The men’s county closed took place on
24/25 Jan at Chichester Racquets and Fitness Club for the first time, and
although the top professionals were not available this season the draw still
boasted a competitive field
Top seed was Ben Hutton of Corals with
club mate Dave Mann at 2 and
The opening round went to form with
none of the top players troubled pick of the round was Tony Adams 3-1 win over
Paul Wykes both from
In to the quarter finals with the top 3
seeds progressing untroubled although Steve Wykes made a meal out of his 3-2
win over
The semi finals followed on the Sunday
morning and top seed Ben Hutton played almost error free squash to defeat
Whiteley 9/2 9/0 9/2
Dave Mann (2) v Steve Wykes (3) proved
to be a great match with Mann taking a 2 games to 1 lead before Wykes fought
back to take the 4th and 5th 9/3 9/1
So to the final and the question was
did Wykes have enough gas in the tank to beat a player who was relatively
fresh, the answer almost
Both players started out playing brilliant
squash and sharing the opening two games before Wykes made a big push to take
the 3rd, the effort of this and the mornings semi had taken its toll and
although 1-2 down Hutton upped the speed and pace to take the last reserves out
of his opponent taking the 4th and 5th 9/0 9/2.
So Ben Hutton is the new Sussex County
Champion and his name joins alot of other great players on the magnificent cup
congratulations to him.
As for Steve Wykes a great performance
and at 19 year of age his day will surely come.
The plate event produced some
competitive matches with 4
A good weekends Squash, many thanks to
A special thank you to Malcolm Whiteley
for volunteering his services and marking the final
Mike Phillips
Event Organiser