Nine Teams In Senior Squash

Press, Volume C, Issue 29513, 13 May 1961, Page 5

Nine Teams In Senior Squash

teams, three more than last year, will contest this season’s A grade squash rackets inter-club competition, commencing next Tuesday night The three extra teams means the inclusion of a number of players new to the top grade, and while some newcomers may be playing in the A grade before they are quite ready, most of them will be youngsters with a certain future in the game. This season’s new teams comprise two additional teams from the Christchurch club, and one from University, while Junior Chamber, having lost most of its A grade players, has dropped out and has been replaced by a team from Lincoln College. The Christchurch club won the 1960 competition with its top team, but this year with more to select from than the other clubs combined, it has decided to spread its strength through the four teams. This may well mean that it will not produce any one team strong enough to win, but this policy will undoubtedly produce a more even competition and a real chance for one of the other clubs, such as the youthful University A, to finish on top. The first four Christchurch club players, H. S. Gair, R. G. Pattinson, N. W. McGilli.vray, and M. O. Holdsworth, all ranked in the first seven in Christchurch, will head the four teams, and other regular A grade players from last year who will appear for Christchurch are K. J. Brown. T. Howe and J. Dreaver from officers’ club. E. R. Morris, from Junior Chamber. Newcomers include J. A. Rooney from Oamaru, the young tennis players G. D. Moss and W. Thom, and the representative footballer. S. K. Henderson and C. A. McDonald. The first team from University will be led by P. M. Hill, who made a considerable advance last season and is now ranked No. 6, and D. R. Preston, No. 11. B. J. Shirlaw and D. D. M. Stewart will complete the four, and it is this team that appeared for University in most matches last year. It should do well, and the performances of Hill and Preston against the other leading players in Christchurch will be of particular interest. University’s main competition will almost certainly come from Officers’ Club,

comprising M. L. Rooney, M. R. Blank, G. C. P. Beadel (transferred from the Christchurch club), and J. F. Cotter. Officers’ Club has lost the present Christchurch champion, D. J. Triggs, who is in the country and has not been playing squash, but a major gain is M. L. Rooney. Rooney did not appear in inter-club squash last season, but he is ranked first in Christchurch, and both he and M. R. Blank (No. 8) will be very hard to beat. In recent years Wigram has played a leading part in the A grade competition, but it has lost its No. 2, the hard-hitting left-hander, R. M. Hancock, who is in Korea, and will also be without its top player, S. M. Hope, from June, when he is expected to leave for England. J. S. Boys and G. C. Hubbard will be available again, and they will probably be joined by B. G. Raos, who led the B grade last year. The two teams which complete the competition. University B and Lincoln College. will both contain players new to the grade.

but Lincoln College will have D. Mathewson, who was untroubled in the B grade last season, and has been ranked No. 10 In Christchurch. University B will be led by L. J. Walpole, another of the group of promising youngsters who has recently taken up the game, and this is a team that might well upset some of the more fancied combinations.