Guernsey’s director of squash, Peter Bridgeman. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 0531100)
PETER BRIDGEMAN has taken a swipe at Jersey and accused them of creating bad feeling between the islands after the Caesareans won their first inter-insular in nine years on their home courts.
Jersey’s surprise inclusion of former world number three David Evans and a poor challenge in the junior ranks disappointed Bridgeman.
The GSRA director of squash, who ends his five-year stint in the island at the end of the season, was annoyed over the use of Evans, who wiped the floor with Guernsey number one, Martin Watts. Evans dropped just one point.
‘Having been informed, two weeks prior to the event, that Evans was not participating, I did feel let down to see his name appear on the team sheet.
‘Had I known, we would have asked for Chris Simpson to be in our line-up.
‘This inclusion of a player of his standard, having been told that he was not playing, did nothing for the sport and only leaves bad feeling between the islands.’
Bridgeman praised the strength of the home squad.
‘This is the strongest men’s team Jersey has fielded since I’ve been director and with David Evans playing at number one, we were always going to be up against it.’
Guernsey’s juniors retained the boys’ and girls’ trophies, but Bridgeman was not happy.
‘Competition is important when you live on an island and for several years now Jersey have failed to provide any significant competition in these categories.
‘If this trend is going to continue then I fear for the future of the inter-insular in its present state.
‘If Jersey juniors do not step up to the mark then it will be hard to justify the cost involved in the present climate.’
On the plus side for the Sarnians, their women’s A and B teams retained their respective trophies and collected 10 wins from 13 individual matches.
The Guernsey sides were a mixture of young and old, with the youngest players being Imogen Oldfield and Amy Stenner (both aged 13) and the oldest super-veterans Rose Druckes and Louise Grayland. But all won 3-0.
In the men’s matches, Jersey won the first-team match 5-0 and the B match 4-1 with Andy Biggins the only visiting winner.
Former CI champion Mark Roberts played second string for the Sarnians, but from 2-1 up in sets lost 9-6 in the fifth.
The final overall match scores were level at 11-11 and the points score was 45 to Guernsey, 59 to Jersey.
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