You certainly can’t  question David Palmer’s consistency.

He has reached the final of the last three big tournaments:  US Open, Qatar and the World Open. But each time  has  been pipped at the post, Lee Beachill got the US Open title, James Willstrop beat him in Qatar and then the totally enigmatic Amr Shabana  beat him to take the world title for the second time. His run will certainly do his ranking a lot of good and should keep him in the top three for some time to come, but he must be wondering what he has to do to pick up a winner’s trophy.

PICK A NAME, ANY NAME

Amr Shabana Scythed His way through the World Open Field, photo© 2005, Alex Wan

The season so far has shown that the days of  one player  dominating the scene have gone  and anybody from the top ten is capable of winning a tournament. In the last three tournaments, eight different players have featured in the semis. It means the fight for the top three or four places is as dense as ever it was.

Let us be totally honest: nobody would have bet on Amr Shabana to scythe his way through the World Open field with such élan.  Yes, we all know that this charismatic  player can beat any player on earth when his mind is totally focused. But that state of affairs happens once every two years, when he decides to win the World Open.

BEST FINISHER IN THE BUSINESS
Ok,  so that remark is not quite fair. He has had some good wins this year (three tournaments), but he has also played atrociously. (He was so cold in the Super Series finals in London, that he couldn’t wait to get back on the plane to Cairo).

But when Amr Shabana is on form, look out!  Nobody can hit as many winners as Shabana; not John White, not Jonathon Power, not even Qamar Zaman, who made his reputation thirty years ago by being the only shotmaker in a crowd of runners.

Shabana’s entire focus is on ending the rally with a winner, from anywhere to anywhere on the court.  In Hong Kong he never dropped a game in the quarters, semis or final. That’s right, he zipped Peter Nicol, Lee Beachill and David Palmer. Has anybody else had such a run in a World Open before?

FAST HANDS, FAST FEET FAST BRAIN
The court in Hong Kong was fast, which suited the very fast thinking Shabana to a T. He has a tongue as fast as his racket. When Power finally packs it in, Shabana will take over his mantle as the wisecracker.  Perhaps his really wild days are over now that he is married; there is nothing like marriage and a mortgage to focus a man’s mind.  He is also working with Ahmed Tahier, the Egyptian national coach and it seems to be working.   Well done, Amr, you bring skill, style and wit to the game and  we can never have enough of all three.

NICOL DAVID….IN ONE FELL SWOOP

Nicol David vaults past Rachael Grinham and Vanessa Atkinson to #1 , photo© 2005, Alex Wan

How would you like to be serving at match point, in front of a huge crowd of  fans who are praying that you bring glory to their part of the world? How would you like to be serving at that critical point knowing that victory would bring you the world crown. Furthermore, how would you like to be serving knowing that by winning that rally you would also be taking over the number one spot in the rankings?

All that heavy duty stuff fell on the delicate shoulders of Nicol David in Hong Kong.

Wow! Most of us would have disintegrated into a pool of nervous flop-sweat. Miss David, that diminutive figure from Malaysia did no such thing. She did what she does very well: concentrated on the job at hand. Block out all the other stuff; the nerves, the glory, the countrymen urging victory. Just play squash.  She won the point, the game, the match, the world crown and the world number one spot (come January 2006).

THE PERFECT SQUASH BRAIN.
She has a wonderful squash brain. When I was interviewing her for Squashplayer Magazine recently she told me she still watches as much squash as she can, men and women, to see how other players do things.   Her coach, Liz Irving told SquashTalk that she is a helluva fighter. In the final against Rachel Grinham, her game plan went out the window when Grinham changed her playing style.   Caught off guard for a  few rallies, Nicol responded by changing her game plan. She was unstoppable.

In fact she has been virtually unstoppable since she was 13. She won the world junior title when she was 16 and then again two years later. In Penang in 2001,  I thought then that she was the complete squash player; what impressed me most was her concentration. Nothing - nasty opponents or bad decisions or unlucky bounces -could destroy that sense of mission that she took on court with her.   She still has it but she also has the experience and wise counsel of Liz Irving  behind her and that is  a formidable combination.  Once David has climbed to that topmost podium, it is going to be a long,  long time before she is deposed.

ENGLAND  TOO STRONG.
England has such a strong line-up for the World Team championship due to start in Pakistan next week, that they could probably take on the rest of the world.  You only have to look at one statistic – four players in the world’s top ten – to see just how strong they are. Naturally they have been seeded top followed by Egypt, France, Australia and Canada.

THE NOTORIOUS BHS
Let’s see how that stacks up against the notorious BHS (Bronstein Handicapping System) It’s quite simple, you add a team’s individual world rankings together and get the BHS index.  So, James Willstrop (2), Lee Beachill (5) and Peter Nicol (8) gives us a BHS index of 15. Egypt,  with Shabana (7), Darwish(12) and Wael Hindi (19) gives a BHS of 38.   Next comes France  with  Lincou (1), Gaultier (11) and Renan Lavigne (33) for a BHS of  45.  Fourth comes Australia: Ricketts (3), Boswell (20) and Kneipp (24), BHS 47.  Canada comes in fifth: Power (6), Ryding ( 13) and Razik  (29) for a BHS of 48.

 So the WSF seeding agrees with the BHS.   However, in a three man team, you only need two players to win, so let us apply the  BHS to the top two men in each country. Result?              

                                    England          7
                                    France             12
                                    Egypt               19
                                    Canada          19
                                    Australia         23

So France jumps to second and Canada jumps over Australia to tie with Egypt.

AUSTRALIA WITHOUT PALMER
David Palmer will miss all the excitement in Islamabad.  Which might be a good thing considering some of the disgraceful comments he made when he blew his top at the start of this year in the world doubles held in Pakistan.  His behaviour brought a WSF ban which means that he is unable to play for Australia, a situation that has cost them any chance of winning the title they won two years ago. A team of Palmer, Ricketts and Boswell would be capable of beating anybody. The final would almost certainly be   Willstrop vs Palmer, Ricketts vs Beachill  and  Nicol vs Boswell.

I think Nicol would have won at number three, but the results at first and second strings? I would never bet on it.

But that is all conjecture; without Palmer, Australia would do very well to make the final.