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It May Not Be Squash, But Damn, It's Good
By Martin Bronstein
May 14, 2003 All content © 2003 Squashtalk
[last update was 16-may-03 ]

Power puts some magic on his racket © 2003 Fritz Borchert for Squashtalk

The tone of the match was set by John White: he'd lost his first two matches, he was out of the semis, he was going home with minimal pay, say five grand rather than fifteen if he'd won or even seven grand if he come third. There was nothing riding on the result so he started the first game as though he'd rather be watching television or playing with his two young kids. Power knew he'd won his group and he was through to the semis so there was nothing in the match for him except that he has had so little match work in the last three months, he needed this to be serious in order to help him prepare for the real big money in Qatar next week.

When they started, I thought it would be all over in under 30 minutes, with Power taking a fairly easy 3/0 victory. White caused jaws to drop as instead of his usual cannonballs, he was sending high, floating lobs to the back of the court. Power would wait by the back wall for the ball to descend and boast it to the front and White would float it back again. This suited White, who did not particularly feel like running around. But then play got a little faster and by the time the middle of the game came around, these two players were hitting shots of incredible speed and variety. At times they stood seven feet from the front wall and tried to slam the ball past each other - and couldn't because they suddenly grew elastic arms and reflexes faster than you would have thought possible. And then White would get bored and hit two skid boasts (Philadelphias) in a row - and Power knew exactly what to do with those.

White and Power staged an exciting exhibition in London © 2003 Fritz Borchert for Squashtalk

White hit more backwall boasts in this game than he normally does in a season and the more outrageous they both got, the more the crowd loved it. Some rallies were getting huge, long ovations - the biggest of the tournament so far. Power couldn't keep the grin from his face and White's air of mock innocence delighted the crowd. Referee Dean Clayton had the good sense to go along with the show and swapped banter with the players, more than holding his own.

The facts? Oh Power won the first game 15-9 and White, suddenly finding that those long spindly legs (surely the hairiest in squash if not all global sport) could actually run, lead most of the second game. At one point a very high backwall boast of White's had Power waiting at the front court and his racket did a strange sort of top spin slide and the ball slid down the wall in a most unusual way. Power was outraged when the referee called the shot down. "That was the best shot in ten years!" he exclaimed in earnest. "Down," said the ref.

Power looked at White. White looked innocent. The crowd roared.

White gave the ball to Power and then asked the ref if he knew what was happening. "I assume you have given your opponent the point," said Clayton. "No," said White., "we are going to play a let," advised White with as much dignity as he could muster. "Let," called the ref , and play continued. Globetrotters, eat your heart out.

Power recovered to win from 11-13 to 15-13 to take the second after nearly 19 minutes of fun and continued in the same vein in the third, the two of them producing rallies that defied description. Once again White showed that he might want to win and again lead 13-10 but once more Power had the last laugh to win 15-13 after 51 minutes of pure entertainment.

Power will now play Thierry Lincou and Peter Nicol will face Anthony Ricketts in the semi-finals, Ricketts having beaten Ong Beng Hee in the final match of the evening. Beng Hee led in all three games, but could not match the power and consistency of Ricketts, who must be grateful for the number of errors that Beng Hee made.

Third Qualifying Round Results:

Fleet Group
Peter Nicol (ENG) bt Martin Heath (SCO) 15-11 3-15 15-9 9-15 15-6
Thierry Lincou (FRA) bt Lee Beachill (ENG) 15-13 13-15 15-6 15-11

Harrow Group
Jonathon Power (CAN) bt John White (SCO) 15-9 15-13 15-13
Anthony Ricketts (AUS) bt Ong Beng Hee (MAL) 15-13 15-11 15-11