Yorkshire's "BMW" ... Scoring, "VOS", more ... Global Gallery, April 1, 2004 Martin Bronstein, writes this month from his home base in London. © 2004 All rights reserved. photos © 2004, Suashtalk, D. Tessier,

James Willstrop from Yorkshire: Future #1? . photo: (© 2004 Fritz Borchert)

THE YORKSHIRE BMW DRIVING STRAIGHT TO THE TOP
If you haven’t noticed already, the Yorkshire-produced BMW is set to take over the men’s squash scene. No, not the German car, but Beachill, Matthew and Willstrop, those three Yorkshire-bred players who, each in an entirely different manner, are heading inexorably to the top of the rankings. This BMW model will almost certainly comprise the next England team, and I cannot at this point see any other country challenging them.

Right now they stand at four, ten and thirteen in the PSA rankings and within two years I expect them to be hitting the top three spots with Willstrop at one and Beachill and

Lee Beachill: Proven Potential from Yorkshire. photo: (© 2004 Debra Tessier)

Matthew joshling for second spot..

The driver of note for this journey is the doyen of Brit squash coaches Malcolm Willstrop who has guided both Lee Beachill and his son James Willstrop throughout their entire careers. Nick Matthew has had other mentors, but having a father who ran a squash club in Sheffield wasn’t a bad start for a squash career.

Willstrop’s skill, talent and artistry is no surprise to anyone who saw him in his latter years as a junior. The only surprise is how quickly he has shot through the senior rankings into the top twenty and now banging on the door of the top ten.

We all knew that Beachill had it in him: anyone who saw him destroy Peter Nicol in the quarters of the 2001British Open (15-7, 15-17, 15-6, 15-4) recognized his ability. His only problem was consistency and over these last five months he has finally got it all together – even though he always looks thin, disheveled and on the edge of death.

Nick Matthew : Potent offenseive and defensive threat from Yorkshire. photo: (© 2004 Debra Tessier)

It is Nick Matthew, the quiet man, who has surprised us all. To be blunt, he was regarded as a bit of a hacker in former years, but then last year he started to come good and since then has been picking off higher ranked players with regularity. He now uses a potent mix of defense and attack.. It will be interesting to see if he can overtake Beachill; the way he has been producing lately, it seems nothing is beyond this determined player.

WHAT’S THE MAGIC NUMBER VIRGINIA? NINE? CLEVER GIRL
So the scoring debate is back in full swing. Oh dear. This is becoming almost as boring as the ‘does-squash-televise’ debate.

Let’s recap a brief history. First there was hand-in to nine. Then 16 years ago the PSA changed to point-a-rally (PAR) in order to make the game simple for the couch potatoes who would not understand the terribly complicated rule that only the server could score a point. And then the US Colleges decided to switch from the traditional American scoring of PAR to 15, to traditional hand-in scoring. (Now that was a surprise). But WSF and WISPA stuck to the hand-in to nine - the system used by most club players throughout the world. To add a little confusion, doubles was played PAR to 15.

Suddenly the PSA announced that later this year they would change to PAR to 11 in an attempt to make it more exciting (the ‘graveyard period’ from 1-10 was mentioned as being unexciting) as well as try to get matches finished within 60 minutes, thinking once more, influenced by television.

The British National League has been using the PAR to nine with tennis style deuce if the score reach 8-all. And this system was used again at the inaugural Canary Wharf Classic in March.

All the arguments that the scoring would make the games shorter/longer, more exciting, more attacking and so on, are pure baloney. It is true that I wrote that the squash at Canary Wharf was all-out, 100mph attacking squash, but the tournament carried no ranking points and so nothing could be lost in defeat. The players had a great time, not taking things too seriously. After all John White took a game off Lee Beachill in 3 ½ minutes. Trust me, that would never happen in a ranking tournament.

I’ve written this a few times before – in fact, I have written it so often I am getting bored by the sound of my own computer:

THE BRONSTEIN THEORY OF SQUASH.:
Players create the game, not the rules, nor the scoring.

At Canary Wharf one match lasted around 30 minutes, another almost ninety. In the British Leagues there have been some mammoth battles that went almost two hours – and that was playing PAR to nine.

So where do we go from here. To the magic number nine. Comments from many of the top players and other informed sources are all in favour of using nine as the finish line, so that there is a uniformity in scoring right across the board. It only needs the WSF to make a courageous step to change doubles scoring to nine and we would have that conformity. (The quicker the better: most doubles to 15 are just a bore and when played on singles court, as most are in Britain, the constant string of lets make watching a paint dry an attractive proposition.)

I am quite sure that within a couple of years the PSA will come down to nine and the conformity that the WSF tried to get to make squash more attractive to the IOC will happen, even if some play hand-in and others PAR. Perhaps Ted Wallbutton should try to push through the change to doubles scoring before he resigns. He will be remembered for it.

DON’T YOU LOVE THE MODESTY?
Robert Edwards, who coyly bills himself as The Voice of Squash, once told a WSF executive, that he had no ego. How about this from a Bermuda newspaper after the Bermuda Open.

“For a first time tournament this has to rank as the best in the world,” said the Voice of Squash Robert Edwards, who described his pre-match introductions and compering as “the cream, with the players being the cake”.

He also once said that the Irish Open (which he ‘ran’) was better run than the Tournament of Champions. The Irish Open is now a WISPA tournament and the TOC is considered the most exciting event on the calendar.

THE FUTURE IS HERE
Do you remember Buck Rogers? No? Ask your father. When I went to the movies every Saturday morning, Buck Rogers was the science fiction serial. The backgrounds and architecture were staggeringly different. When I came out of the subway on Canary Wharf, I looked around and realized the future had arrived. The only thing missing was Buck Rogers and his spaceship.

Canary Wharf, London’s wonderfully revitalized docklands (the vision of a Canadian), is staggering in its size and scope. The buildings just soar and the use of glass reminds me a little of downtown Toronto. The East Winter Gardens where the Canary Wharf Classic was held, is one of the newest structures, a soaring glass and metal arch. Next time you are in London, get on the Jubilee Line and go to Canary Wharf – it’ll knock your socks off and dazzle your senses.

If one of the many financing companies who are based in Canary Wharf doesn’t grab that tournament and put some real money into it for next year, the world is mad.