The Chichester Centurions secured their spot in the inaugural Optasia Squash Super League finals night after a 3-1 away win over the Bristol Buccaneers guaranteed them a top-two finish in the league standings.
The Centurions, who with victory moved to 21 points after their last fixture of the regular season, now sit three points above second-placed Leamington Royals and six points above third-placed St George’s Hill Knights – a gap which is out of reach for the Knights to close down with just a singular match of their season remaining.
It was Oliver Pett, Noah Meredith and Torrie Malik who secured individual wins for the Centurions, with the Buccaneers’ Mohamed ElShorbagy taking the honours in his men’s match against Sanjay Jeeva.
This result ends the Buccaneers’ hopes of reaching the inaugural finals night, with the team sitting in fifth spot with eight points and a game of their campaign remaining.
Oliver Pett got the Centurions off to a dream start at Workout Harbourside with a straight-games victory in the opening match of the night, defeating James Peach 11-2,11-10 in the Club Heroes match.
Pett flew out of the blocks, racing into an early 6-0 lead and never looking back in a one-sided opening game. However, the Centurions player had to battle back impressively from 5-1 down and later 9-5 down in the second to seal victory.
The Englishman forced a sudden-death tie-break and subsequently sealed the match in style, smashing in an overhead cross-court nick to put his team on the board for the evening.
In the Men’s U25 match, it was Noah Meredith who continued his impressive season for the Centurions by defeating Malaysian rising star Harith Danial in a high-quality two-game encounter.
Meredith and Danial were well matched in the opening stages of both games, with the pair level at 5-5 and 4-4 in the respective games, but it Meredith, 23, who came on strong in the latter stages of both. The Centurions player sent his team into a 2-0 lead on the night after recording an 11-6, 11-8 win after 27 minutes on court.
The Women’s match between England’s Torrie Malik (Chichester Centurions) and Malaysia’s Rachel Arnold (Bristol Buccaneers) was an entertaining three-game bout, with winners flowing off the rackets of both players with regularity.
In a match which saw the momentum swing this way and that, it was World No.45 Malik who managed to recover from a second-game blip to take the match by an 11-9, 7-11, 11-6 scoreline.
The final match of the evening certainly didn’t disappoint with Centurions debutant Sanjay Jeeva going toe-to-toe with former World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy.
Despite ElShorbagy sealing an 11-7, 11-7 win, ‘The Beast’ was put through the mill by an eye-catching showing from his junior counterpart. Jeeva pulled off a number of sublime pieces of skill, including a winner on the pirouette and a winner following a dummy shot down the backhand wall – but ultimately this wasn’t enough to claim the victory, with home favourite ElShorbagy finishing proceedings with a win for the home side.
Attentions now turn to the final two fixtures of the season, which will see the Coolhurst Cavaliers host the Bristol Buccaneers and the Leamington Royals and St George’s Hill do battle for the last remaining spot in finals night. Both matches will be played on May 30 and will be available to watch live and for free on SQUASHTV.
Full replays of tonight’s matches will be available on the England Squash YouTube Channel.
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Results:
Men’s: Mohamed ElShorbagy [BB] bt Sanjay Jeeva [CC] 2-0: 11-7, 11-7
Women’s: Torrie Malik [CC] bt Rachel Arnold [BB] 2-1: 11-9, 7-11, 11-6 (25m)
Men’s U25: Noah Meredith [CC] bt Harith Danial [BB] 2-0: 11-6, 11-8 (27m)
Club Hero: Oliver Pett [CC] bt James Peach [BB] 2-0: 11-2, 11-0 (27m)
