Boughton Park Squash Club
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Altered Images II v Boughton Park
After a delay of over three weeks, Boughton Park finally got their league capaign underway on Thursday 24 October. We should have played this match against Altered Images 2 on 1st October but they couldn't raise a team. The following week we had a gap week and last week we were scheduled to play Droitwich but they are now playing in league 3.
We intoduced a new face, Colin Adams, who used to play in the Gloucestershire leagues, and he has strengthened our squad. We started with Chris Jones, improving all through the summer at No 1 as Roger Cale was ill, replaced at the last moment by Robin Harris.
Robin (playing No 5) got us off to a good start, winning a close match 3-0 (9-3, 9-7, 9-6) against Graham Sturdy. All the practice sessions we have had each Wednesday seem to have paid off.
Next on court was Martin Hatt, looking much sharper than last season, and promoted up the rankings to No 3. He disposed of Mel Magregor 3-0 (9-3, 9-5, 9-6).
Colin Adams (Number two) had an impressive debut, making short work of beating Rob Hill 3-0 (9-3, 9-0, 9-6).
Altered Images No 4 didn't turn up, so both teams agreed to give our No4 Ray Burrows a game against Altered Images 1st team player Brett Taylor. Brett had a snack before coming out and a drink when he arrived, but he skipped through the first game to win 10-8 and came back from 6-2 down to take the 2nd game 9-6, so the omens were ominous for Ray.
However, the whole Boughton squad looks sharper this season and Ray dug in and played some good squash to wear Brett down and win the next three games 9-1, 9-0 and 9-3. Martin Hatt said it was the best 'get out of jail' he had seen in a long, long time and was calling Ray 'Houdini' for the rest of the evening!!
Last on court was Chris Jones, who played Robert Krick. This was a good work out for Chris and he came through in some style, winnning 3-0 (9-6, 9-6, 9-3).
We rounded off the evening admiring some of the members working out in the Altered Images gym and having a couple of drinks with our pie and chips. Roger would have been in his element!!!
Man of the match: Ray Burrows
Match score: Boughton Park 20pts, Altered Images 2pts.
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Boughton Park v Hagley III
On Wednesday, October 30, Boughton Park played their first home match of the season against Hagley III.
Unfortunately, like last season, Hagley turned up with only four players so Ray Burrows missed out on a competitive game. Martin Hatt started against Adrian Pargeter and lost the first game 2-9. Last season this would have been quickly turned into a 3-0 scoreline, but as mentioned last week, Martin is fitter, faster and more resolved and he fought back brilliantly to win the next three games 9-2, 10-8 and 9-0.
Meanwhile No 2's Roger Cale and Neil Betteridge had begun 'playing' and the banter was clearly audible on the other court! Colin Adams, making his home debut, marked this one and had a tough time from both players, but to his credit he kept his cool and things didn't get out of hand. In between the arguments there was some good squash, but Roger lost the initiative with all the distractions and lost 4-9, 10-8, 1-9, 8-10.
Colin had to go on court after marking this difficult match and he seemed to be affected by the marking experience! He won 9-3, 4-9, 9-1, 9-3 but was not convincing and shouldn't have lost a game to Tim Badcock, playing No 4 because Hagley didn't have a 5th player.
At number one, Chris Jones played Ian Willis - this was a good match to watch - Ian was the better squash player, but Chris wouldn't give in to any lost causes and surprised Ian with his retrieving and all round energetic play. Chris ran out the 9-4, 4-9, 9-4, 9-1 winner, making Man of the Match a difficult choice - Chris or Martin???
Finally, the vote went to Chris for a good No 1 performance.
Final score: Boughton Park 18pts, Hagley 6pts.
Record to date: P2, W2, L0, Pts 38.
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Alcester v Boughton Park
Boughton Park played away to Alcester on Monday, November 4.
After a winning start to our first two league games, this promised to be a stern test - we lost both matches against Alcester last year!
