European Squash Team Championships
| ENGLAND bt [2] FRANCE | 4/0 |
| James Willstrop bt Thierry Lincou | 7-11, 11-1, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7 (82m) |
| Nick Matthew bt Gregory Gaultier | 11-9, 11-9, 11-6 (53m) |
| Daryl Selby bt Mathieu Castagnet | 12-10, 11-7, 11-1 (35m) |
| Peter Barker bt Renan Lavigne | 11-6, 11-5 (17m) |
England men’s squash team dominated the european team championships, proving the current calibre of English squash. Their opponents in the final, a quality French line-up, were not going to be a push-over, especially in front of a home crowd in Aix-En-Provence. However, the English got off to the perfect start with James Willstrop coming through a tough 3-2 battle against Thierry Lincou to silence the local support. Gregory Gaultier, always capable of upsetting anybody on his day, had the opportunity to level the tie but Nick Matthew who has had a magnificent season, could not be shaken off by Gaultier and ran out winner by three games to love. Daryl Selby rounded off the English performance by defeating Mathieu Castagnet, and Peter Barker won the dead rubber 2-0.
England Squash – Strength in Depth
The victory reinforces the amazing strength in depth of English squash at this moment in time, with 4 players in the world top 10, one of whom is pushing for the number one spot, and a total of 6 players in the top 20, a feat matched only by the Egyptians.
There are many reasons for this success, including the tradition of this sport in the UK, as well as the top level of coaching that the players have been able to benefit from. However, concerns have recently been raised over the directions given to coaches such as David Pearson by Sport England, the funding body. Pearson is said to be considering his position because of increasing administrative duties given to him by the body, which is impeding his ability to coach.
Hopefully England Squash can continue to provide a solid structure for the sport to thrive, but they continue to operate in an environment ever less conducive to producing stars of the future, which is one of closing sports facilities across the country. One wonders whether the profile of the professional game needs to increase before people are inclined to pick up a racket, which will in turn lead to the opening of new facilities or whether simply the government needs to support sports facilities for squash, as well as other sports, rather than taking a laissez-faire approach and leaving them free to be used as land for property or any other kind of development.
