Promotion for County

The Durham & Cleveland County under-19 boys took on teams from Warickshire, Lancashire and Buckinghamshire in Stage 2 of the Inter-County Championships. At stake was a place in the Division 1 Premier League and at the end of the two-day event only one of the four teams would be promoted.

The County juniors started well repeating last year's whitewashing of the Lancashire side with Redcar's Nick Pugsley and Aycliffe's Graham Johnson having impressive 3/0 win's against powerful opposition. County Champion Lee Skinner reversed a pervious defeat in December's Northumbria Junior Open final by Lancashire's Michael Person by 3/1 to leave their personal battle at 2/1 in the Aycliffe teenager's favour.

The evening's crunch match against Warwickshire was the weekend highlight as they had under 19 nationally ranked Adam Terhege playing at No.1 and under 17 England international Dean Alder playing at No.2, so a good start was imperative. Durham's Michael Burton playing at No.4 tried hard to recreate his mornings imposing 3/0 win but was always struggling against the experienced Peter Ash. Nunthorpe's Richard Collins was always far too strong for his southern opponent and a thumping 3/0 win was a just reward for a commanding display. Aycliffe's Graham Johnson playing at No.3 was struggling with a niggling back injury but produced the gutsiest performance of the day with a 3/2 win over a strong Rob Alger. Johnson flew out of the starting blocks and was unstoppable until a disputed call for a 2/0 lead caused a momentary loss of concentration allowing Alger to level a 1/1. At 2 games apiece the pressure was on Johnson and the County and when Alger served for the match it looked like Johnson's brave fight was over but his strong runing and powerful backhand drive's forced Alger to make several unforced errors allowing a cool Johnson to clinch a nail biting 5th game.

Johnson's heroics were the inspiration for the top two which started with Lee Skinner playing at No.1, taking on the big hitting Adam Terhege in a first ever meeting. A 9/0 first game win for the Aycliffe teenager was unexpected against his nationally ranked opponent who had won for the Warwickshire Senior County side against Durham & Cleveland's Senior Men last season. The next two games followed the same pattern with Skinner's speed nullifying the explosive power of Terhege and a 3/0 win decided the tie for the County. The evenings final game saw Redcar's Nick Pugsly playing at No.2, take on the classy England international Dean Alder. The match started in explosive fashion with Alder taking the first 9/2 and Pugsley struggling to find his feet, but a fightback saw Pugsley take the next 2 games leaving a packed crowd breathless. The expected fight back from Alder happened over the next 2 games but the points gained in a 3/2 defeat gave the county a fighting chance for promotion to the premier division against Buckinghamshire on the Sunday.

The final day saw the County juniors beat Buckinghamshire 3/2 to compete a fantastic weekend winning all 3 matches and promotion for the second year running. Graham Johnson's back finally gave up when he was forced to retire when leading 2/1and Michael Burton was unlucky to lose out in the 5th game. The top 2 both had authoritative 3/0 wins and Nunthope's Richard Collins continued his winning ways also with a 3/0 win.

Final positions: 1st Durham & Cleveland 54 points; 2nd Warwickshire 41; 3rd Lancashire 23 points; 4th Buckinghamshire 16 points.

Results: Durham & Cleveland bt. Lancashire: Lee Skinner bt. Michael Pearson 4/9, 10/9, 9/4, 9/4.

Nick Pugsley bt. Chris Lengthorn 9/7, 9/1, 9/1.

Graham Johnson bt. James McMillan 9/2, 9/3, 9/0.

Michael Burton bt. Nathan Liddle 9/1, 9/3, 9/3.

Richard Collins walkover.

Durham & Cleveland bt. Warwickshire: Lee Skinner bt. Adam Terhege 9/0, 9/2, 9/2.

Nick Pugsley lost Dean Alder 2/9, 9/5, 9/1, 0/9, 1/9.

Graham Johnson bt. Rob Alger 9/6, 8/9, 9/4, 5/9, 10/8.

Michael Burton lost Peter Ash 4/9, 4/9, 3/9.

Richard Collins bt. Andy Wamington 9/6, 9/1, 9/4.

Durham & Cleveland bt. Buckinghamshire: Lee Skinner bt. Tom Power 9/2, 9/7, 9/3.

Nick Pugsley bt. Alex Hartley 9/0, 9/1, 9/5.

Graham Johnson retired Ross Baker 9/1, 9/2, 2/9.

Michael Burton lost James Haussauer 9/10, 9/6, 7/9, 9/6, 6/9.

Richard Collins bt. Alister Knight 9/1, 9/2, 4/9, 9/7.

Hambleton Ales North Yorkshire League

Champions Bedale strengthened their grip on leadership of Division One when they defeated title rivals Harrogate Squash II 2-1.

The victory followed their recent 3-0 win against Wensleydale, also challenging for the silverware.

Bedale's latest win cemented their place at the top with 122 points from 12 matches. Harrogate Squash II, who have a match in hand, are on 102 points and Wensleydale, also a match in hand, have 97 points.

