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| Report: | Well, The Northern 2 put up a wonderful fight. The 5-0 score-line doesn't tell half the story with The Northern being 2-0 up on both courts at the same time at one stage.
Muqz Nimji lost to Ben Smith 6-11 6-11 11-7 7-11
Bader Almaghrebi lost to James Earles 11-5 11-8 6-11 7-11 7-11
George Thomas lost to Andy Whipp 2-11 5-11 4-11
Luis North lost to Charlie Cowie 12-10 11-5 9-11 4-11 9-11
Jules Silvera lost to Sam Wileman 3-11 11-7 1-11 8-11
Firstly I'll say, I've never seen a match night with so many cross-court nicks, and all coming from the boys in green. Some of the shots were outrageous!
I started off the night against George. Steady play from me and too many tins from him gave us our first win on the board.
When I'd finished Luis and Charlie had just started on the adjacent court, and Bader and Earlsey went on my quickly vacated court.
Ex-Warrington man Luis has taken very well to first division life at The Northen and had a point to prove against our new recruit Charlie, who before lockdown was accustomed to playing much higher up the order. Luis was playing great, moving the ball around all four corners, while Charlie was slightly conservative, struggling to find the back corners with any quality. Luis took that game (with a fist pump celebration for good measure) and totally dominated the second too. I felt if Charlie could win the third game he'd likely win the match, because Luis can tire but Charlie isn't exactly the fittest he's ever been either!
On court 5 Bader was hitting some absolutely mental forehand cross-court nicks, any time he had a lob he went for the nick, hitting it with ease and not hitting his customary mistakes. He's so dangerous when he's playing like that. James was the one hitting errors when he had chances on the volley drop. So both courts 2-0 to The Northern at the same time and I'm getting a little nervous and developing a sweaty bum!
Chalie had to fight so hard because Luis wasn't letting up. Luis was up 7-4, a handful of points away from a memorable victory. Charlie rallied hard, taking a massive few rallies to claw a game back. A rest game next for Luis and we're into a fifth. Now we have a whopper of a match on our hands.
James was also fighting back, not through Bader mistakes but slightly more accurate straight play and slightly higher lobs, limiting Bader's chances to slam nicks, although they were still rolling in from time to time. James got off to a good start and always looked likely to win the fifth. Bader kept going but James' accuracy was a bit too good - comeback complete number 1.
On court 6 the two punch-drunk boxers were going at it. Neither letting up. A few more errors from Luis but still not many. Both players had to scrap for every point. Rally for rally. Point for point. They inevitably found themselves at 9-9. A tin from Luis and a drop winner from Charlie, after much running and grunting from both - comeback number 2 completed. Before shaking hands, they both needed a minute bent over in opposite corners just to catch their breath, propping themselves up on their knees preventing a collapse to the floor as I fear they would not have been able to get up afterwards!
I have to say I'm really impressed with both players. Luis has improved a lot in a short space of time (good coaching from someone?!). He used every corner of the court constantly and hit very few mistakes given the frequency he made Charlie lunge to the front. Charlie's still not back to his best but his will-power, grit and determination to push himself across the finish-line was exemplary. Great match to watch with almost no referee decisions needing to be made.
Last on was another fearless player in Muqz. Playing Warrington's Ben Smith, who's a top player. Mugz, like Bader before him, hit countless cross-court nicks, mainly on the backhand side, guiding them in beautifully. Ben was generally in control throughout. This was a nice quality match and Muqz definitely deserved his game.
Overall a good night of squash and much closer than the score card suggests. Good luck to George Thomas who now flies off to Australia to live, coaching in Sydney under the wing of established former-pro, Aaron Frankcomb, and also joining Bowdon's Jacob Robinson, who moved there to coach in the summer.
Thanks as always to Warrington photographer and club chairman, Richard Bradbury, who takes anywhere between 5000 and 10,000 photos on a match night! Last special mention to Sam for matching his shoes with his team t-shirt, and Bader for matching his racket to his t-shirt. Attention to detail. Love it. |
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