Saints crowned champion of KPMG Squash League

The Saints were crowned champion of this year’s KPMG Squash League at last Friday’s final against Bad Man Fu at the Liguanea Club in Kingston after an exciting showdown in front of a packed gallery.

Saints were playing in their third final, while Bad Man Fu were playing in their first. Still, in the lead up to the big matchup, it was Bad Man Fu who laid down the gauntlet, promising excitement and raising the anticipation for fireworks in the final.

The first match between Jerazeno (Jerry) Bell and Alan Roper tested both players’ fitness and skill but it was Roper who had to take two breaks during the first game, which he eventually abandoned at 15-13 in favour of Bell. The second game was more pressure on Roper who lost that one 16-21, as he could not keep up with the speed of the game. The third game was no different as Bell overpowered Roper to take the game 21-15 and the match in straight sets. The hallmark of that match for Bell was better ball anticipation and placement as well as fitness.

Saints captain Mario O’Connor had Bad Man Fu’s Col. Roderick Rowe scampering all over the court but still missing the ball. Scores in their match were 21-9, 21-15, 21-11 — another straight sets win for Saints.

The third match was a consolation one as Bad Man Fu’s best player, captain Kyle Chin, got the better of Saints Leigh Dwyer in straight sets with scores of 21-17, 21-15, 21-19.

O’Connor, who was named the MVP of the league, was very happy to finally get hold of the coveted trophy.

“We’ve come to the finals three times, finally winning this one. Got knocked out a series of times in the semis and the quarters. So I’m over the moon right now, I’m very happy.”

“These guys, they’re over the moon as I am. And, as a team, you know, we stuck together, we tried to play everybody’s strengths, utilise that throughout the tournament. And it really worked out.”

“It’s something we discussed as a team, trying to figure out what the best playing order would be and what would be best for us. Regardless of the order that they had, we wanted to stick to our strongest players playing first and it paid off in the end. Unfortunately, they didn’t do that and it really worked out for us. I’m glad for that,” said O’Connor.

Looking back on the match, Bad Man Fu’s Chin said that there were two main reasons for their loss.

“The man dem play strategy pan we. Two things happened. So, first of all, today I got a message from one of my teammates that he wasn’t feeling well at all, came down with the flu and could not come and play. So we had to play our reserve, so that was the first thing. And the second thing is, so we don’t get to see each other’s line-up. So the players play at random, right? So we come in and we each state how our team members are going to be placed, 1, 2 and 3. And, whereas I wanted to play against Jerry, they played the strategy and they put Jerry against someone else. And they just kind of had a greater line-up in terms of the draw. And it led to what it led to, and they played very well. And all credit to them, they won.”