First on court were Martin Hatt (No4) and Ray Burrows (No5) playing Dave Haron and Bev Bosworth respectively. Martin had one close game, but won comfortably and quickly 3-9, 9-10, 6-9.
Ray on the other hand was struggling to get on top of Bev - he was 8-5 down in the first game but came though 10-8, but Bev fought back to level the score at 2-2 (9-3, 8-10, 9-6). In the 5th game, following some much needed advice from Martin, Ray powered his way to a 9-3 win giving Boughton the first two ties.
This promising situation soon evaporated as Roger Cale (No 2) lost without so much as an argument against Maron Wyatt, 9-1, 9-2, 9-1 and on the other court Colin Adams also lost the first two games quickly (9-4, 9-3) to Chris Byrd
He then started playing some good squash, winning the third game 8-10 and quickly taking a 7-0 lead in the 4th. Disaster then struck with a fight-back from Chris helped by a couple of contentious marking decisions, with Colin losing the 4th game 10-8.
All was now down to our new No 1 Chris Jones, playing Pete Dunnett - an experienced and regular No 1 player who has all round ablity. Chris started tentatively, losing the first few points, and Martin was heard to mutter "I've got a bad feeling about this one" - so Chris promptly got into gear and showed a marvellous combination of good shots, boasts and awesome retrieving to win the first two games (6-9, 3-9) and get to 8-6 in the third.
This was the signal for things to start going pear-shaped - Chris put his match point serve out below the service line and Pete took the initia-tive, winning the third game 10-8, taking the 4th game comfortably 9-2 and opening up a 4-1 lead in the 5th game. At this stage Martin was heard muttering "I've got a bad feeling about this" so Chris promptly re-found his touch and energy and pulled it back to 8-8. He needed a couple of match points but he secured a memorable win 8-10, with some saying it was the best match they had seen in a long time and Martin feeling a lot better.
Man of the match: Chris Jones.
Points score : Alcester 10pts, Boughton 15pts.
Record: P3 W3 L0 Pts53.
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Boughton Park v Club Ventura II
Boughton Park played host to Club Ventura 2 from Redditch on Wednesday, November 13.
No 4 Martin Hatt and No 3 Colin Adams were first on court playing Carl Albright and captain Kirk Wright. Both these were tight engaging struggles that could have gone either way. Martin, cheered on by two old boys who wandered in off the streets, dug in well to fight out a huge number of long energy sapping rallies to beat Carl 9-6, 9-10, 9-1, 9-2.
Meanwhile, Colin lost the first game but bounced back well to win the next two comfortably, and a winning start seemed in prospect, but Kirk fought back well and took the last two games (6-9, 9-1, 9-5, 3-9, 7-9) to set the match up at 1-1.
Roger Cale (No 2) and captain Ray Burrows (No 5) were next on court playing Pete and Roger respectively. Ray had no trouble dispatching Roger quickly, with Roger finding Ray's serves difficult to return. We will have to get the plasterers in to repair some of the gouges in the wall!! Ray won 9-4, 9-1, 9-4. There must be something about the name Roger, because between the pair of them they managed to do all the swearing and arguing with the markers! Our Roger did his usual trick of losing the plot and tamely losing some games when he could have made a real fight of it, if he concentrated on his game rather than dwelling on marking decisions from the previous game! Roger lost 8-10, 0-9, 10-8, 2-9.
As last week, the outcome rested on No 1 Chris Jones and he made a brilliant start, picking up where he left off last week, winning the first two games. However, this was a flattering start and Simon settled to his game and wore Chris down to level at 2-2.
Chris came back in the 5th game and at 6-all it could have gone either way, but Chris (9-3, 9-2, 1-9, 2-9, 6-9) and Boughton ended up losing for the first time this season, although before the win bonus was added we were ahead on points, 11-10.
Man of the the match: Martin Hatt.
Final points score: Boughton Park 11pts, Club Ventura II 15.
