With a very on-form Lynne Davies playing at 3, Fiona Curthoys at 2 eager to use the full height of National Sports Centre courts to good effect, Tracey Gibbs at 4 confident after her wins in the over 55s event in Galway, and number 1, Jill Campion, back into her stride after two months off earlier in the year, plus the bonus of playing in front of a home crowd, the women’s O60s team were determined to improve on last year’s result.
There were also a couple of records to set straight. Lynne got the team off to an excellent start against Scotland with a convincing 3-0 win against the tricky Bernie Beattie, having lost to her 1-3 two weeks previously in the O50s event in Nottingham. Next up was Jill, playing Sue Strachan, the O60s silver medalist at last year’s World Squash Masters in Amsterdam. Jill had lost to Sue 2-3 two weeks previously in Nottingham and, like Lynne, was determined it would be different this time. She lost the first two games to 9, but then succeeded in tightening her length and improving her shot choice and win 3-2, securing victory against Scotland.
The team was keen to get maximum points against Ireland. First on, Tracey Gibbs delivered a very swift convincing 3-0 against Christine Mooney. Jill then used her lob and top game to outplay Rosie Barry in another convincing 3-0. Last on Fiona assured a clean sweep against Ireland by using her deadly lob serves and drop shots to beat Maureen Duke 3-2.
That meant that the m match against England was effectively a final for first and second place. The first two games of Lynne’s match against Julie Ann Pegram were tight. At one game all, Lynne seemed to go up a gear and dominated the next two games, winning 3-1. Jill went on against Mandy Akin keen to dominate from the start. She managed to win the first game 13-11. However from then on in it was a different matter with Mandy outplaying Jill and winning the next three games comfortably. At one all, Fiona went on against Heather Tweedle. Heather struggled to cope with Fiona’s excellent lob serves, with Fiona winning the first game comfortably. Heather put Fiona under pressure in the second game by taking a more attacking approach and evened the score at one all. Fiona was unable to get back control in the third or the fourth, losing 1-3.
While naturally slightly disappointed not to have beaten England, the team was delighted to have achieved a very creditable second place in what was a highly contested event. Thanks go to Russell Edwards and Tomos Rosser for the superb organisation of the event itself and the prize-giving and dinner and to Cardiff Squash Club for co-hosting the event, including providing copious amounts of food on the Friday evening and Saturday lunchtime.
