Surrey Health & Racquets Poised For Historic PSL Prize
by Howard Harding
May 3, 2012 - Defending champions Integrity Surrey Health & Racquets are poised to record a historic double when the club takes on TWP St George's Hill in the second successive all-Surrey Premier Squash League (PSL) final next Tuesday (8 May) at Surrey Sports Park in Guildford.
Run from the beginning of the season in October, the premier England Squash & Racketball league, supported by Dunlop, has seen 11 teams fight for places in next week's final.
Victory over their Weybridge rivals for the second year running would see Surrey Health & Racquets not only become the first team in the league's 27-year history to take three titles in a row, but also the first to win the PSL crown a fourth time.
But the Croydon club will need to beat St George's Hill for the first time this season - after two narrow defeats in the group stages of the world's most prestigious squash league.
Tuesday's final promises to be one of the most evenly-contested of all-time - featuring a number of prized clashes between players with a rich history of combat on a squash court.
There is no more perfect example than the women's line-up between England's number two and three: Londoner Alison Waters (Surrey Health) and Lancashire lass Laura Massaro (St George's) - both of whom boast career-high world No3 rankings - contested British Junior Championship finals from U14 to U19 between 1997 and 2002.
In February this year, the pair went head-to-head for the British National Championship title - with Massaro winning the final to avenge the defeat to her England team-mate in the 2008 climax!
Surrey Sports Park will see their fourth meeting this year - with their career head-to-head record evenly-balanced at 11 wins apiece!
Essex school-mates Peter Barker and Daryl Selby could play the decider: Londoner Barker, the world No7 and Surrey Health top string, boasts a 13-5 career head-to-head record over the St George's number one who is ranked just three places lower. Selby is looking for his first win over the left-hander in six PSL meetings since 2003 - but became British champion in 2011, a status yet to be achieved by his England team-mate.
Adrian Grant and Tom Richards have competed against each for places in the England team over the past few years, with 25-year-old world No16 Richards (St George's) getting the selectors' nod ahead of the Surrey Health world No17 for this week's European Team Championships. So 30-year-old Grant will no doubt have a point to prove as he bids to extend his 7/1 head-to-head tally.
And two of the rising stars of continental squash will also want to demonstrate that the sport is played to a high standard beyond our shores. Surrey Health's German number one Simon Rosner has already beaten Nicolas Mueller, the highest-ranked Swiss player of all-time, this season in the league.
But the younger St George's third string from Zurich is now only five world ranking places below his German rival - and looking for his first win over Rosner in seven years.
Just two months separate the ages of the teams' fourth strings - and Adrian Waller (Surrey Health) and Joe Lee (St George's) have been doing battle since contesting the British Junior U15 final in 2004. Waller moved the head-to-head record between the pair to 6/5 after beating his rival in last month's British U23 Championship final - but the slightly older Lee has a PSL advantage of 3/1.
The Final kicks off at 7.00pm, with the following line-up:
Integrity Surrey Health & Racquets v TWP St George's Hill
Peter Barker v Daryl Selby
Adrian Grant v Tom Richards
Simon Rosner v Nicolas Mueller
Adrian Waller v Joe Lee
Alison Waters v Laura Massaro
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