Record: P4 W3 L1 Pts64.
PS If you see those two old boys who wandered in off the streets, get some match fee or admission money off them - they were drinking our post match beer!!!!
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Boughton Park v Manor Park II
Boughton Park entertained old rivals Manor Park, Malvern second team on Wednesday, November 20.
Manor Park had been promoted out of our division at the start of last season but had folded up af-ter a couple of games returning this year back in Division Four.
First on court were No 5 Ray Burrows and No 4 Martin Hatt. Martin had a comfortable 9-3, 9-3, 9-1 victory against Phil Jackson - Martin continued his unbeaten run with a powerful, convincing per-formance.
Ray beat Kirk Freshe 9-4, 9-7, 9-7 which was tougher than the score suggests. Kirk was 7-3 up in the second and the match lasted a long time for a 3-0 win with lots of changes of service.
Colin Adams (No 3) and Chris Jones (at No 2 this week) then took to the courts and Colin broke his losing run, coming through 5-9, 9-6, 9-2, 9-10, 9-2 against Trevor Hudson to secure us the win-ning points.
Meanwhile Chris, unaware that we had already won the game, put in an unusually lack-lustre dis-play, not helped by some debatable marking decisions, losing 3-1 (3-9, 9-5, 7-9, 3-9) to the wily Nick Hall.
Boughton welcomed Phil Wilde to their team for the first time this season, but he was no match on the day for Manor Park’s No 1 Chris Jolley, losing 3-9, 5-9, 4-9.
Going into this match Boughton and Manor Park had identical won 4 lost 1 statistics, so this was a good win for the home side, 15 points to 8.
The Balti was well attended with 11 people and a good few beers were put away, making it an en-joyable evening.
Record to date: P5, W4, L1, Pts79.
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Nunnery Wood v Boughton Park
ON Friday 29 November, Boughton Park played their second round Worcestershire Squash League Cup match away to Nunnery Wood 1 who are two divisions above us in the Worcestershire leagues.
No 1 Phil Wilde, who played Ivan Crouchley, and No 5 Ray Burrows, who played Paul Stratford, were first to go on court and both competed well. They had long rallies with plenty of hand-outs, although the scores do not reflect this, with Phil losing 9-2, 9-1, 9-4 and Ray losing 9-6, 9-4, 1-9, 9-2.
This pattern was to be repeated for the rest of the evening with all the Boughton players giving it all they had but making little impression against their classier opponents.
Martin Hatt played Mark Fox, losing 9-5. 3-9, 9-2, 9-6 and Colin Adams lost to Carl Bates 9-2, 5-9, 9-3, 9-3. Last on court was Chris Jones, and he was soon back in the bar following a 9-4, 9-6, 9-0 defeat.
Match score would have been Nunnery Wood 20 points, Boughton 3pts - which was three more than we thought we might get!! The Boughton five put up a good performance and would probably have beaten any Division Four side playing as well as they did. The evening finished with an excellent Nunnery Wood Salad (better than I remember from before!!) and a few beers without a contentious word all evening.
Man of the match (decided by the toss of a coin because there was nothing to choose between them) was Ray Burrows.
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Haybridge Sports Centre (Hagley) v Boughton Park
On Wednesday 4th December Boughton Park returned to league action and played at Haybridge Sports Centre, Hagley.
Boughton had to make a couple of changes for the first time this season – before this match, we have only used six players this campaign. However, Phil Wilde was at work, Martin Hatt refused Ray's suggestion of hiring a helicopter back from London and Roger Cale is still out for disciplinary reasons.
This gave an opportunity for squad members Jimmy Allen and Greg Edwards to make their seasonal debuts, and they both found it hard going; Jimmy needs to undertake a fitness regime coupled with a bit of dieting and Greg needs to take some of that glucose drink before the match, not after it's all over!
