U17 ENGLAND SQUASH INTER-COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS – STAGE 2

The U/17 team had won the previous round and along with Middlesex (who came second to us) were put in the promotion group with Devon and South Wales. Only one team would gain promotion.

The event was hosted by Middlesex who held the event at Princes Club, which is located just of the M25 at Staines. This was a good point for all teams concerned with Devon having the longest journey of 2.30 hours.

The team chosen by us reflected the fact that Devon were going to be the stumbling block having 3 English ranked players in their team (James Snell ranked 6 at U17, Jim Bristow ranked 10 at U17 and Michael Harris ranked 5 at U15).

The first game was against South Wales and we won this 3-2 with losses at 4 & 5.

The second game was against Devon the results which are below:

Neil Waller v James Snell LOST 3-2 9/7, 4/9, 2/9, 9/4, 4/9
Jonathon Fuller v Jim Bristow WON 3-0 10/8, 10/8, 9/1
Adrian Waller v Mike Harris LOST 3-1 9/4, 5/9, 3/9, 5/9
Ben Andrews v S.Yeo LOST 3-0 3/9, 3/9, 3/9.
James Mackay v M Keough LOST 3-0 5/9, 5/9, 6/9

It was a good effort from Neil Waller who is ranked at 20 in England. Playing a boy 14 ranking places above him and taking him to a 5^th was an excellent effort. Jonathon Fuller surpassed himself beating the number 10 ranked and this will hopefully bring Jonathon into the England rankings when they are next published. Adrian Waller at three was expected to beat Michael Harris who is ranked two places below him in the English rankings. However it was not to be with Adrian not getting the rub of the green.

The final game was on the Sunday against Middlesex and we finished off the weekend with a 5-0 victory. James Mackay at number 5 dropped only 1 point and Ben Andrews at

four won all games with ease (9/2. 9/4, 9/3).

The final result was:

Devon 56 points
Hertfordshire 42 points
South Wales 29 points
Middlesex 7 points