Team: Sian Johnson (captain),Lynne Davies, Jill Campion, Wendy Norris
The Wales Ladies O60 team left for Nottingham full of hope of retaining the inaugural O60s cup won in Galway last year. With the earlier start of 3.30 we arrived with 15 minutes to spare. This did not seem to affect Lynne’s preparation. The first match was against England, always a challenge. Lynne got us off to a good start winning 3/0 against Lesley Sturgess. A superb performance! Unfortunately, Jill came up against British National Champion Hilary Kenyon. It was a well fought match with England winning 3/1. Playing the decider against Mandy Akin was challenging. Having won the first game, things were going in the right direction. Unfortunately, losing the second 11/13 made it difficult and Mandy won the tie 3/1.
Now, the focus was on coming runners-up. Saturday morning we played Scotland. Lynne could not repeat the performance of the previous evening losing 1/3 to Eunice Bond. Jill played the seasoned campaigner Pauline Douglas. There were 3 closely contested games, two of which were tie breaks won by Jill giving her a 3/0 win. With matches tied, the decider against Jennifer McArtney was crucial. Fortunately, I won the match giving Wales a 2/1 win.
One final push and a win against Ireland would secure the second place spot for Wales. Lynne got us off to a good start with a 3/0 win against Mary Keyes. Jill was on next hoping to secure second place, which she did with a 3/1 win over Dympna Reardon. Unfortunately, I was unable to make it a clean sweep losing 1/3 to Maureen Duke. However, we did manage to secure second place.
I would like to thank the team for their efforts and also England Masters Squash and Nottingham Squash Club for organising such a great event.
Sian Johnson (Captain)
