Nicols To The Fore In Croydon Club's PSL Debut

World Games gold medallists Peter Nicol and Nicol David will lead Premier League (PSL) debutantes Surrey Health & Racquets Club Croydon in their opening fixture in the new league tomorrow evening at home against Gloucestershire's Oberthur Strings Tewkesbury.

England's Peter Nicol, the former world No1 who won the World Games title in Germany in July to claim the 50th major international squash title of his career, will face Australia's Cameron Pilley in the top string battle between the two clubs in the South Group.

Like her namesake, Nicol David immediately followed her World Games success with another title on the professional tour - when she became the first local player to win the Malaysian Open in the event's 31-year history. The world No3 from Penang faces the Tewkesbury club's Pakistan No1 Carla Khan.

UniSport Guildford, the University of Surrey team which leads the South group points table after beating University Sport Birmingham in the opening round, visit Team Chichester in the other second round tie in the south - with the Surrey squad's Alison Waters undoubtedly anxious to make amends for her surprise defeat in the earlier fixture when she takes on Chichester's Suzie Pierrepont.

The PSL boasts some mighty battles in the North group when Derbyshire's Benz-Bavarian Duffield host Nottingham in an East Midlands derby, and Wolverhampton entertain Churchill Edgbaston Priory in a similar needle match in the West Midlands.

At the helm for Duffield for the second successive week will be England's world No12 Nick Matthew, while Nottingham will herald the return of world No11 John White, the hard-hitting Scot who led the East Midlands team throughout last season.

England's world No10 Tania Bailey, from Lincolnshire, will also be back in action for Duffield - and will face Nottingham's other Scot Pamela Nimmo, the world No19 from Edinburgh.

Two Australians will go head-to-head in the other northern tie when Wolverhampton's Anthony Ricketts, the world No7, meets David Palmer, the world No3 representing Birmingham's Edgbaston Priory.

Another notable league return will be made by Edgbaston's Stewart Boswell, the Australian who has won eight PSA titles since April when he began his comeback after a two-year layoff with a back injury. Boswell, who has only lost once for Priory since making his league debut for the club in 1998, faces Wolverhampton's Scott Handley.

2nd round fixtures, Tuesday 4 October 2005

North Group:
Benz-Bavarian Duffield v Nottingham
Nick Matthew v John White
Renan Lavigne v Simon Parke
Jonathan Kemp v John Rooney
Paul Hargrave v Duncan Walsh
Tania Bailey v Pamela Nimmo
Wolverhampton v Churchill Edgbaston Priory
Anthony Ricketts v David Palmer
Shahid Zaman v Adrian Grant
Alex Gough v Peter Barker
Scott Handley v Stewart Boswell
Dominique Lloyd-Walter v Vicky Botwright
South Group:
Team Chichester v UniSport Guildford
Ben Garner v Stacey Ross
Peter Genever v Stephen Meads
Tim Vail v Jesse Engelbrecht
Tom Richards v Neil Frankland
Suzie Pierrepont v Alison Waters
Surrey H&RC Croydon v Oberthur Strings Tewkesbury
Peter Nicol v Cameron Pilley
Bradley Ball v Alister Walker
Phillip Barker v Alex Stait
Tim Garner v Daryl Selby
Nicol David v Carla Khan