Hereford Whitecross Squash and Tennis Club recently held their Stirling of Hereford Summer Team Handicap Tournament. Held over eight weeks, five teams have been battling it out to be crowned squash champions 2009. Due to the summer holidays the original twenty players swelled to nearly forty as substitutes were drafted in. The tournament opened with a pig roast, organized by Annie and Dan, so there were plenty of spectators as the squash preceded the roast. As the competition is handicapped everyone has a chance to win but the eventual winning team was Team C captained by Dan Little and represented by Tommy Burton, Bill Youl Dudley Tyler, Roy Gough, Matt Lees and Dave Thompson. The winners received squash balls courtesy of England Squash and Racketball and all the competitors had tee shirts from Stirling of Hereford.

 

Hereford Whitecross Club fought their way to the plate finals of the over 45's Squash National Club Championships 2008/9.

Having lost in the first round to local rivals Stourport they were then drawn away to Duffield in the plate competition. In the quarter finals Whitecross finally got a home draw against Brooklands from Sale nr. Manchester. Hereford's Steve Hill, Tommy Burton and Rob Reid won the match 2-1 to earn a place in the finals to be played at Nottingham Squash Club against Springhealth from Chelmsford.

As Rob, was not available for the final Ian Thornewell came in and won his match 3-2 for a perfect start. Then came Tommy Burton who after a long and tense battle and a few dodgy refereeing decisions finally won 3-2. As the match was now won Steve Hill and his opponent went on to play an exhibition match purely to entertain he crowed. Thank you to everyone who traveled from Hereford to give us their support.

 

In the picture back L to R, Rob Reid, Tommy Burton and Dave Witts. Front,  Dave Thompson and Steve Hill

Hereford Whitecross squash team entertained  The David Lloyd Centre from Bromsgrove this week.  The new team shirts sponsored by Baker Tilly are working wonders for the team who have now won three matches on the trot.  The opening game was going well for Dave Thompson, taking the first game 9/1, until he pulled his hamstring so will be out of first team action for a while.  Dave Witts had a comfortable win, so comfortable in fact that he went to sleep in the second game loosing it 9/7, eventually beating Chris Kenny 9/4,7/9,9/0,9/4.  Steve Hill looked to be cruising to an easy victory against John Moody.  In the third game John leveled the score at 8/8 but Steve changed up a gear to win the game and match 9/5,9/2,10/8.  Tommy Burton beat Jim Moseley 9/5,9/5,9/0 and Rob Reid also beat his opponent 9/3,9/1,9/0.  Hereford Whitecross Won by 4 ties to 1 earning 13 points plus 5 bonus points for winning the match.

DIVISION 2

 PLYD

WON

PTS

HAGLEY 1             

3

3

55

DROITWICH 2         

4

2

51

DAVID LLOYD 1      

4

2

45

HEREFORD 1         

3

2

40

EVESHAM 1           

4

1

38

STRATFORD 1       

2

2

34

MALVERN 1           

3

0

9

REDDITCH 1           

1

0

4

The Finalists
Pictured L to R Steve Hill, Dan Little, Jack Bishop and Dave Sandford

Hereford Whitecross Club had 34 entries for the 2007-8 season annual squash handicap tournament.  Several new  and junior members entered for the first time, two of them reached the finals.  In the plate competition, for the first round losers, the final was contested by Dave Sandford and Dan Little.  Dan had a thirty two point start so Dave had to concentrate as the American scoring means that every point counts, if you make a mistake that is a point to your opponent.  In the end Dave's experience and fitness showed as he won 3-0.  In the main competition Steve Hill had a battle with Jack Bishop, nearly thirty years separated them.  Although Jack was the younger player his fitness could not make up for Steve's determination, Steve finally won 3-1 in a very entertaining match.