White in Last-Gasp Win
Mar 15, 2005, by Martin Bronstein in London
SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2005 all Rights Reserved;

LIVE FROM CANARY WHARF, TUESDAY MARCH 15 2005 [pool draws and results]

PETER NICOL AND JAMES WILLSTROP DROP OUT OF CONTENTION

WHITE IN A LAST GASP WIN
The second round of pool matches started off with an excellent battle between two tall Australians, players who were brought up playing to the same rules of fairness and mutual respect. They understand the correct movement around the court so the match was played with the minimum of contact. It was fortunate that the Olympic ‘examiners” chose this night and were treated to this match between John White and David Palmer, who had both lost their first round matches and were looking to keep themselves in the running for the lucrative semis and final.

White started off well, hitting crisp tight shots and finding rich pickings in the back right corner, (right in front of my seat) where the nick was a little wider. Four times a low tight drive down the right wall eluded Palmer and he could do nothing as White took the game 9-5 in ten minutes.

Palmer and White go at it, photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert

MOXHAM TO THE RESCUE
In the interval Palmer’s coach Shaun Moxham had obviously instructed him to keep the ball low and take White to the front of the court whenever possible. Palmer’s low boasts were doing just that and White was tinning the attempted drop shot. Palmer’s 4-1 lead seemed comfortable until White hit one of his blue streaks, slamming a service into the nick, followed by an ungettable backhand drop shot and then a screaming forehand drive to pull back to 3-4. But all that good work evaporated as Palmer kept to his game plan, increasing the number boasts and eliciting three unforced errors from White on his way to a 9-4 victory in a short 8 minute game.

The third game was tighter and harder as both players tried to control the game and keep the upper hand. For most of the time the pace was fierce and it appeared that White was doing a lot of work as Palmer kept slamming the ball to both sides of the court, keeping the pressure and preventing White from attacking. Once again White made errors as he allowed his natural instinct to go for winners take over. With Palmer at game ball 8-7 White hit a real screamer down the middle of the court straight at Palmer’s belly button. With amazing reaction Palmer got his racket to the ball which hit the front wall an inch above the tin for a winner to clinch the game. Or so it seemed to me and a few others in the front row. White claimed the ball was down and the referee agreed. Palmer kept his cool and served again for the game but this time White ended the short rally with a silly attempt at a reverse angle to lose the point and the game.

THE BATTLE FOR THE FOURTH
The fourth game became a serious contest and kept the packed bleachers totally enthralled. Palmer’s 4-0 lead was whittled away and then his 6-4 lead was squandered with two errors. There were some huge, breathstopping rallies and we wondered again how two six footers could move so fast and avoid collision. It was Palmer’s turn to top the error count. He served for the game at 8-6, 8-7 and 9-8 but an easy drop was tinned, an error that put White level again at 9-9. White took the next two points to finish the 17 minute game and even the match. (Much to the delight of the spectators who could have happily watched this pair all night).

The fifth game was just as close and White recovered from a 4-1 deficit with a five point run to lead 6-5. They fought to 7-7 and then Palmer hit a fierce drive to get to match ball. The really ended with an appeal, and the decision should have been stroke to Palmer to give him the match. The referee chickened out and gave a let.
Palmer clenched his teeth after silently mouthing an epithet and served again. They reached deuce at 8-8 and then White produced one of his sublime winners to get to match ball. Palmer hit a loosish ball down the left wall with White standing right behind him – it was a textbook stroke for White – to give him the match. Once again the referee called it wrong and gave a let, sending White into a screaming shout of objection. He got over it and he got his reward when he finished the match with a tight mid-court backhand drop that eluded Palmer’s grasp and after 71 minutes White walked off the winner, while Palmer once more mouthed something at the referee.

POWER KEEPS WINNING RUN

Anthony Ricketts had Peter Nicol constantly on the run, photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert

There was a 42 minute firework display in the form of Jonathon Power and James Willstrop that kept the lively partisan crowd (“Come on James!”) involved til the last point. Willstrop still has the enthusiasm of youth and has no intention of ‘hanging back’ (as he put it) just because he’s playing the Canadian magician. Willstrop volleys everything in sight and looks to bury the ball in the nick whenever the slightest opportunity presents itself going completely against his English heritage.

He’s not shy that Willstrop kid. With Power leadiung 6-4 in the first game, Willstrop forced a loose shot out of Power than ended up in the middle of the court five feet from the front wall. Willstrop’s rack performed a feint, a double pass, and then another feint before sending it down the court. The gall of the kid! There was so much invested in that one shot, it would have made a 90-minute feature movie. Power finally won the rally, but that wasn’t what it was all about. It was about the kid trying to fool the master.

Willstrop wasn't able to throw the confident Power off his game, photo © 2005 Fritz Borchert

Power won the first game but found himself on the wrong end of the stick in the second as Willstrop kept pushing, boasting, dropping, volleying and generally taking the game to his opponent, avoiding errors. It paid off with a 9-4 victory and Power looking a little unhappy.

In the third game the youthful win-or-bust attitude came apart on errors, shots that, in a year or two, Willstrop will know should not be attempted from an unbalanced stance. The last three points were messy: strokes and an error to give Power his second game in just eight minutes.

Willstrop enjoys the nine point game because he doesn’t have to have the stamina of the 11 point game and he was still chasing moonbeams in the fourth game and even led it 4-3 courtesy of an audacious long drop from the back of the court that left Power helpless. But Power kept the pressure and the accuracy at a high level and it was apparent that even the nine point game is hard on his young frame. Power controlled the game to win 9-6, but as he said afterwards, Willstrop keeps getting better and he’s glad he’ll be retiring in a couple of years when the lanky kid from Yorkshire starts to reach his peak.

RICKETTS RAMPANT
Although he won the first game 12-10, there was very little Peter Nicol could do to stop the Australian tsunami known as Anthony Ricketts. After losing to Nicol in Kuwait - despite leading 8-4 in the fifth - Ricketts wanted a little revenge and he kept up a constant offensive pounding that had Nicol playing Step’n Fetchitt.

Yes, Nicol was not half the player he can be, and he was shouting at his own errors as I have never heard him shout before. But it did no good at all in the long run.

Ricketts left the court after losing the first game and mouthed an obscenity (F****** Sh*t) at the referee and was welcomed on court for the second game with the news that he started one point down on a conduct penalty stroke.

If he needed any more motivation, that provided it and he ran through the game 9-4, did the same in the third and then finished it all off in the fourth with a crashing forehand crosscourt that rolled dead in the nick. All Nicol could do was laugh and shake his head in disbelief as they shook hands.He’s not shy

JUBILEE MALL GROUP
John White (Sco) bt David Palmer (AUS)9-5, 4-9, 7-9, 11-9, 10-8. (71 mins)
Lee Beachill (ENG) bt Amr Shabana (EGY) 5-9, 9-2, 8-10, 9-2, 9-5 (45 mins)

CANADA PLACE GROUP
Jonathon Power(CAN) bt James Willstrop (ENG)9-7, 4-9, 9-2, 9-6 (43mins)
Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt Peter Nicol (ENG) 10-12, 9-5, 9-4, 9-7 (39mins)
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