Champions Wolverhampton Fall, While Nicols Lead Surrey Health To Success

While champions Wolverhampton suffered a 4/1 home defeat to West Midlands rivals Churchill Edgbaston Priory in their first fixture of the new Premier League season, Peter Nicol and Nicol David led league newcomers Surrey Health & Racquets Club Croydon to a 3/2 win in their opening tie against Gloucestershire's Oberthur Strings Tewkesbury.

The Croydon club was packed to the rafters for the team's debut in the world's premier league - and Malaysian star Nicol David, the world No3 making her first appearance in a British league, did not disappoint as she brushed aside the visitors' Pakistan No1 Carla Khan 9-4 9-1 9-6 to put Surrey H&RC ahead.

But the momentum quickly subsided as Strings' fourth and second strings Daryl Selby and Alister Walker, respectively, claimed powerful wins to put the visitors ahead - Selby, fresh from his quarter-final appearance in last week's Hungarian Open, resisting a fight back by the hosts' experienced team co-manager Tim Garner to beat the former Sussex county champion 9-6 9-6 1-9 4-9 9-7, and Walker crushing Bradley Ball - ranked 20 places higher - 11-9 9-7 11-9.

Essex's Phillip Barker levelled the score for the home club with a 5-9 10-8 9-5 9-4 victory over Alex Stait - leaving the tie delicately poised at 2-2, with the decider in the hands of the new Croydon club star Peter Nicol. England's former world No1 rose to the occasion in fine style - saving three game balls in the second game to beat Australian Cameron Pilley 9-5 12-10 9-1.

"What a fantastic opening night of our PSL campaign - we couldn't have asked for a better situation with Peter Nicol winning the decider to close the evening," said Surrey Health & Racquets team manager Pete Smith. "Nicol David was brilliant too, and has obviously made a big hit with our members by sitting in the crowd to watch all the matches after she'd finished playing. At the end of the evening there was a club full of smiling faces, as well as a very happy manager!"

Elsewhere in the South group, UniSport Guildford secured their second win of the season - and strengthened their place at the top of the points table - with a 3/2 away win at Team Chichester. Alison Waters celebrated her career-best world No16 ranking by beating the home club's Suzie Pierrepont 9-3 9-1 9-0, while Guildford's Zimbabwe No1 Jesse Engelbrecht put in a powerful performance against Tim Vail to beat the Chichester stalwart 9-6 4-9 9-2 9-6.

But the standout match closed the evening - and secured the victory for the University of Surrey team - when Stacey Ross overwhelmed the Chichester No1 Ben Garner 9-3 7-9 9-4 9-6 in a replay of the recent Surrey County championship final which Ross had to concede due to illness.

Edgbaston Priory fielded a full-strength squad in the West Midlands derby match in the North group at Wolverhampton - with in-form players Vicky Botwright and Stewart Boswell making their first appearances for the visitors this season. Botwright, the world No7 who won the Yokohama Open title in Japan only on Sunday, had to work hard to beat Wolverhampton's Dominique Lloyd-Walter 6-9 9-1 9-3 9-4 in 56 minutes, while Boswell, the Australian who has picked up eight world tour titles since April, also came back from a game behind to beat his opponent Scott Handley 4-9 9-1 9-5 9-5.

Botwright, a keen observer of her Australian team-mate, commented: "Stewart was much better after the first game because he changed his shorts and was able to move better."

Wolverhampton celebrated their sole match win courtesy of Welshman Alex Gough, whose experience and variation in shot ultimately gave him an 11-9 9-6 4-9 10-8 victory over Priory's Peter Barker, now ranked 21 in the world. It was a mighty all-Australian clash which completed the tie, with Edgbaston's world No3 David Palmer coming out on top after 86 minutes against Anthony Ricketts, the world No7, in an 11-9 9-6 5-9 15-13 scoreline.

Former league champions Benz-Bavarian Duffield also celebrated a 4/1 win, against fellow East Midlanders Nottingham. Lincolnshire's world No10 Tania Bailey showed no signs of a recent adductor strain as she pushed Duffield into an early lead by beating Nottingham's Pamela Nimmo 9-2 9-4 9-0.

The Derbyshire club's home supporters revelled in further wins by home hero Paul Hargrave, third string Jonathan Kemp and top string Nick Matthew - but second string Renan Lavigne was unable to make it a clean sweep as he went down to long-time rival Simon Parke in five games as visitors Nottingham claimed a consolation point.

"Simon was the first person I played when I made my debut for Duffield in 1999. I was just starting out and he was No3 in the world - and I beat him," said Frenchman Lavigne. After fighting back from 2/0 down, Lavigne levelled the match against Parke and led 7-5 in the decider - but the Englishman persevered to win 9-7 9-3 2-9 7-9 9-7.

"At seven-all in the final game, we had an amazing rally which ended in a let - and I didn't recover from that. We always have close games, but I'm disappointed I didn't win this one," added Lavigne.

A new trophy was unveiled at Duffield tonight - the PDH Sports East Midlands Challenge Trophy, which will be presented to the winners of this regular East Midlands derby clash. After being claimed by Duffield, Nottingham will now have to wait until next year for the chance to win it back!

Next fixtures: 3rd round, Tuesday 18 October 2005
North Group:
Churchill Edgbaston Priory v Nottingham
Manchester/Pontefract v Wolverhampton
South Group:
Oberthur Strings Tewkesbury v UniSport Guildford
University Sport Birmingham v Surrey H&RC Croydon