Oxfordshire Senior Men fall narrowly short

After a fine performance from the team in the first round of this years Men’s Senior Inter Counties tournament, Oxfordshire made the promotional finals of the event for the first time in a very long time. If we manage to finish in the top 2 positions then we will head straight to the Premier Finals which are stacked with professional players. After struggling to get a full squad together we managed to get a great team of 5 players that would step up to the challenge. 

With Oxfordshire seeded 5th out of the 8 teams involved, we headed up north to Pontefract to compete in the finals. It was an early start with the team travelling up on the Saturday for our first match against the 4th seed team Norfolk at 10am. It was a match that could go either way on paper and it definitely went that way on the court. First up was Sam Greenrod playing at number 5 against a young Alex Harrison. Sam started nice and steady finding his lengths straight away and winning the first game 11-6. Alex fought back well in the second game and started to get his confidence taking the second 17-15. Sam managed to regain his control and moved his young opponent around the court edging the next two 11-9, 11-8 and a great 3-1 victory for Oxfordshire to start. Meanwhile, on the other court James McCouat playing at number 3 was up against Sam Henden. A thriller which set the tone of the overall contest with James eventually taking the first set 12-10. The second was much the same as the first but this time Sam taking it 12-10. James managed to wrestle control in the next two as Sam started to tire, winning them 11-7, 11-7. Next on court was Ben Rosec playing at number 4 against a difficult opponent Matt Bolt. Ben struggled to get into the match as the rallies were very short as he struggled to read what Matt was doing with the ball. Matt didn’t have the best movement around the court but what he lacked there he made up for in trickery and quality. Ben battled hard but eventually lost 11-8, 11-5, 11-6. On the adjoining court, captain Jason Varrie was playing at number 2 against Jamie Goodrich. The two have played each other a number of times over the years with Jamie always narrowly getting the better of the exchanges. On this occasion however, it was different as Jason managed to get a comfortable 11-4, 11-4, 11-4 win.

That success gave Oxfordshire the win over Norfolk before the last match went on, one pitching Ben Hedger, at number 1, against Rob Thirst. This was a marathon affair full of quality. Rob managed to sneak the first 11-9 but Ben was able to fight back taking the next two sets 11-7 & 11-5. Rob did not give up though and some of his retrievals were unbelievable. This contributed to him taking the next two games and the match 11-8 & 11-5. That meant a 3-2 victory for Oxfordshire and into the semi finals.

Our last four match was against the 1st seeded team Kent. They were clearly the strongest in these promotional finals so we were in for a difficult afternoon. Again first on court was Sam Greenrod, this time up against Harvey McIntyre. Sam fought hard against a player who was much stronger on paper. He eventually went down 11-3, 11-5, 11-3. James McCouat on the other court was having the same issue with his opponent. He also fought hard but succumbed 11-8, 11-6, 11-1. Next up was Ben Rosec against Steve London. He didn’t fare much better than his two teammates but he had a much more fluent match than earlier in the day. Despite this though, he lost out 11-3, 11-4, 11-5.

Elsewhere, Ben Hedger was playing Jack Mitterer. Ben, playing better than his earlier match, fought hard and never gave up. This showed when he managed to sneak a game off his stronger opponent but he eventually perished 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6. Last up was Jason Varrie playing Dylan Roberts who is currently the England U19 number 1 and he proved this as he was too strong for our skipper. Jason battled bravely, narrowly losing the first game 15-13 but Dylans speed, fitness and quality prevailed as he took the next two games 11-7, 11-7. A difficult 5-0 overall match loss for Oxfordshire but we were still in the running for a 3rd/4th place playoff on Sunday morning.

This final outing was against Gloucestershire. It was an early start made a bit tougher due to the couple of beers and a late curry the evening before. Luckily for us our opponents were in much the same position. First on court again was Sam Greenrod up against Mark Toseland. There was a difficult opening with both players trying to find their feet and their targets but Mark settled best, winning the first 11-8. Sam started the second really well gaining more confidence as the match progressed and this allowed him to take the second and third sets in comfortable fashion 11-1, 11-3. Mark retaliated strongly hard in the fourth sneaking it 12-10. However, Sam regained his control to take the final game 11-4. Simultaneously, James McCouat faced Tyne Turnock. Unfortunately, James started off a bit slow dropping the first 11-3 and although he started to find form and put pressure on his opponent, Tyne was a bit too strong for him on this occasion taking the second and third, 11-9, 11-8 respectively.

Next on court was Ben Rosec against Brad Clare. Brad was the stronger player on paper but this was not played on paper! After a thrilling first game which Ben took 11-9, an equally exciting second went Brad’s way, 11-9. He followed this up with a one-sided 11-1 but Ben came out fighting in the fourth in what proved to be the best game of the match. Unfortunately for our man, he lost it 13-11 and the match 3-1.

2 rubbers to 1 in favour of Gloucestershire and Ben Hedger needing to see off his oppo, Will Salter.  Will is a top player and he showed his quality on court by taking the first game 11-5. With Ben fighting hard on every point he started to put pressure back on his stronger opponent but narrowly lost the second, 11-9. Ben continued to demonstrate showed his quality pushing his stronger opponent throughout but the third also went Salter’s way, 12-10 and with it the leg and the overall contest.

There was time left for a redundant fifth rubber and featured the battle of the old Zimbabwean vs the young Zimbabwean, Jason Varruie v Ryan Gdiema. During a difficult first game Ryan showed his quality winning it 11-8 but his older foe, Jason, fought back hard in the second showing that there was still life in his old bones taking it 11-4. Another tough battle in the third which Ryan managed to edge 11-9. Jason, not wanting to give up, used all his experience and old man trickery to sneak a very tight fourth and then the decider both 11-9.

Unfortunately, it was a 3-2 loss but Oxfordshire managed a 4th place finish overall which exceeded our seeding in the tournament.

Thanks to the whole team that took part and Oxfordshire Squash for supporting us.

Jason Varrie