Canterbury overwhelmed Souther Districts by 33 matches to 15 in a representative squash contest at Timaru yesterday.
Major contributions cam from the juniors, who won their section, 7-1, with the 14-year-old Stuart Davenport in outstanding form, and the women, who dropped only three of their 12 matches.
The senior men and the juniors were more hard-pressed and won by only 12-8 and 5-3 respectively.
As expected, the 19-year-old Rod Hayes won both his matches at the top of the order but he dropped a game to Bob Bowman and after a confident start struggled to beat Barry Gardiner in five games – he trailed, 1-7, in the last before winning, 10-8.
Gardiner was playing very well and he also manages to beat Lyn Sparks, the top-ranked player in Canterbury last season.
Bowman had three match balls in the fourth game against Sparks, but the Burnside player eventually came out on top.
A point of interest lower down the order was the appearance of Peter Haddad, a South African now living in Dunedin. Haddad was very deceptive at times and he took two games off the talented young Christchurch player, Paul McFadzien.
There were disappointing efforts by two other young Canterbury players, Barrie Mathews and Lawrence Skurr, who lost to both Danny Lyons and Rex McDonald.
The top section of the Canterbury women’s team was very strong and Ros Stanton, Kathy Graham and Merle Holland all won both their matches without undue difficulty.
Results: MENR.W. Hayes beat R. Bowman, 8-10, 9-3, 9-2, 9-2; beat B. Gardiner, 9-7, 9-6, 4-9, 6-9, 10-8. L. C. Sparks lost to Gardiner, 9-10, 9-7, 2-9, 4-9; beat Bowman, 8-10, 5-9, 9-6, 10-8, 9-5. L. B. McNeil beat R. Grant, 9-2, 9-3, 9-5; beat P. Haddad, 9-6, 10-8, 9-6. P. G.McFadzien beat Haddad, 2-9, 3-9, 9-4, 10-8, 9-6. P. G. McFadzien beat Haddad, 2-9, 3-9, 9-4, 10-8, 9-5; beat Grant, 9-6, 6-9, 9-5, 9-5. B. D. Matthews lost to D. Lyons, 6-9, 9-7, 5-9, 9-3, 2-9; lost to R. McDonald, 3-9, 1-9, 0-9, L. P. Skurr lost to McDonald, 4-9, 5-9, 4-9; lost to Lyons, 0-9, 1-9, 7-9. V. J. Hargreaves beat W. McAuley, 9-4, 2-9, 10-8, 10-9; lost to G. Bird, 6-9, 8-10, 5-9. N. D. Rush beat Bird, 5-9, 9-7, 9-1, 3-9, 9-5; beat McAuley, 9-2, 9-2, 8-10, 9-10. M. D. Grant beat J. Pinel, 9-2, 1-9, 10-8, 9-7. J. G. Foulds lost to Penel, 0-9, 8-10, 4-9; lost to Souter, 8-10, 1-9, 1-9.WOMENR. Stanton beat C. Bowmen, 9-0, 9-4, 9-2; beat T. Bruce, 9-4, 9-4, 9-2. K. F. Graham beat Bruce 5-9, 9-3, 9-2, 9.3; beat Bowan, 9-7, 9-1, 10-8. M. Holland beat A. Farquhar, 8-10, 9-5, 9-4, 9-0; beat P. Anderson, 9-2, 9-4, 9-1. J. Milne beat Anderson, 9-4, 9-6, 9-0; lost to Farquhar, 2-9, 9-7, 1-9, 9-7, 0-9. L. Chamberlain lost to M. Redpath, 5-9, 3-9, 9-2, 9-2, 8-10; beat A. Bettle, 9-5, 9-1, 9-1. L. Sutherland beat Battle, 9-2, 9-5, 9-1; lost to Redpath, 9-10, 5-9, 9-0, 9-6, 3-9.