Police Squash Team ends season on a high note

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The OLD BILL Police Squash Team has just completed its finest season ever by winning the Masters 2 Hong Kong Squash League by a clear six points and making it a double celebration, by winning the final of the top four teams in a playoff at the Hong Kong Squash Centre on the evening of April 3 in front of a large and boisterous crowd.

During the season, Andy Phillips played very well at No 1, winning eight out of 13 matches played. Peter "Daai Suk" Barnes played at No 2, winning nine out of 13 matches played and seemed to get better as the season progressed.

The OLD BILL player of the season has to be Kenny Ip Lau-chuen, who played most of his matches at No 3 as early in the season he was promoted up the order due to his outstanding fitness and speed on court. Kenny managed to win 12 out of 14 matches played. Playing in the top three is extremely hard in any league and these three players need to be congratulated for their outstanding results during the season.

Donnie "The Friendly Chairman" Choy Yuk-kwong, who is the Police Squash Club Chairman, started off at No 1 in the team, based on his experience as a former HK Junior Representative many months ago. However, his constant whinging resulted in him being dropped down the order to No 4. The team benefited greatly from this change of order resulting in Donnie winning eight out of 12 matches played.

Convener Paul Keylock played at No 5 and managed to win nine out of 13 matches played. Other players who contributed to this outstanding squash season were Alasdair Watson who won four out of five matches played, Auxiliary Police Officer Philip Ko Kok-wai who also won four out of five matches played, PC William Siu who won two out of three matches and finally John Cox who won his only match of the season.

The OLD BILL finished the league season off in style, winning their last seven matches in a row, losing only four games in the process, to win the league by six points from the Hong Kong Cricket Club (HKCC). We won 13 matches out of 16 played in the nine-team league.

In the final of the playoffs, the OLD BILL took on our closest rivals and good friends from the HKCC once again at the neutral venue of the HK Squash Centre. We were lucky to field our strongest team for this extremely close match. At No 5 Paul Keylock lost in three close games to David Nutman 3-0, whilst on the adjacent court, No 4 Donnie Choy took on Alva To and managed to win 9-5 in the fifth game, after leading by two games to nil and squandering three match points in the third game. This proved to be a very important win for the team.

At No 3, Kenny Ip took on Victor Poon, a former HK Team player, putting on an outstanding display of squash. At one game all, the close third game proved to be the decider as Kenny had two chances to win the game at 8-7 up, only to lose the game 10-8. Victor's experience enabled him to win the fourth game 9-3 to put the HKCC two matches to one up. So it was up to Peter "Daai Suk" Barnes and Andy Phillips to win their last two matches to secure the double championship for the OLD BILL team.

Peter was in outstanding form as he easily beat Vincent Chiu at No 2 in three straight games to put even more pressure on Andy to win at No 1. Things did not look good for the OLD BILL as Andy lost the first two games 9-1, 9-4 to be one game away from defeat. There was a conspiracy theory floating around in the huge crowd watching this exciting match that Andy, who just happens to be the Squash Convener of the HKCC, would lose this match. Where did Andy's priorities lie? For the OLD BILL or HKCC? We were soon to find out as Andy ran away with the next two games 9-2, 9-0 to take the match to the wire and deciding fifth game.

This was an extremely close game but at 6-6 in this final game, a fine refereeing decision by the HKCC marker who refused to award a "stroke" to Ronnie Tam, the HKCC player, giving the serve back to Andy. Andy then played some masterful squash to win the match 9-6 and secure the double for the OLD BILL. Both players deserved the outstanding ovation they received from both sets of supporters as they both staggered off court completely spent of all energy.

The match was played in the true spirit of Masters Squash and to show the great camaraderie between both teams. Photos were then taken on court involving both sets of players, prior to a lovely seafood dinner for both teams - a fitting finale to a most enjoyable and rewarding squash season for the OLD BILL Squash Team..

The OLD Bill Squash Team