Last Tuesday Warrington hosted a truely wonderful night of exhibition squash.

 

Courtesy of our ever generous sponsor and supporter Alan Edge of EWL Logistics, we were able to offer two absolutely world class exhibition matches free-of-charge.

 

There was plenty of excitement in the crowd at the prospect of seeing three new players at our club, two of which are dubbed by their coach Rob Owen (coach to Paul Coll) as 'two superstars of the future'. Rob coaches 20 year-old Katie Maliff and 18 year-old Jonah Bryant, and considers them both to be so good, that we'll be seeing them both competing at the pinnacle of our sport very soon.

 

We started out with Warrington legend, Emily Whitlock vs Katie. From the first point Emily was absolutely 'on it'.

 

 

 

 

She was controlling the middle of the court and did not give Katie a second to settle into the match. Emily played amazingly well throughout. She used all four corners of the court in a deadly fashion, and was also moving smoothly, picking up every shot Katie could throw at her. Emily certainly feels at home on our No.5 court, but this was definitely the most accomplished performance we've seen her give us - I'm not sure whether it was to put the youngster in her place (who a few days earlier had beaten the World No.21 in Paris), or it was to get her hands on the £100 win bonus, but either way, Emily was awesome!

 

 

 

Katie came off court disappointed and I know she has more to give that what we saw, but she still impressed us. However, Emily was a class act. Seeing a ruthless display of supreme quality squash was a nice way to start the night.

 

 

 

After a quick drinks break where we all had twenty minutes to lubricate our throats with some tasty beer, on stepped Simon Herbert and Jonah Bryant. Simon has risen rapidly to World No.63 and plays a brand of squash which is fast and exciting. Jonah was an unknown quantity and we were all desperate to see if this just-turned 18 year-old is as good as what his coach thinks he is. Short answer - yes, he really, really is!

 

 

Would the junior feel any nerves playing a well-established player, or perhaps feel the pressure of the packed Warrington crowd? Absolutely not. He raced to a 7-0 lead, before Simon got on the scoreboard and tried to claw his way into the match. Each game followed a similar pattern, with Jonah dictating the rallies and Simon trying his best to survive and hit some spectacular winners, which he did. This was a fast and amazing match to watch, with outrageous speed on display, and some delightful shots, but Jonah was always ahead and always looked that bit more in control.

 

 

 

Jonah completed a high quality 3-0 win against his higher ranked opponent. Everyone in the crowd was blown-away by the level of Jonah's squash, and went home in awe of the young man. I personally feel there's not been a British 18 year-old like him since James Willstrop. One who is already showing they are World top 40 standard and are destined to reach the very top.

 

 

 

So, we saw two 3-0 matches but we witnessed some extremely high quality squash in both matches, with all four players impressing the Warrington Massive. After the matches there was a very tasty meal for the players and dignitaries, where we had the opportunity to further quiz the players. It feels like an exciting time at our club to have Simon and Jonah playing for Warrington this season, and we cannot wait to see them play again.

 

Thanks again to Alan for allowing us to put on this free-for-all exhibition. Great night. It's what we do.

 

 

Andy Whipp

Photos: Richard Bradbury