REPORT BY JOANNE BRADDOCK
The biggest event on the calendar for Lexden Squash Club every year is the annual Club Championship, The Golding Cup. As well as the Golding Cup itself there are men’s B, C and D events, a ladies event, an Under 16 event and a racketball competition to play for.
This year there were well over 100 entries across the seven categories, our biggest ever field in the Under 16 event and excellent representation from some of our older juniors in the adult competitions. Each event also has a plate competition so with 14 matches to complete, Friday night was always going to be a busy one.
Unfortunately two of our finals were affected by the withdrawal of India Webb who has been unwell, meaning that the Under 16 Plate was won by Michael Tallentire and the Ladies’ Plate went to Amy Aspinall. Both of those would have been close and entertaining matches and we hope India will be fully fit again soon, ready to re-establish her rivalry with Amy especially.
The Ladies’ and the Under 16 event both provided exciting finals full of quality squash. The Ladies’ final featured Sue Vine and the youngest ever Ladies’ finalist in the history of the club, 12-year-old Ellie Hewes. An incredibly close and hard fought match saw Sue overcome Ellie 3-2 but watch this space, the smart money is on Ellie going one better next year.
The Under 16 event had been tough from the first round, the junior strength in depth being so notable at Lexden. After overcoming a strong challenge in the quarter final from Joel Braddock, Timmy Bacon stormed into the final beating 2nd seed Clayton Hunt in a close semi which could have gone either way.
In the other semi final a familiar match up appeared – top seed Charlie Martin against Haydon Smith. Charlie has been improving at a tremendous rate recently and his development has been remarkable, but playing your friends is never easy as the 3-2 scoreline demonstrated, with Charlie emerging the winner.
U-16’s winner Charlie Martin receives his trophy from John van Heuman after his win over Timmy Bacon
The final again was always going to be a cracking match. On paper you might be tempted to predict a straightforward win for Charlie over Timmy Bacon but the one thing Timmy never gives you is predictability. A cracking match with some of the best squash of the night eventually went to Charlie 3-2, all credit to both lads for a superb match played with the highest levels of competitiveness, sportsmanship and honesty.
Meanwhile another junior player, Jed Smith-Evans, was contesting the Plate match in the Men’s D event, losing out 3-1 to Bob Washbourne after a great effort. In the Men’s D main final Andrew Hewes was up against Simon Bourne who proved just too strong, Simon emerging the winner 3-1.
The Men’s C Plate event pitched one of Lexden’s most improved youngsters, Oscar Birch, against one of the club’s most established senior players, Jim Minter. On this occasion, age and experience. overcame youth and agility with Jim taking the Plate 3-1 but if Oscar continues to work on his game as he has been doing there will be more finals to come. The main final of the Men’s C brought Iain Tallentire up against Peter Duley. Iain stormed to a 2-0 lead and Pete looked to be down and out, suffering from the warm conditions and frantic pace of the match. However appearances can be deceptive and Peter came back strongly to take the third. Iain managed to regroup and close out the match after a hard fought 4th game with both players providing superb entertainment for the Court C spectators.
Meanwhile on Court D a marathon Racketball final was developing. Earlier on the Plate had been claimed by Simon Rippingale after his opponent, Andy Bear, sustained an injury at 2-1 up. The final, however, was a thrilling match between racketball specialist Steve Adams and ex-England junior squash player Peter Kliggerman.
Pete may be a tad heavier and a touch slower (not to mention a teeny bit older….) than he was at the height of his powers, but he is still the sublime shotmaker he always was, and racketball definitely agrees with his current skill-set. In a match lasting well over an hour (and ruining the Court D schedule in the process) the scoreline tipped every which way and until the last second it was too close to call, but Kliggers’ ability to put even a racketball ball away finally proved too much for Steve and he came out on the right side of an incredibly close 3-2 which had the noisy Court D spectators cheering the roof off.
The Plate competition of the Men’s B saw a 3-0 win for Chris Brown over Roland Cheeseman, and the final saw the second appearance of the night of Charlie Martin who had fought his way through a tough draw to a final against Tony Hinds. Tony is an experienced player with a lot of ability but Charlie is currently showing such quality to his game that Tony simply couldn’t hold him back. Each game was hard fought but Charlie took the match 3-0 to complete a remarkable night and hint at what might be great things to come for him over the next couple of years. As an interesting aside, the Junior/Men’s B combination has only been successfully completed once before in the history of this competition – in 1990 the same double was achieved by none other than our own Paul Allen, so Charlie is stepping into some highly polished (non-marking) shoes!
In the Golding Cup itself, Jon Braddock found himself in the Plate final, having “forgotten” to turn up for his first round match. As the first game played out, his opponent, Matt Deane, might have wished that he had forgotten to turn up for this. A flurry of spectacular shots, kills and nicks saw Jon take the first game in flamboyant style but in the second it became clear that Jon’s attacking approach was unsustainable and Matt clawed his way back into the match with patience, accuracy and skill.
More of the same followed in the third, with Matt again dominating and Jon’s movement clearly inhibited. A huge effort saw Jon take the 4th as he managed to put pressure on Matt and force some errors he could capitalise on, but Matt came back to dominate again in the 5th, gaining a thoroughly deserved win.
GOLDING CUP WINNER Owain Taylor after his hard-fought win over Steve Snelling
The Golding Cup final was a much anticipated match between Steve Snelling and Welsh international player and current Essex Under 19 champion Owain Taylor. Owain gained his first senior Welsh cap last season and has his sights firmly set on the next Commonwealth Games as he moves from the juniors to the professional circuit over the next couple of years. Steve is a fixture at Lexden, having played here all his life. Steve now works at Lexden as Assistant Coach to Paul Allen and is proving an invaluable asset to the club and the County.
In the first two games Owain’s class was well to the fore as he kept Steve at bay, despite being on the receiving end of considerable pressure for most of both games. At two down, Steve came out for the third with steely resolve and, to the delight of the huge and vocal crowd outside Court C, pressurised Owain enough to take the game, forcing some uncharacteristic errors from his younger opponent and capitalising on them decisively. The fourth game however was all about Owain, as he stamped his authority all over it despite Steve’s heroic defence and indefatigable fitness. The Golding Cup champion for 2015 is Owain Taylor, a worthy winner of this historic trophy!
Full results
Men’s A
Plate Matthew Deane 3-2 Jon Braddock
Final Owain Taylor 3-1 Steve Snelling
Men’s B
Plate Chris Brown 3-0 Roland Cheeseman
Final Charlie Martin 3-0 Tony Hinds
Men’s C
Plate Jim Minter 3-1 Oscar Birch
Final Iain Tallentire 3-1 Peter Duley
Men’s D
Plate Bob Washbourne 3-1 Jed Smith-Evans
Final Simon Bourne 3-1 Andrew Hewes
Ladies
Plate Amy Aspinall w/over India Webb (withdrew unwell)
Final Sue Vine 3-2 Ellie Hewes
Racketball
Plate Simon Rippingale 3-2 Andy Bear (retired injured at 2-1
Final Peter Kliggerman 3-2 Steve Adams
Junior U16
Plate Michael Tallentire w/over India Webb (withdrew unwell)
Final Charlie Martin 3-2 Timmy Bacon