The Scottish Jesters vs RAC @ Pall Mall 13/1/2024 – Official Match Report
By Richard Winter.
The Jesters club is very active in Scotland with a healthy number of first class squash players mostly playing around the Edinburgh area. The Edinburgh sports club is the finest squash club in Scotland with a thriving membership and over 250 active squash players. Padel has also taken a grip of their club and they now have 3 covered courts and the members participation is growing fast. This fixture with the Scottish Jesters has been running for several years. There is a return fixture in Edinburgh in the summer. The Jesters come down each January for their London outing. Cleverly timed to catch the half-price sales on Regent Street and now they have discovered that flying is half the price of a train ticket. Very Scottish. They arrived on Friday and settled into the comfort of the Lansdowne Club where they were suitably entertained.
Waking early on Saturday they faced the best squash players the Lansdowne could find, led out by none other than squash legend Tim Garner. After a tough morning’s squash they had a pub lunch and a quick wander around the sales before turning up at the RAC at 5pm.
They arrived with a team of 6 first class squash players. I don’t usually have any problems finding a team from the RAC, but frustratingly we had a couple of injuries and several of our first team players had family commitments. So the line up was:
- Oli Harwood (Jesters Candidate) vs. Chris Leiper
- Tim Ng vs. Simon Boughton (Jesters Candidate)
- Club Pro Simon White vs. Edinburgh Club Pro Ross McHoul
- Richard Winter vs. Fraser Macdonald
- Stephen Jones vs. Adrian Richmond
- Cynthia Low (Jesters candidate) vs. Edith MacKenzie
RAC and Jesters stalwart, Dom Curtis wasn’t able to stay for the match but was hanging around looking for a game so we kicked off with a quick doubles while Cynthia and Edith went on Court 2 and Tim and Simon went on Court 1. I watched both matches.
Cynthia and Edith had a fantastic match. Edith took the first 11-6 in a very tight game. I could sense Cynthia was starting to find her length and she came out in the 2nd game on fire. Putting a little more height on her cross-court shots, she was able to move Edith to the back. With more dominance on the “T” Cynthia won the second 11-6. I really felt it could go either way but Edith started driving a hard length and resumed her dominant position in front of Cynthia, who was tiring. A win to Edith and the Scots went 1 up.
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Meanwhile we had another cracking match on Court 1. New RAC member Tim Ng who is half Simon Boughton’s age, in his mid-twenties. Tim moves superbly and was in charge, 2 games up. 52 year-old Simon wasn’t having any of it. Using his experience he clawed back the next 2 and we were set for a cracking 5th game. Tim held his nerve and won the 5th 11-9.
Next we had Stephen Jones on vs. Adrian Richmond on Court 1. Club Champion in 1986 Jonesey knows his way around this court and had been up to play the Scottish last year on their home turf. With all that knowledge he couldn’t quite pull it off on the night. Adrian was too strong and apart from almost slipping up in a close 2nd game 12-10 he ran in a 3/0 win. Point of note; Bit strange having different coloured shoe laces?
Fraser was also in charge on Court 2 against myself. The closest I came was at 9-6 up in the 2nd game. Lost that one 9-11. Fraser is as fit as anyone and flies round the court like a gazelle, picking up everything I threw at him up and sending it back with interest. I was hoping his tough match vs. Mamood in the morning would have taken its toll but Fraser can clearly run forever. So we were now 1:3 down in the match.
Time to play my trump card. With Rick Johnson pulling out injured I drafted in Simon White the club professional, last minute. Simon had been up all night after the staff party at the club and had also been giving lessons all day. He was knackered and would really have chosen to do anything else rather than play a squash professional from Scotland in a full-on match. But Simon is our banker. Too strong for the Scottish captain Ross. Some superb squash from both of them and a lesson for all of us, just watching. Both players play with such style and panache. What a treat. And 2:3 now.
With all eyes on the number 1 strings Oli v Chris. Chris had played Tim Garner in the morning and had a pub lunch and Oli had had an early night. Brilliant squash and another treat for us all to watch. Chris is one of Scotland’s most accomplished players and took the match 3/0. Oli is a newcomer playing into our club as a Jester candidate and RAC member-elect, we are hoping to see much more of him in our club teams.
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So the match result; 4:2 to Scottish. However, we had kept the doubles going on in the background, and it wouldn’t be fair not to count the doubles scores. The first match with Dom and Oli vs. Chris and Ross was a draw. They were kicked off at 1/1 and 7-7. Next up was Cynthia & Fraser v Adrian and myself. Slightly confusing as we had a Scot on both teams. The result therefore didn’t really matter. Most importantly though Tim and Stephen managed to find a way past Edith and Adrian and as we had played our Joker on their match giving us an extra point it leveled the match at 4/4.
There were some accounting irregularities raised by the audit committee over dinner (Cynthia & Oli) but as they were on our side we ignored them and called the match a Jesterly draw. It was agreed we would all try the Turkish baths and more importantly the ice pool. I remember these hardy Scots were a bit timid last time they were here and I’m not sure Ross even managed to get his head under the water. However, they have been in practice and Fraser even has an ice bath at home now. A couple of points noted;
1. Cynthia only just managed to get in up to her knees!
2. Where was Edith? Non-playing supporter, James Gardner, match manager for the away fixture turned up on a recruitment drive for the summer. He loves the ice and showed us all the way and after 20 minutes of ice and sauna everyone needed a beer.
Dinner was spectacular in the comfort of the Brooklands room being waited on hand and foot by the brilliant RAC catering team. Silver service. The steak and chips were a complete hit and all washed down with some fine wine from the RAC members’ cellar. We were the last to leave the Brooklands with the breakfast tables being laid around us.
We eventually left and managed a group photo in the central rotunda next to the stunning Triumph Scrambler on the way out.
Lot of talk of a Jesters tour to Hong Kong in time for the world championships later this year? Cynthia/Tim – over to you!?
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Scores: RAC vs The Scottish Jesters
Oli Harwood (Jesters candidate) vs. Chris Leiper (Jesters candidate) 7-11, 8-11, 5-11
Tim Ng vs. Simon Boughton 11-7, 11-8, 6-11, 7-11, 11-9
Simon White vs. Ross McHoul 11-?, 11-?, 11-?
Richard Winter vs. Fraser Macdonald 7-11, 9-11, 5-11
Stephen Jones vs. Adrian Richmond 8-11, 10-12, 7-11
Cynthia Low vs. Edith Mackenzie (Jester Candidate) 6-11, 11-6, 4-11, 8-11
Doubles
Dom Curtis & Oli Harwood vs. Ross McHoul & Chris Leiper 1/1, 7-7
Richard Winter & Adrian Richmond vs. Cynthia Low & Fraser Macdonald 15-5, 15-8
Edith Mackenzie & Adrian Richmond vs. Stephen Jones & Tim Ng RAC Won