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• TODAY • Day D4 • Day D3 • Day D2 • Day D1 • FINALS • SEMIS • QUARTERS • Day 2 • Day 1 • Update •
  
TODAY AT THE GAMES
Wed 22nd, Doubles Day One:
Selected Reports:
XD: Botwright/Willstrop
bt Malik/Jones 8/10,
9/2, 10/12, 9/3, 9/6
WD: Grinham/Grinham bt Waters/Duncalf
11/9, 9/3, 10/8
WD: Kitchen/Leevey by Brown/Pittock
7/9, 9/7, 2/9, 9/6, 9/6 (75m)
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Framboise in Melbourne
EN BREF #5
BBC Games coverage
from Howard Harding
A
right Royal visit ...
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DOUBLES, HERE I COME…
Let’s
be clear about this. I’m not a great fan of doubles…
But hey, part of the Commonwealth Games, played by dedicated top players,
still competition, still medals to be won… So, I’ve got to cover it,
haven’t I…
To be honest, I missed this morning's matches, and arrived for the last
scheduled match of the morning, at 6/6 in the 5th of Jones-Malik vs
Willstrop-Botwright. Close from close, both their first match of the
day/competition… what a start!
What do we look for this week? Well, the Australians are going to be hard
to beat, both women (Rachael and Natalie Grinham), and men (Anthony
Ricketts and Stewart Boswell who got silver in Manchester, and David
Palmer-Dan Jenson).
But England is so strong, with Gold medallists from Manchester
Nicol/Beachill, and if Peter is half as motivated than he was for the
singles, I don’t see who will be able to stop him. Right behind, none less
than British Champion Nick Matthew, semi-finalist in the singles, and
James Willstrop, who stopped in the quarters, both hungry for “revenge”…
And the outsiders, from Wales, Alex Gough and
David Evans, Campbell Grayson-Martin Knight, from New Zealand, and of
course, Mr White John, with young Harry Leitch….
The Ladies? Oh well, I feel that Shelley Kitchen will be a threat, her win
against Nicol will have given her a lot of confidence, and as Tamsyn
Leevey is one of the toughest competitors I’ve seen for a long time, the
New-Zealander pair will be dangerous and keen to keep the Gold Medal won
in Manchester… And I don’t think that Tania Bailey, the new British
Champion, and partner Vicky Botwright, will be there to just go through
the motions, and look out for the “Benjamin” Alison Waters/Jenny Duncalf….
The mixed… Hummm… Well, the first names that came to my mind were Nicol
David/Ong Beng Hee, who are Manchester silver medallist holders. But then,
you cannot ignore the gold medallist, Glen Wilson, who will paired this
time with Shelley Kitchen…
And of course, the usual suspects that are Grinham R with David Palmer,
Grinham N with Joe Kneipp, the new comers Willstrop/Botwright, and let’s
not ignore our two Welsh marvels, Gavin Jones and Tegwen Malik, who are
really fired up and highly motivated…
Pfui.
I’m exhausted just thinking about the amount of doubles I’m going to have
to watch…
Framboise
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FIRST TIME FOR
JAMES & VICKY
One of the first matches in the mixed doubles
saw the new English pairing of James Willstrop and Vicky Botwright take on
the Welsh pairing of Gavin Jones and Tegwen Malik.
It turned out to be a testing time for the singles quarter-finalists, but
despite going 2-1 down they eventually pulled through ...
 "I really enjoyed the
match… We always knew it was going to be a difficult match, and it was
a very close encounter. We didn’t want to lose, but we are not out of
it yet, we are playing the Jamaican pair next, and we will be focusing
on that match..
"Gavin and I have been playing a bit recently, and we are enjoying it,
which is essential really, and it’s a running joke, we are constantly
asking each other “are you enjoying it?...”
"We know that we will be hard to beat, and even if they are all top
class players, they will really have to come and beat us, because we
will not get on court and not give 110%."
Tegwen Malik |
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 "Well, what is going
to be expected, is that the ladies are 'picked on' by the men, and
today was no different. Tegwen played very well… And it’s not because
we are higher ranked than them that we underestimated them, far from
it… We always knew it was going to be a hard match…
"It was the first time that Vicky and myself have played together, it
was also our first game today, and my first ever competitive doubles
match! So, we made a few errors, but that was to be expected, and we
know we’ve got things to work on, and actually, we’ve already spoken
with David Pearson about it…
"Doubles is a totally different sport, a lot of patience is required,
which is not my strongest point, I must admit… And it’s going to be
hard, very hard to get a medal here…"
James Willstrop
 "The
first game was a bit of a culture shock, as I got hammered, and the
second didn’t go that well either, so we knew we had to change
something… But it was a very close match, because neither of us wanted
to lose, a question of confidence I guess, as we should both get
through…
"James has been part of my family for a very long time, we get on very
well, and we were actually very happy to have been picked to play
together… And after we both lost in the quarters, we looked at each
other, and said “right, let’s get on with the doubles”…
Vicky Botwright |
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CLOSE BUT…
Grinham/Grinham
bt Waters/Duncalf (Eng) 11/9,
9/3, 10/8 |
The English pair Duncalf/Waters was a bit disappointed to have been
beaten 3/0, whereas they had a few chances, actually three game balls
in the first game, and one in the third, only losing 10/8 in the
third.