Jimmy won the first game against Jerry Dyson, but the effort took it out of him and he finished well beaten, 5-9, 9-4, 9-4, 9-0. Greg got no change from the marker (but never complained) and his opponent James Wilson played some good squash and moved around the court well, giving Greg a tough match. He got to 8-8 in the third game but couldn't quite get us that point, losing 9-5, 9-2, 10-8.
Next on court were Ray Burrows and Colin Adams, playing John Chambers and Paul Rutter re-spectively. By all accounts, Colin played really well after a shaky start, running out 9-3, 3-9, 0-9, 7-9 to give us a chance of winning the match. Meanwhile Ray had a titanic struggle against ex Villa 1st team centre back John Chambers. Ray played really well to take the first two games – Greg then gave Ray some coaching, telling him to keep dropping the ball in the corner, but John must have overheard this, reached everything, and hit back to win the third game convincingly. Ray chased everything in the 4th but couldn’t match John’s domination so it went to a 5th game.
The smart money was now pouring onto John to complete a winning comeback from 2-0 down, but Ray did another of his Houdini acts – he lost the first three points of the 5th game but then came storming through to keep us in the match, winning 6-9, 5-9, 9-0, 9-6, 4-9.
Last on court was number one Chris Jones and we were confident he could do the business and win us the match. He started slowly and in a couple of games lost the first five points but his speedy covering of the court and his ability to move Dave Beckett around the four corners of the court saw him through quite comfortably, 5-9,2-9, 5-9.
This gave Boughton 15 points to Haybridge’s 9. This was another tough, close match that we managed to squeeze through – last season we lost here 3-2, so it was nice to reverse that scoreline.
We were looking forward to a visit to the local wine bar but the team now uses the Station pub –the locals must have heard there was a team of celebrities due in because it was amazingly busy for a Wednesday night! We had a good drink and lots of sandwiches/chips (Jimmy and Chris had a curfew so had gone straight home after the match).
For the second week running Man of the Match was Ray Burrows for what Greg described as a "Captain's innings".
League record: P6, W5, L1, Pts94.
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Boughton Park v David Lloyd Centre, Bromsgrove.
On Wednesday 11 December Boughton played host to the new boys on the block – David Lloyd Centre, Bromsgrove.
Although a bit of an unknown quantity apparently they had only lost one fixture so far and that was their first game of the season at home to Manor Park.
We started with No 2 Chris Jones and No 3 Colin Adams on court against Chris Allen-Jones and Stuart Franklin respectively. Martin drew the short straw to mark Stuart’s match (his reputation is not dissimilar to our Roger’s) but Stuart didn’t need to lose the plot – Colin didn’t play as he can and Stuart won 9-7, 6-9, 6-9, 3-9. Chris was also a little sluggish and lost the first game 2-9, but slowly he started to move his opponent around the court and won the next 3 games 9-3, 9-1, 9-7.
Next on court was No 5 Ray Burrows, going for a hat-trick of man of the matches, and Martin Hatt (no 4). Ray had an easy time against Brian Castle, winning 9-1, 9-5, 9-1. This wasn’t good enough for his critical team mates who berated Ray for not asking for lets!!
Meanwhile Martin was having much more of a struggle against Alan Colmeadow. By his own ad-mission, Martin didn’t play anything like as well as he has in recent weeks and at one game all the whole tie was in the balance, with David Lloyd holding the ace with an unbeaten No1 still to play. The gravity of the situation was passed on to Martin and he responded well, finishing strongly to win 9-4, 6-9, 9-5, 9-5. Our No1 Phil Wilde, fresh from his Club Championship win last Saturday, looked up for it against his young opponent Alan Benbow. Stuart did his best to distract Phil, but his comments only made Phil even more focussed and a good battle developed. There were some amazing rallies and some wonderful shots from both players, with the unorthodox Alan making a few more mistakes than Phil. Phil won 9-5, 8-9, 9-5, 9-2 and made it clear at the end that it was Stuart who was responsible for his gutsy highly-charged performance.
This gave Boughton 18 points to David Lloyd’s 6.
