Honours by tournament

Ian Swallow took the honours in the delayed final of the Ken Hewison Winter Handicap Tournament on Sunday evening beating reigning champion Stephen Hanover 100 - 92. The Winter Handicap tournament had been ‘frozen’ at the semi final stage due to conditions being too wintry.

In a repeat of the 2016 final which Ian also won, the pair started level on 75 points, a situation quickly remedied by Stephen who put his opening serve out, a surprising development for someone playing their third consecutive final. Ian capitalised on that mistake to take the next 4 points and that 5 point margin remained pretty steady for most of the match with the pair trading points as the scores inched up through the 80s and into the 90s.

With the finish line in sight, Ian applied more pressure to pull even further ahead to seal the victory over four times former champion, Stephen.

The final of the plate final was a real classic with Jacob Scott and perennial runner-up David Sledge well matched around a handicap of 75 - 65 respectively. Nearly every point was fought over a long rally with Jacob getting the better of the early exchanges and David struggling to keep the deficit down to around the original 10 points.

At 94 - 83, David dug deep to close the gap and succeeded in drawing level in a single hand. It looked as if Jacob’s race was run but there were still twists and turns to this surprising match. Jacob regained his composure to pull ahead and reach match point without conceding any further points before David once more turned things around and reined in 4 match points before finally going down 98 - 100 and picking up his third consecutive Winter Handicap Plate runner-up trophy. It was a tremendous match, appreciated by all the crowd.

Ian Swallow won the 2016 Ken Hewison Winter Handicap Tournament on Sunday 6 March beating Stephen Hanover 100 - 92 in the final.

Stephen has a considerable track record in this tournament, having won in 1998, 2011 and 2013, been runner-up in 2008 and won the plate in 2010. Ian had previously been runner-up in this tournament in 2014, the same year he won the Summer Handicap Tournament.

Starting on a level footing at 70 - 70, the couple traded point for point throughout the 70s and 80s and were rarely separated by more than a single point. As the match reached it’s end stages, however, Ian chased down every ball whilst Stephen’s dropshots increasingly found the tin, resulting in Ian taking the match 100 - 92.

Mike Jacobs regained the Ken Hewison Winter Handicap title by beating David Sledge in an entertaining final on Sunday 8 March. He had previously held the title in 2006. Earlier in the day, David had liberated the crown from the grasp of Simon Free who had been looking to add a consecutive Winter title to match the two Summer titles he holds.

The final was a step too far for David, though, even with the help of an 80 – 40 starting handicap; the points came all too slowly for him to halt Michael’s relentless progress towards the magic figure of 100. After a series of punishing rallies, Michael reached that mark whilst David was still on 96, his dream of repeating his own 2001 victory having long since slipped from his grasp.

The small crowd had mostly slipped away at the final whistle making the trophy ceremony a quiet affair. Organisers, Richard and Anita Crosbie, were pleased to report a 60% increase in the number of entrants compared with the last handicap tournament. In the main tournament, three matches reached the magic 100 - 99 score and a further seven were settled by five points or less.

The Ken Hewison Winter Handicap Tournament reached an epic conclusion on Sunday 2 March with a terrific final between Simon Free and Mike Burnett. Simon took the honours finishing on 100 points to Michael’s 97 from a starting scoreline of 75 – 50 but was pushed every inch of the way in a match that ebbed and flowed. You might imagine that trying to overcome a 2:1 handicap is a somewhat daunting prospect when your opponent has topped the leagues for the last 4 months but for most of the match it seemed that Mike would do just that as he gnawed away at the deficit. Simon was able to take the odd few points here and there though and always managed to keep in the game and a late flurry of points as Mike was threatening to achieve parity saw him through.

Simon currently holds the Summer Handicap title also, the only other members to achieve this Handicap Grand Slam being Roger Francis and Mike Burnett who has done so twice in 1994-5 and in 2009.

The crowd at Gerrards Cross Squash Club were treated to a terrific spectacle in the Ken Hewison Winter Handicap Final on Sunday 11 March as tournament new boy Trevor Loran beat Rishi Chandra in a thrilling match that went all the way to 100 - 99.

The match started with Rishi, a league 1 regular, on 90 points and Trevor back on 60. Rishi picked up a few points early on before Trevor started to pile on the pressure with some excellent squash. Rishi was no pushover however and played his part well scoring just enough points to keep in the hunt for the title. A late flurry of points set up a thrilling finish and saw Rishi almost claim victory before Trevor finally took the spoils with a judicious nick.

Trevor had previously shown his pedigree with back to back wins over Ian Swallow and Rory Fisher, both league 1 stalwarts.

