Peter Nicol & Tania Bailey Rise To Top Of England Squash Rankings

Double Commonwealth Games gold medallist Peter Nicol and British National Championship champion Tania Bailey have risen to the top of the latest national squash rankings, issued by England Squash.

Londoner Nicol pulled off a remarkable Commonwealth Games double in Melbourne in March, firstly reaching his third successive singles final and reclaiming the gold medal he first won eighth years earlier in Malaysia - then, with Yorkshireman Lee Beachill, successfully defending the Men's Doubles crown the pair won in the Manchester 2002 Games, becoming the first squash players ever to retain a Commonwealth Games gold medal.

Nicol succeeds England team-mate Beachill at the top of the list - the 28-year-old from Pontefract slipping to No4. Nick Matthew, from Sheffield, moves up to a career-best England No2, and James Willstrop - also from Yorkshire - is at No3.

Tania Bailey becomes England No1 for the first time: Beset by a series of illness and injury woes over the past two years, the 26-year-old from Stamford in Lincolnshire emphatically marked her return to top-flight squash in February when she won the women's British National title for the first time.

Last month, Bailey secured her first international trophy for six years when she won the Vassar College Class of 1932 Open in the USA.

Bailey replaces Sussex's Linda Elriani - whom she beat in February's Nationals' final - at the top of the rankings, ahead of Manchester's Vicky Botwright at No2, and Elriani at three.

Men
1 [3] Peter Nicol (Yorks)
2 [4] Nick Matthew (Yorks)
3 [2] James Willstrop (Yorks)
4 [1] Lee Beachill (Yorks)
5 [6] Adrian Grant (Kent)
6 [5] Simon Parke (Yorks)
7 [8] Peter Barker (Essex)
8 [9] Bradley Ball (Suffolk)
9 (7) Mark Chaloner (Lincs)
10 (10) Jonathan Kemp (Shropshire)
11 [12] Joey Barrington (Somerset)
12 [17] Ben Garner (Surrey)
13 (13) Stacey Ross (Surrey)
14 [18] Peter Genever (Sussex)
15 [16] Alister Walker (Glos)
16 (21) Daryl Selby (Essex)
17 [14] Nick Taylor (Lancs)
18 [15] Stephen Meads (Berks)
19 (23) Lee Drew (Essex)
20 (24) Tim Vail (Sussex)

Women
1 [3] Tania Bailey (Lincs)
2 [2] Vicky Botwright (Lancs)
3 [3] Linda Elriani (Sussex)
4 [4] Jenny Duncalf (Yorks)
5 [5] Alison Waters (Middx)
6 [6] Laura-Jane Lengthorn (Lancs)
7 [7] Fiona Geaves (Glos)
8 [9] Dominique Lloyd-Walter (Middx)
9 [11] Lauren Briggs (Essex)
10 [10] Rebecca Botwright (Lancs)
11 [8] Stephanie Brind (Kent)
12 [12] Laura Hill (Derbyshire)
13 [13] Suzie Pierrepont (Sussex)
14 [14] Sarah Kippax (Cheshire)
15 [15] Lauren Siddall (Yorks)
16 [15] Georgina Stoker (Merseyside)
17 [17] Kirsty McPhee (Yorks)
18 (21) Jenna Gates (Sussex)
19 [18] Emma Beddoes (Warwicks)
20 [19] Jennifer Knibbs (Derbyshire)