Man of the Match could go to the only Boughton player to deny the opposition a point but on care-ful reflection perhaps it should go to Phil Wilde for his awesome display!
This match completed the first half of the season. Boughton have done exceptionally well: P7, W6, L1, Pts 112.
Highlights so far Phil against David Lloyd, Chris against Alcester, Ray against Haybridge, Martin against Club Ventura and Colin for turning up each week!!
Man of the half-season – it has to be Ray Burrows – he has played in all 7 league games and remains unbeaten!
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Hagley v Boughton Park
Boughton Park visited Hagley on Wednesday, January 30, for a delayed start to our second half of the season following the Christmas break.
Martin Hatt and Colin Adams were first on court. Martin struggled with the unorthodox play of Dave Hobin and he was well below his best form, losing disappointingly 3-9, 9-1, 9-4, 9-3.
Colin Adams played well in patches but was not consistent enough against Andy Cole, losing 10-8, 9-1, 5-9, 10-8. Colin said afterwards he was annoyed with himself, and felt he would beat Andy 9 times out of 10.
Ray Burrows arrived late from a meeting just in time to see the first two go down, so a win was vital when he went on court next. He lost the first game to Doug Wilson but used the whole court well to dominate the next three games, finishing a comfortable winner, 9-6, 3-9, 6-9, 1-9.
Meanwhile, Roger (it's too cold) Cale lost tamely to Adrian Laman, losing the first two games 9-2, 9-1 and leaving it too late to put up a fight in the third, losing 10-8.
This left Chris Jones with only pride to play for against Ian Willis. Chris and Ian enjoyed some ex-cellent rallies with Chris retrieving very well and Ian dominating the T. However, Chris fell away after the first game, losing 4-9, 9-1, 9-5, 9-3.
Match result: Boughton 6 points, Hagley 18 points.
Man of the Match – has to be our only winner - Ray Burrows.
Record: P8, W6, L2, Pts118.
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Boughton Park v Altered Images II
Boughton Park entertained Altered Images 2 from Bromsgrove in a re-arranged match on Wednesday, February 5.
Roger (it's too cold) Cale started against Robert Krick and Martin Hatt played Graham Sturdy. Martin was too strong for Graham and ran out a comfortable winner 9-5, 9-3, 9-6 yet he failed to impress – we hope he finds his form before next week's tough match! Roger made the air a little hotter with his berating (again) of marker's Colin Adams’ decisions - Roger took a 2-0 lead and Rob won the third making things interesting, but Roger regained the initiative to win 3-1 (9-4, 9-2, 9-10, 9-6).
Ray Burrows quickly (but none too quietly) disposed of Dave Maiden 9-1, 9-0, 9-2. The only notable thing from this match being the unrepeatable vocal outbursts from Dave – presumably frustrated by his inability to get into the match!
Colin Adams was too good and quick for Mel Magregor, winning 9-4, 9-2, 9-1.
This left Chris Jones with no pressure to play Ian Tanner – Chris and Ian en-joyed some excellent rallies with both retrieving very well. However, Chris was always in control, winning 9-4, 9-4, 9-2.
Match result: Boughton 20 points, Altered Images 1 point.
Man of the Match – should it be Ray Burrows (only conceded 3 points)?? Or anyone of the other four all coming back to winning form? Decision time : Man of the Match: Chris Jones – for not letting a half decent opponent win a point off him.
Record: P9, W7, L2, Pts138.
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Boughton Park v Alcester
Boughton Park entertained Alcester on Wednesday, February 12, in what they thought was going to be a tough fixture even though Boughton won the away match.
First on court were Ray Burrows playing Bev Bosworth and Roger Cale up against Pete Dunnett.
Ray started brightly enough, winning the first game 9-5 but from then on it was like Manchester Utd home to Bolton – a big, big upset with Ray being no match for the good play of Bev who finished a comfortable winner, 9-5, 0-9, 3-9, 5-9. to inflict Ray’s first defeat of the season!