It was an immensely satisfying end to a very enjoyable tournament that had attracted 32 entrants (a pleasingly round number and a power of 2). It encompassed more than the usual amount of drama with one quarter finalist playing with cracked ribs and another having to withdraw due to his wife going into labour!

Stephen Hanover took the 2011 Ken Hewison Winter Handicap Tournament on Sunday 13 March by beating Michael Jacobs 100 - 94 in the final. The pair started with an opening handicap of 80 - 60 and with Michael taking the first 5 points, it looked at first as if the handicap was not going to be enough. Stephen took the next three points to redress the balance.

The pair then traded points for a while with Stephen edging closer to the magic 100 points all the time. Michael managed a couple of late flurries of points whilst Stephen was in the 90's and even strung together a sequence of 9 consecutive points with Stephen on 98 but it was just too late.

You can see the full tournament results by following the link below:

2011 Winter Handicap draw

In the plate final, Chris Hockin beat Vince Paul 100 - 93 after starting at 70 - 75. Chris and Vince are regular sparring partners in the top two leagues and at the top of the ladder.

2011 Winter Handicap Plate draw

Robert Rickman won the Ken Hewison Winter Handicap Tournament by beating Ian Nunn 100 - 92 in the final on Sunday 7th February.

Starting from an initial handicap of 45 - 85, Robert overcame a shaky start which saw the first 6 points shared equally (making his task 18% harder). Having recovered his composure, Robert piled on the points to make up the deficit, eventually passing Ian's score in the early 90's and powered on to take the title with an 8 point margin.

In the Plate final, David Sledge gave an energetic display of running and stretching to beat Stephen Hanover 100 - 92. Starting from 75 - 65, the match progressed over a series of long rallies which kept the small crowd entertained. Both players went just about point for point but Stephen allowed David to play his own game which he did in a remarkably mistake-free manner to take the spoils.

Karl Wingfield won the Ken Hewison Cup for the 2007 Winter Handicap Tournament on Sunday 4th February beating Kevin Popely in an explosively decisive final.

In a match that neither looked nor sounded like any that I have ever played in, Karl seized the initiative from the outset. Starting on a surprising initial handicap score of 80 to KP's 75, Karl ruthlessly drove Kevin around the court to end the match on a score of 100-88.

Presumably, some insider knowledge was brought to bear on the selection of the handicap and 20-20 hindsight leads me to suspect that it was of a similar quality to that which lead us into war in Iraq but whatever the case, it would have had to have been seriously wrong in the other direction for the outcome of this match to have been any different.

In the final of the plate competition, Don Williams overcame tremendous industry from Joe Lyon to take the honours 100-98 after starting level on 70 points each.

This was an intriguing match where the competitors were rarely more than 2 points apart and with both parties sharing the lead at various stages. Don held the upper hand going in to the business end of the match but having come back from 88-99 earlier in the day he may not have felt unduly concerned if Joe had held the lead in the late 90's.

Well done all round and this time we all got home to watch the telly.

The annual Ken Hewison Winter Handicap Tournament was won last night by Michael Jacobs who triumphed over Rory Fisher in a fiercely contested final. The small crowd were treated to some tremendous squash in a classy final.

Starting with a handicap of 55 to Michael's 75, Rory took the first 6 or 7 points on the trot and looked very much like a man keen to get back home to catch something on the telly. However after his sluggish start, Michael recovered to stem the flow and battle to get back into the match. From this point he was able to defend his handicap advantage against Rory's challenge and held on to take the match with a 6 point cushion. (I hope Rory remembered to set the video!)

Earlier in the evening, the reigning Winter Handicap champion, Chris Hockin beat off a late challenge from David Sledge in a masterful display of synchronised running about to win the plate competition. Starting on a handicap of 60 to David's 75, Chris won the match to 97. Chris has won the plate on several occasions in the past and probably has enough to make a set now though the club website is strangely vague on the subject (perhaps we should inspect his kitchen cupboards).

Congratulations go to Chris Hockin who held his nerve to take the final of the Ken Hewison Winter Handicap Tournament. A number of people saw Chris prevail in a tense match against past winner, Steve Woods. Starting from 65 to 75, Chris saw half of his starting advantage whittled away before taking charge to win the match to 89 points.

The Plate trophy went to Rod Clark after an excellent final against Gwyn John. Starting on 60 points to Gwyn's 70, Rod took the early initiative and overhauled Gwyn's tally in the mid 80's only to see Gwyn rally. The match ended with both players trading point for point and with Rod taking the all important match point to win 100 to 99. They don't get closer than that."