The Hindu : Sport : England to clash with Australia in final

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Wednesday, Dec 12, 2007
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England to clash with Australia in final

S.R. Suryanarayan

France and Egypt come a cropper

— Photo: V. Ganesan

CONCENTRATION PERSONIFIED: Australia’s David Palmer who defeated Egypt’s Amr Shabana (background) in the ICL World squash men’s team championship in Chennai on Tuesday.

CHENNAI: After a gap of 16 years, England and Australia have set up a title clash in the ICL-World men’s team squash championship.

In 1991, Australia had emerged the winner but England is the defending champion and is extra keen to extend the lease on the trophy. From the semifinal display of the two teams — Australia beat Egypt 2-1 and England defeated France by a similar margin — this much is sure: the final on Wednesday will be a rousing affair.

Considering the rivalry between the two countries, one can expect a tough fight. Nick Mathew, the No. 1 England player, put it very aptly: “There are very few sports where we dominate when compared to Australia and so we would be keen to win.”

Palmer in form

It was this desire to win that ruled the two teams as they went about dismantling the opposition. Australia never allowed Egypt to dominate. With David Palmer in brilliant form, there was little the World No. 1 Amr Shabana could do, except crush a racquet into two after Egypt lost the tie!

Frustration marked both the Egypt and French camps and the key reason for this was Australian Palmer’s form and Englishman Nick Mathew’s touch.

In a way, Palmer and Mathew made amends for their respective losses to Shabana and Gaultier in the Bermuda World Open just a week ago. The effects of that rigour worked differently as the winners and losers showed. While Palmer was hungry for success, Shabana groped. While Mathew reflected steadiness and amazing control, Gaultier faltered.

Egypt, in fact, was given a rousing start by Mohammed Abbas who, in keeping with his higher ranking, efficiently quelled Cameron Pilley’s challenge. The wristy flicks and brilliant returns highlighted Abbas’s approach.

Shabana needed to complete the formalities but met with unexpected opposition against Palmer. Shabana slipped into errors and Palmer cut out all escape routes.

“I thought Shabana was also tiring. Perhaps, the team should have used him better and not played him in every match. After all, he had a long season,” Palmer said about the rival’s stale show.

Karim Darwish could still have done it for Egypt in the deciding singles against Stewart Boswell but carrying an injury (calf muscle) he had his limitations.

The win was of great significance to Australia which is seeking to regain glory after 2003.

Good start

In the other semifinal, England started off well. Peter Barker beat the left-handed Renan Lavigne before Mathew had the measure of Gaultier who repeated slipped while taking drop shots. Though James Willstrop lost to Thiery Lincou in the third match, England was through.

The Indian show continued for a brief while on the outer court where it played Canada in the 5-8 classification match. Saurav Ghosal gave a flicker of hope but both Siddarth Suchde and Ritwik Bhattacharya failed and Canada emerged the winner.

India will play Netherlands, which lost to Malaysia, for the 7-8 places.

The results (semifinals):

Australia bt Egypt 2-1 (Cameron Pilley lost to Mohammed Abbas 11-7, 7-11, 4-11, 8-11; David Palmer bt Amr Shabana 11-8, 11-6, 6-11, 11-6; Stewart Boswell bt Karim Darwish 11-7, 7-11, 11-9, 11-8).

England bt France 2-1 (Peter Barker bt Renan Lavigne 11-6, 11-6, 11-6; Nick Mathew bt Gregory Gaultier 11-3, 11-6, 11-4; James Willstrop lost to Thiery Lincou 10-12, 8-11).

Classification matches: 5-8: Malaysia bt Netherlands 3-0; Canada bt India 2-1.

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