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The Power of Experience Over Youth
By Martin Brontein
May 13, 2003 All content © 2003 Squashtalk
[last update was 16-may-03 ]

Sometimes even the most astute of us can be mesmerised by speed and power,
forgetting that brains can blunt those two dazzling attributes. Jonathon
Power kindly reminded us of the facts of life today as he used his
experience, speed and superb racket abilities to subdue the youthful power of
Anthony Ricketts in the second round of the Brit Insurance Super Series
finals.

Power kept the upper hand over Ricketts today © 2003 Fritz Borchert for Squashtalk

Ricketts tried keeping the Canadian in the back corners, but no matter
how good the length, Power can do more with a flick of the wrist than most
can do with a full swing. Unless the ball is buried deeply right into the back corner, Power, with the merest flick of his wrist can send the ball anywhere he damnwell wants to - a soft drop to the front, a floating lob down the wall or cross court slam. Suddenly a ball that was thought safely tucked into a back corner is creating problems for the man who put it there.

And Power is still as quick to the front corners as anyone in the game, so when Ricketts tried some short stuff, which he does with glee, Power was there, his racket hanging motionless in midair, it seems, as Power delays his shot to the very last nanosecond before chop-dropping it into a front corner or flicking straight down the wall.

Ricketts was far from out-played in this 66 minute match but after winning the first game, he spent the rest of the match playing catch up. And he did that very well in the first game, taking the lead at 11-10 after trailing 7-10. This was fascinating squash without being exciting as Power tested his younger opponent all over the court and as much as Power varied his pace and his tactics, Ricketts was there getting the ball back. It was however, Power who controlled the play which was dictated by his winners and his errors – six all told.

Power was getting into a bit of a lather with the referee – who gave a couple of puzzling ‘no lets’, one when Power had picked the ball up after the first bounce. But in those situations, Power can be too quick, firing out his version of events even before the referee has uttered a word, in effect objecting to a decision that has yet to be made.

It was Ricketts who stayed cool to take the first game 15-11, but Power banished any chances of a two game lead for Ricketts as he quickly got into his champion-play mode in the second to run to a 12-3 lead, using the front left corner, as he does so often, as the springboard to his final winning shot. Ricketts was being taught the value consistency as Power maintained his level from the first game, while Ricketts’ concentration dropped. At 12-5 they played a marvellous rally, one of the longest of the match with both players using the entire court – and covering it too. It ended with a Ricketts error; Power was now 13-5 up and Ricketts paid dearly for that error as Power went on to win 15-6.

The third followed a similar pattern; a quick four points for Power which built into 8-3 lead and a 15-8 win with the help of seven Ricketts errors.

This was not the same Ricketts as the one who beat White; while he seemed to
be able to take on White as an equal and treat him as such, I have a sneaking suspicion that when Ricketts goes one court with Power, he lets the Power reputation get to him. There were clear stretches in the last three games where it was obvious that Ricketts was thinking too much about the man, and not enough about the game.

He steadied up in the fourth and stayed with Power as both players cut there
error rate down. Power knew that if Ricketts won this game to force a fifth, he could well struggle on the fitness count. At 10-all the tension mounted; a stroke gave Ricketts the lead, then two strokes for Power put the Canadian in front 12-11 at which very critical point Ricketts seems to drop off the pace; he failed to pick up a good length shot from Power and then was unable to get close to a patented Power drop to find himself facing match ball.

With the next rally barely three shots old Ricketts tried a forehand rop - and hit the tin…a strange decision at a point when he should have played the rally patiently and wait for the right moment. It was his final error and he left the court, not happy with his performance. On the other hand Power makes his opponents do lot of running and perhaps it was fatigue that made Ricketts try to end the rally too quickly.

ONG BENG HEE IS BACK WITH A VENGEANCE…FAREWELL WHITE.
While Power has virtually assured himself of a place in the semi-finals, John White is almost certainly eliminated. After losing to Ricketts in the Harrow Group yesterday, he again lost out in five games to the resurgent Ong Beng Hee,(OBH) who, by his victory, has demonstrated that his dog days are over.

Ong put a damper on John White's outing in London © 2003 Fritz Borchert for Squashtalk

Emotion is not part of the OBH on-court persona. He almost never gets upset at a decision; he simply gets on with the game. And he tends to amble about. When I first saw him in the world junior champs in Cairo in '96, I observed that he reduces everything to s low motion movie.

John White can sometimes produce the same condition: This was a weird match, OBH winning the first, White the second, and then OBH simply running away with the third as White slo-moe'd around the court, cracking the ball and not too worried about losing it., which he did 9-15.

It was then White's turn to run up a huge lead and OBH's turn to seem to not to care too much: the rallies were short and lacking in intensity or excitement. The match was turning into a bike sprint, where the cyclists go as slow as possible for 450 yards and then go like hell for the last 50.

White took the game 15-4 in 11 minutes, to tie it up and just as we expected, they both got down to business.

If White lost this final game, he was out of the big money, even if he beat
Jonathon Power tomorrow night. He started full of intent to earn a 4-0 lead but OBH was picking up everything but the hardest of White’s shot. More importantly he could reply with the softest of drops making White stoop to the very front of the court, from which he was always a little slow to recover. Whenever OBH played three drops ina row, he won the point…twice leaving White sprawled on the floor.

This was easily the best game of the match with both players seriously trying to win. It must be said that White, with his superior power, dictated play with OBHplaying retriever for many rallies. But retrieve he did and took the lead at 12-11. White finished the next rally with a backhand slam that almost broke the front wall. It was so hard even OBH, who was standing in the right spot, failed to make contact. White then snatched at a forehand to give OBH the lead at 13-12, and then lost a dropping duel as OBH's final drop was so soft it barely came up off the floor.

Beachill finishes off Heath in London © 2003 Fritz Borchert for Squashtalk

On match ball White, standing in the middle of the court, two yards from the
front wall had the ball (and his opponent at his mercy). And he tinned it!
Game and match to Ong Beng Hee and White was out of the money.

BEACHILL TAKES IT EASY
In the Fleet Group, Thierry Lincou pushed Peter Nicol for the full five games losing 15-10 in the fifth after 76 minutes, reinforcing once again his claim for a top three place sometime in the next 12 months. Lee Beachill took a straightforward victory over Martin Heath in three games and sets up the big game of tomorrow when he will fight Lincou for a semi-final place.

Harrow Group
Jonathon Power (Can) bt Anthony Ricketts (Aus) 11-15 15-6 15-8 15-11 (66mins)
Ong Beng Hee (Mal) bt John White (Scot) 15-10 12-15 15-9 4-15 15-12 (83 mins)

Fleet Group
Lee Beachill (Eng) bt Martin Heath (Scot) 15-7 15-9 15-8 (43 mins)
Peter Nicol (Eng) bt Thierry Lincou (Fra) 15-6, 15-2, 10-15, 9-15, 15-10 (76 mins)