Truro School Squash success representing Cornwall

The fact that this years Under 13s Cornwall County team was solely represented by Truro School boys is a great testament to the continued success and investment in squash at Truro School. Inter-Counties is an England-wide tournament and saw Cornwall drawn against Avon, South-East Wales and Devon in the first round played at Newton Abbot.

With four boys making their county debut, the first match against Avon was tense. George P (5^th-string) played with great consistency and determination winning 11-9, 11-9, 11-5). Jason A skilfully won a very close match 12-10, 11-9, 18-16. Ben T (playing 3^rd-string) very narrowly lost 3 games to 2 (13/11, 2/11, 6/11, 11/9, 8/11). Jack M and Louis M (ranked 33 and 45 in England respectively) won their matches quite comfortable (11/6, 11/3, 11/1 and 11/2, 11/3, 11/0).

Next match up was against South East Wales who have great quality and strength in depth. Milo C lost in three games to a talented young player (2/11, 2/11, 1/11). Jason Ayliffe (8/11, 11/7, 7/11, 3/11) and Ben T (7/11, 11/9, 8/11, 12/14) both competed well against strong players but narrowly lost 3-1. Jack M (1^st –string) played well against an agile opponent and lost narrowly 3-1 (3/11, 8/11, 11/6, 9/11). Louis M bucked the trend and overpowered the Welsh 2^nd-string player, playing with great skill and focus winning 11/4, 11/1, 11/3.

The last match was against Devon, who earlier beat South East Wales 5-0 and are one of the favourites to win the Inter-Counties. Although Jason A (9/11, 2/11, 7/11), George P (3/11, 0/11, 4/11) and Milo C (6/11, 2/11, 13/15) all lost in 3, each player enjoyed the experience and competed well against good squash players who play at a high level. This bodes well for the future of squash in Cornwall. Jack M(1^st-string) played an old adversary (Ioan Sharpe, the Welsh No. 1) who Jack had recently beaten convincingly in Exeter. But on the day Ioan was on great form not putting a foot wrong and Jack lost in 3 (11/9, 11/6, 11/8). The last match of the round turned out to be the best match of the day. Louis M had recently beaten Billy W in the semi-final of the Bristol Open. Both players play with great skill and strength and the first game went to the wire with Billy winning 16-14 (after Louis had been leading 10-6). In the second game Billy consolidated his lead and when Louis faced two match points in the 3^rd it looked all over. But Louis kept calm and played amazingly controlled and intelligent squash to win the 3^rd 12-10. The next two games were ferocious with Louis keeping a focus on the quality and variety of his shots to pull off a great comeback winning the final two games 11-7 and 11.6.

Although Cornwall came third on the day, there were great signs that squash has a great future in the County of Cornwall and Truro School.