A slow start for the Gold Medallist Natalie Grinham, who made 6 errors
in the first, but settled down quite nicely after that, placing some
nice drop shots from the back of the court that Alison couldn’t return
while Rachael was as steady as ever. And on the English side, some
fine hitting from Jenny, and some gorgeous cross court lobs from
Alison…
Overall a fine performance from the Aussie, and the satisfaction from
the English to know that could threatened probably the best pair in
the world…
"We can’t really tell you about our game plan, but we were trying
to be consistent… And we played a lot on Natalie just because in
the first game, she made a lot of mistakes…
"They played the crucial points really well, and we couldn’t
convert the chances we had neither in the first game, nor in the
third, so we are disappointed to end up losing 3/0…. But then
again, they are supposed to be the best in the world…"
Alison Waters/Jenny Duncalf |
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 "They have much
more training that we had, I think we had about ½ hour on court
this week! I made a lot of errors in the first, we were the ones
with the pressure on…
"It’s so bouncy on there, it’s impossible to finish a point. Even
if you play a perfect shot, you can still pick it up…
"We had play a lot on Alison, and in the last game, Natalie
started to play on Jenny, and I just followed, a case of “let’s
change it up, change the pace…”
"Our game plan? Hit the ball up! We just didn’t want to make too
much of a bad start, because a double’s game is so quickly lost…"
The Grinham Sisters |
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Mixed
Doubles:
Kitchen/Leevey (Nzl) bt Brown/Pittock (Aus)
7/9, 9/7, 2/9, 9/6, 9/6 (75m) |
IMPRESSIVE KASEY…
That little girl couldn’t put a foot wrong tonight. Well, for what I could
see of the match, which I’m sorry to say, was not much, as unfortunately,
all the women’s doubles have been played on the outside courts, where you
do remember that absolutely no seating has been set for the spectators.
There is a gallery, with perfect viewing, which is open to virtually all
badges and press (including broadcast) except for me ...
I am not laughing…
So, I sort of imagined what the shots were by the sound of it, and the
positions of the girls. Nice thing to do standing up yet again crowed
behind other desperate squash fan/supporters for long hours …
In short, a perfect performance from the young Australians, who made
something like two unforced errors during the decider. And a steady match
for the New Zealanders, who switched sides after the first game, even
though Tamsyn made a few unforced errors in the first and third games, but
compensated later by some superb drop shots/cross courts (I think anyway,
once again, had pb to see much).
Amelia was solid on the backhand wall, and Casey showed superb touch on
the forehand. Those two threatened the World Doubles Champions, and their
preparation with Geoff Hunt obviously paid off…
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 "We
prepared for the event, we had a couple of camps, one in Manchester,
and then three days in Melbourne with Geoff. We played some matches,
worked on the specific shots/angles that doubles require, and Geoff
analysed our games and told us what was or was not working…
"You also learn to scream at your partner, to indicate to her to get
the ball, that you are not ready, etc. That way, we avoid leaving
the ball for the other one to play when she is not ready for it…
"Well, in the fifth, we were at 5/5, and the ball landed in the
middle. The ref called let, but as none of us called it, we honestly
couldn’t take it, and gave the ball back…
"We made a few errors, it was a tough match, and we have a few
things that we need to be working on before playing the English
tomorrow. We are playing well together, and everything can happen on
a double court. Today was not our day…"
Amelia Pittock /
Kasey Brown |
"We do change side depending on how
the match develops and the opponents, as we can both play both
sides… Today, I started on the backhand, and then moved to the other
side for the second game.
"I made a few errors, the rallies are so long, it’s difficult
sometimes to stay concentrated, also, you are getting finer and
finer with your shots, and eventually make the error…"
Tamsyn Leevey
 "During
the last World Doubles, we were match ball down in the third against
Kasey and Diane, so we were expecting a difficult match, even with
another combination. And Kasey played superbly, she hardly made any
mistakes…
"I thought I would adapt to the doubles better than I did tonight.
You’ve got to practice doubles, no matter what people may say. And
last week, I didn’t have the chance to do so… Luckily we went
through…"
Shelley Kitchen |
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