Paul Viggers, the summer club’s recruit from Hawke’s Bay, was the outstanding player in the first completed round of the New Zealand Permanent men’s division one inter-club squash competition.
Viggers, now lying third on the Adidas national squash circuit, was, as expected, unbeaten in the No. 1 position for Vistalite Sumner I, winning all his eight matches in straight games. In those contests, he has dropped just 57 points.
The other No. 1 to come through his matches unscathed, though fortunate not to encounter Viggers, was another Canterbury senior squad member, Robbie Burnett (Linwood), who won nine matches on end. However, in the final round this week, Burnett dropped to No. 2 in the order and was thrashed, 3-0, by Max Morrison (Suburbs).
Linwood was already assured of winning the Blank Trophy for the second successive year and, as the successful captain, Craig Hibbert will receive a coveted new trophy, a German steinie tankard. Hibbert, playing at No. 2 in all but the last round, had a great run himself, winning 10 matches out of 10 and conceding a paltry 68 points.
Viggers and Burnett apart, the most successful of the No. 1s were Mark Crosbie (Burnside), six out of nine, John Oakley (Christchurch Football) and Barry Taylor (Suburbs), both six out of 10, and Lyn Sparks (Marist), five out of 10. Oakley, an often under-rated player, had good wins over Crosbie and Lawrence Skurr (High School Old Boys).
Further down the team orders, the most consistent of performers included the High School Old Boys players, John Knight (nine out of 10) and John MacKinlay (eight out of nine), Linwood’s Gary Monk (eight out of nine), and Christchurch II’s Andrew Purves (six out of seven). There were also most encouraging efforts by three members of the Canterbury junior team, Geoff Cotton (Christchurch I) and Steven Wren (Sumner I), both six out of seven, and Blair Michelson (Sumner II), seven out of nine.
In the women’s competition, the only unbeaten player in the top position has been Carolyn Oakley (Vistalite Sumner II) who has won her six games. Oakley, incidentally, has recently become engaged to Viggers.
The other No. 1 player to shine has been Burnside’s Susan Wasley, who has won seven out of eight matches, losing only to Oakley, and another talented junior, Justine Marriott (Sumner I), mostly playing at No. 2, lost to Wasley in the last round after seven straight wins.
In the lower positions, the best performance has come from the super-fit Linwood No. 4, Raewyn Young, who is in her first year in the premier grade. She has played eight matches, won all of them in straight games, and dropped only 61 points in the process.
Other good efforts have come from Kathy Hargreaves (Burnside), four out of four, Joan Terrell (Sumner II), Sharyn Lane (Sumner I), and Erin Hensley (Sumner II), all six out of seven, Donna Church (Linwood), six out of eight, and Kate Carpinter and Jeanette McCutcheon (both Sumner I), five out of seven.
