The Central vs Eastern one day challenge was held on Saturday 25th May at Waipukurau Squash club. Unfortunately the normal 6 players per team was not possible due to Eastern having players pull out due to injury and illness. However, squads of 4 Ladies and 4 Men battled it out for the Newbigin Shield. After a couple of 5 setters the first round score was tied at 4 games each.
After, an awesome lunch (thank you Waipukurau Squash Club) the players took the court again. There was some nail biting 5 setters and some scores exceeding the 11 points. Central were fortunate enough to be leading 8 to 6 going into the last round. The final result being 9-7 to Central which thankfully avoided a countback.
A special note to Thor Darlington and Daniel Potter who travelled over to find that due to a pull out that morning while we were driving, they had no one to play. Your support was amazing and hopefully you enjoyed the friendly games that you had. I know Thor enjoyed the food.
Kent Darlington showed his class by gaining games off some younger higher-ranked opposition and proving experience can still shine.
Brodie Bennett and Rob Ward pushed their bodies to the limit with some great dives to challenge Paul Coll (we can say that, as there is no evidence to prove otherwise), and the ladies showed experience can override youth.
Overall, it was a successful day with high quality Squash and a competitive but friendly atmosphere.
Well done to the overall squad for the day, both those who played and those who unfortunately couldn’t:
Men Ladies
Kent Darlington Leonie Marshall
Brodie Bennett Anneka Weterman
Matthew Ratcliffe Emma Rowe
Rob Ward Laurie Hill
Thor Darlington Karla Swainson
Daniel Potter Anna Saunders
Manager: Natalie Lane
Bring on the one day challenge vs Wellington and Nationals in August.
