The Sumner stalwart, Ron Marshall, had a shock win over the Canterbury representative, Craig Hibbert (Linwood) in the latest round of men’s division one inter-club squash on Tuesday evening.
Marshall lost the third game 8-9 after calling a short game and then trailed 2-8 in the fourth, but saved four match balls to win 9-2 in the fifth.
Upsets are far from unknown on the Sumner courts and Marshall duly found grand form on the home territory, keeping the pace on his shots and not letting Hibbert get out of the back court.
In spite of Marshall’s fine victory at No. 1, Sumner lost the overall contest on a games countback by 9-8. An impressive debut at the top level was made by the Linwood No. 2 Robbie Burnett, who defeated Sumner’s John Christensen in four games. Burnett started the season in Division four.
University II, which had led the competition, had a bye, and the top team now is High School Old Boys II, which had a clean sweep over Suburbs. The best game there was that between John Oakley (Old Boys) and Les Plever; the latter fared exceptionally well in the middle stages only to eventually bow in five.
Just two points behind Old Boys is the young Burnside II team, which took eight points from its match with Christchurch I. The losers had their inevitable victory at No. 1 with a merciless Rod Hayes winning the first 17 points in a row against Jamie Bushell and eventually just dropping two.
Chris Wasley and Robin Clements both won their games for Burnside in four sets, while Mark Crosbie was given a fair bit of trouble by Roger Monk’s tight shots before taking the last six points in the fifth without relinquishing the serve.
The other men’s match was a close-fought affair with Burnside I prevailing over High School Old Boys I by nine games to seven. Burnside’s wins came at numbers one and two from Neil Rush and Harry Shepherd, while Graham Foulds buoyed up by his day at Temple Basin ski-field, did well to lead Lindsay Walton two games to one before conceding in five.
Christchurch II and University I have postponed their contest until next Tuesday, when no other men’s matches are scheduled.
Women’s matches dominated proceedings at the Christchurch Club complex and one of them – between University and Christchurch – lasted nearly three hours, easily the longest of the season. All the games in that encounter went the full distance, but it was University who got the bigger share of the points with wins by Danae Goosman and Rosie Davies, the latter making her first appearance in some time.
That win by University has allowed Christchurch I to extend its lead over the second-placed Burnside team to an almost unassailable 20 points. Christchurch, too, had a stern tussle with its No. 2 side before Wendy Dann ensured victory with her five-set victory over Wendy Dodgshun (Christchurch II).
In other matches High School Old Boys II had reason to celebrate their first win in a long while and Suburbs beat High School Old Boys I after a tense final match.