The surprises continued with Roger Cale putting up a really good fight against Pete Dunnett, taking the tie right to the wire before losing 3-2 (5-9, 6-9, 10-9, 9-4, 8-10).
Next on court Colin Adams and Martin Hatt both started brightly (like Ray) but lost the initiative, both losing close, tight matches 3-2. Martin’s score 9-3, 6-9, 3-9, 9-1, 3-9 and Colin’s 9-6, 3-9, 5-9, 9-5 and 3-9.
All was lost when Chris Jones succumbed to the mastery skill of former County player Stan Biffin. Chris put up a fight in the third game, but went down 3-9, 0-9, 8-10. to complete a disastrous night for Boughton.
Points score: Boughton 7, Alcester 20.
Man of the Match: Roger Cale – the only Boughton man to play anything like his best on the night.
Record: P10, W7, L3, Pts145.
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David Lloyd Centre, Bromsgrove v Boughton Park
On Wednesday 12 March Boughton Park played at the impressive David Lloyd Club, Bromsgrove, new members of the Worcestershire League this season.
After touring the town twice trying to find the place, we soon found ourselves struggling on court.
No 5 Ray Burrows playing Lee (a University Sports Studies student and tennis coach here at David Lloyd) were first on court and Ray
struggled to come to terms with Lees unorthodox tennis style of play, losing the first game. However, Ray came out for the second game determined to make his experience count and he took the 2nd and 3rd games comfortably enough. The fourth game was close, but Ray pulled through winning 9-5, 9-1, 9-5, 10-8.
Meanwhile, Roger had already lost to Chris 6-9, 9-7, 9-6, 9-3, whereas Martin had an easy win against Gary who suffered an injury in the third game, putting the result beyond doubt, Martin winning 6-9, 9-3, 0-9, 4-9.
Colin Adams (No 3) playing Stuart Franklin and Chris Jones (No1) playing the tennis player Alan, both found their opponents far too hot to handle, and both were unable to make much impression, Colin losing 9-1, 9-2, 9-0 and Chris losing 9-6, 9-1, 9-2. Colin was on the receiving end of a lot of banter, losing twice this season to the ro-tund figure of Stuart!
Perhaps our losers were focussing more on the ladies on the exercise machines and in the jaccuzi rather than on the squash!
This gave a match score of David Lloyd 16 points Boughton Park 7 points.
League record: P11 W7 L4 Pts152.
Man of the match has to be Ray Burrows!
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Club Ventura II v Boughton Park
On Tuesday March 18 Boughton Park played their final match of the season at Club Ventura.
They were going for the league title, having been unbeaten so far in the second half of the season.
We soon found ourselves struggling on court, with Martin Hatt (No 3) losing the first game to Captain Kirk, and Ray Burrows (No 4) losing the first game to Carl Albright.
However both our players showed the form that has made them our most successful players this season, and both put in awesome performances in titanic struggles that lasted the best part of an hour each before both our men emerged victorious, Ray winning 9-5, 2-9, 9-5, 3-9, 7-9 and Martin 9-4, 9-1, 7-9, 6-9, 5-9, to give Boughton a massive boost and putting Club Ventura's title hopes in jeopardy.
Next on court were number 5 Jimmy Allen playing Spencer Dawes and No 2 Colin Adams playing Simon Gregory. Both found their opponents far too hot to handle, and both were unable to make much impression, Jimmy losing 9-6, 9-1, 9-1 and Colin 9-1, 9-2, 9-6.
With the match in the balance Chris Jones took to the court against Tony Cocker. Unfortunately Chris never got going and couldn't match Tony, losing 9-2, 9-2, 9-2 and so Club Ventura took the points and the league.
Match score: Club Ventura 18 points, Boughton Park 6 points.
League record: P12 W7 L5 Pts159.
Man of the match: A close call between Ray and Martin but according to Colin, Martin just squeaks in!
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