Match scores Harrogate Squash II 1 Bedale 2 (Harrogate names first): Martin Wickenden lost to Phil Martin 5-9 10-9 6-9 7-9; Bob Peacock lost to Dave Smiley 9-5 6-9 4-9 4-9; Steve Ross beat Alan Peirson 9-4 5-9 3-9 10-9, 9-0.

Meanwhile Northallerton player Peter Pinkney who, as reported recently, was forced to pull out of a recent match against Harrogate, had to undergo an operation on his achilles tendon.

League secretary Chris Lennox said it could be six months before Pinkney, a farmer at North Otterington, could play again.

In Division Two Boroughbridge, newly-promoted this season, took over leadership of the division for the first time after beating Wensleydale III 2-1 away

Match scores (Wensleydale names first): Dave Booth beat Stuart Rennison 9-7 9-3 9-6; Ian Brogan lost to Joe Royle 9-4 6-9 7-9 9-7 4-9; Dave Harmsworth lost to Phil Strong 4-9 5-9 9-6 3-9.

Division One: Pateley Bridge 0 Harrogate Squash 3 (Paul Hotchkiss, John Alderson, Mark Harding); Harrogate Squash II 1 (Steve Ross) Bedale 2 (Phil Martin, Dave Smiley).

Division Two: Knaresborough II 3 (Gary Hatch, Adrian Forge, Peter Bottomley) Thirsk II 0; Harrogate Squash III 3 (Adam Hughes, Ian Woodhead, Paul Duncalf) Wensleydale II 0; Wensleydale III 1 (Dave Booth) Boroughbridge 2 (Joe Royle, Phil Strong); RAF Leeming 0 Bedale II 3 (Dave Horner, Mike Richardson, Dave Wheatley).

Division Three: Harrogate Squash IV 2 (Karen Leake, Andy Winspeare) Wensleydale IV 1 (James Iveson); Bedale IV 3 (Andrea Offord, Andrew Sedgwick, Geoff Cole); Thorpe Perrow 2 (John Hart, Jim Arling) Pateley Bridge II 1 (Andy Balsdon).

Harrogate and

District League

A teenager who clocked up two victories for different teams within hours of each other has been hailed a "super fit sub".

A selection shortfall meant Adam Hughes was needed by Harrogate Squash II team and later their fourth team on the same night.

Adam wasted little time in beating Gary Hatch as the second team defeated Knaresborough 3-0.

Hughes posted scores of 9-6 9-0 9-6 before playing for the fourth team, helping them to a 3-0 win over Bedale.

And on this occasion the youngster defeated John Abbotson 9-3 9-7 9-8.

Hughes's victory for the second team helped to keep them in the First Division title race where they are third, seven points behind leaders Chapel Allerton.

Division One: Chapel Allerton II 1 (Nick King) Ilkley 2 (Andrew Hutchinson, Paul Maunsell); Adel 1 (Mark Ambler) Moortown 2 (Richard Hill, Mark Pinkerton); Ilkley II 3 (Nick Sutcliffe, Tom Songhurst, John Henderson) Collingham 0; Harlow 0 Harrogate Squash 3 (Tony Nowakowski, Nicola Pratt, Stuart Macdonald); Nomads 1 (Andy Hall) Chapel Allerton 2 (Mike Dickens, Jim Denmark); Harrogate Squash II 3 (Bob Peacock, Simon Myring, Adam Hughes) Knaresborough 0.

Division Two: Harrogate Squash IV 3 (Adam Hughes, Paul Duncalf, Paul Woodhead) Bedale 0; Boroughbridge 2 (Simon Robinson, Stuart Rennison) Otley 1 (Brian Westerman); Ilkley III 2 (Neil Cowan, Paul Manley) Knaresborough II 1 (Peter Bottomley); Moortown II 1 (Nigel Lister) Harlow II 2 (John Graham, Roger Calvert); Collingham III 1 (Dave Rushton) Harrogate III 2 (Steve Ross, Dave Dodwell).

Division Three: Harrogate Squash V 1 (Tim Welch) Moortown IV 2 (Steve Holroyde, Martin Wilkinson); Knaresborough III 0 Collingham III 3 (Robin Wimbush, Toby Morton, John Simpson); Otley II 1 (John Stilwell) Pateley Bridge 2 (Chris Lennox, Bill Hannay); Moortown III 2 (Phil Maher, Mark Westmancoat) Ripon 1 (Brian Clark); Harlow IV 2 (Dave Allenby, Martyn Hall) Boroughbridge II 1 (Alistair Hogg).

* Two North Yorkshire players helped Yorkshire retain the Inter County under-19 championship for the fourth successive season at Pontefract.

Adam Nowakowski featured in the 5-0 win by the Tykes against South East Wales, beating Damien Burgess 9-0 9-0 9-4.

And in the final Nowakowski's Harrogate Squash Club colleague Chris Gordon defeated Brendan Hanley 9-4 9-1 9-3 as Yorkshire beat Sussex 4-1.

Gordon was also in action at the Prince Grand Prix in Edinburgh, but after clearing the first round met world No 2 John White (Scotland) going out 15-5 15-5 15-6 with White going on to win the title.