les Plever, Murray Carson, and Peter Lublow all winning pretty handsomely for the underdog. Lublow did best, dropping only 13 points.

Easily the closest contest of the night was that between University and Christchurch II. The Christchurch club side achieved its first victory of the season by the narrowest possible points margin – 74-73.

For the team to win Laurie Wilson needed to collect 12 points against the sharp Hamish Dowell in the last match. He managed only four points altogether in the first two games and his chances looked lost at 4-8 (match ball) in the third. But Dowell lapsed into error and Wilson had the necessary points when he drew level at 8-8.

Earlier Bryan Simpson had regained some of his touch of a couple of weeks ago when he beat Barrie Matthews, 3-0, and another Christchurch II player, Graham Foulds, allowed Paul Davenport a mere six points.

Generally, though, it was an evening of fairly short games and matches had finished on all courts at the Christchurch club by 10 p.m.

In one of them, Burnside pulled itself up to third place with a convincing 8-2 win over High School Old Boys II. All games (including the one Burnside lost) were 3-0 affairs.

Sumner had another win in the women’s competition though Wendy Dann just deprived the seasiders’ Sharon Shannon from winning her team another two points. She held match ball in the third, only to lose to the Christchurch II player in five.

Results:

MEN

Christchurch ll 6, University 4
B. J. Simpson beat B. D. Matthews, 9-4, 9-3, 9-5; L. Wilson lost to H. Dowell, 2-3, 2-9, 8-10; J. G. Foulds beat P. Davenport, 9-1, 9-5, 9-0; J. P. Martin lost to M. Forster, 4-9, 1-9, 3-9.

Burnside 8, High School Old Boys II 2
C. J. Wasley beat M. Thomson, 9-4, 9-3, 9-4; R. Clements beat M. Stossel, 9.1, 9-1, 9-6; M. Crosbie beat G. Tait, 16-8, 9-3, 9.4; V. S. W. Hargreaves lost to C. Glasson 5-9, 6-9, 9-10.

Suburbs 8, Linwood 2
G. Balani lost to C. Hibbert, 2-9, 6-9, 4-9; L. Pleyer beat G. Monk, 9-4, 9-2, 1-9, 9-6; M. Carson beat R. Burnett, 9-4, 10-8, 10-9; P. Lublow beat G. Egan, 9-4, 9-4, 9-5.

High School Old Boys I 8, Wigram-Lincoln 2
L. P. Skurr lost to N. D. Rush, 6-9. 6-9, 7-9; J. Oakley beat G. Utteridge, 5-7, 7-9, 9-10, 9-0, 9-7; W. J. Tolchard beat D. Post, 9.1, 9-0, 9-2; M. Clements beat J. Hodgson, 9-4, 9-2, 9-5.

Sumner 2, Christchurch 1 8
R. I. Marshall lost to R. W. Hayes, 8-10, 4-9, 0-9; J. H. Christenson lost to D. R. Preston, 8-10, 0-9, 4-9; R. M. McCutcheon beat B. B. Trangmar, 9-6, 1-9, 2-9, 9-7, 9-5; G. Davis lost to W. Seebeck, 2-9, 8-10, 5-9.

WOMEN

Sumner 6, Christchurch 11 4
K. Carpinter beat A. Huriwai, 9-5, 7-9, 9-3, 9:1; S. Shannon lost to W. Dann, 9-5, 9-5, 9-10, 4-9, 5-9; S. Lane beat L. Watts, 9-4, 9.1, 9-2; P. Schafer lost to J. Dennis, 6-9, 9-0, 9-2, 2-9, 4-9.

Linwood 4, Burnside 6
J. Terrell beat S. O’Brien, 3-9, 9.7, 9-6, 9-5; K. Pepper lost to L. Stringer, 6-9, 0-9, 4-9; L. Ellis beat M. Hunt, 4-9, 9.1, 9-2, 9-6 E. Wilding lost to A, Hooper, 0-9, 2-9, 6-9.

Suburbs 8, Christchurch 1 2
K. Gilray lost to L. Symes, 3-9, 2-9, 3-9; C. Winterbourn beat E. Hensley, 0-9, 9-3, 9-1, 9-7; V. Gunn beat G. Maaka, 9-5, 9-2, 9-5; A. MoKenna beat J. Douglas, 9-5, 9-5, 9-5.

University 8, High School Old Boys 2
J. James beat v. Dunstan, 3-1; D. Goosman lost to L. Cowan, 0-3; J. Havill beat J. Gemmill, 3-1; A. Thomas beat P. Colombus, 3-0.

Points: High School Old Boys 60, Sumner 50, Burnside 48, Christchurch I and Suburbs 36, University 34, Linwood 30, Christchurch II 26.