Great Squash
Story !
 NORMAN ROLLS BACK THE YEARS : Selby seals points
as TWP St George's Hill snatch their first win
of the season in the Premier Squash League.
Ross Norman, Squash legend and the 1986 World
Champion who has not played top level squash for
six years put TWP St George's Hill on course for
a famous victory against local rivals Unisport
Guildford at St George's Hill , Weybridge last
night.
Norman was called up when local youngster Tom
Richards turned his ankle in training and was ruled
unfit to play. With several other players away
playing international tournaments Norman was the
obvious choice to keep the team competitive in
a match they needed to win to have any chance of
making the league semi finals.
The super fit Norman, just two months short of
his 50th birthday defeated 21 year old Jamie Matthews
by three games to one in a 48 minute match which
had the old bones creaking but not quite giving
way as Norman retreived almost superhumanly all
that Matthews could throw at him.
It's 22 years this month that Norman ended the five
and three quarter year unbeaten run of Pakistani
Jahangir Khan in the World Open Final in Toulouse
and his classy performance against Matthews showed
that he is still capable of beating players in
the world's top two hundred.
TWP's lady player Rachel Willmott nearly failed
to make the match due to a major crash on the A3
which left her stranded in her car for an hour
and a half. Her comprehensive drubbing at the hands
of World number 6 Alison Walters must have made
Willmott wish she had stayed at home. She showed
glimpses of quality but her efforts went unrewarded
as British Champion Walters dominated most
rallies with her hard hitting.
TWP's Adam Fuller was making his debut for the Weybridge Club
against former World number 11 Steve Meads. Fuller
narrowly lost all three games as Meads showed just
too much class for the newcomer.
Mark Krajscak, TWP's Hungarian import flew
in from Vancouver to take part in the match. His
opponent Stacey Ross sensed that he could capitalise
on his opponent's jet lag and snatched the first
game. Krajscak's "power nap" on arrival
in England obviously paid off as he recovered
to win the second and third games. The fourth was
a humdinger which reached an amusing climax as
Ross gasping for breath asked for a new ball at
10 all. Krajscak, who would have well within
his rights to refuse, bizarrely agreed and then
even more strangely allowed himself to be rushed
into a restart as Ross tried to use the freezing
new ball to his advantage. Ross rolled the first
return for a quick winner but then Krajscak produced
a gem of his own before hounding down two more
Ross attacks to narrowly snatch the match.
 The decider kept the large crowd entertained until
the last rally as TWP's Daryl Selby ranked 37 in
the world faced South African number 1 and World
number 61 Jesse Englebrecht. Most people expected
Selby to saunter to victory as Englebrecht had
like Krajscak just returned from Canada. Englebrecht
came out of the blocks fast and took Selby by surprise
as he took the first game 11-5 and raced ahead
in the second. Selby vitally just managed to claw
back that game and dominated welll in the third
to take a two one lead. It was Selby who looked
as though he had spent twelve hours on a plane
as Englebrecht hunted down the volleys to level
the match and then lead 7-1 in the deciding game.
Selby looked spent as Englebrecht reached four
match balls at 10-6. Incredibly Selby stayed calm
and won the next six rallies, shattering the last
resistance of the indefatigable South African.
An amazing night of squash was enjoyed by all
present. The highlight for nostalgia buffs
was undoubtably Ross Norman's amazing age defying
performance but for sheer excitement Daryl Selby's
comeback in the final game would be hard
to top.TWP St George's Hill gained their first
win of the season despite having several players
missing. They travel to Exeter on December 2nd
hopefully at full strength, where they will hope
to climb the league table with another win.
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