Heaphy Shield hopes helped by home advantage

Provincial squash pride will again be to the fore when the much-prized Heaphy Shield goes on the line upstairs at Stadium 2000 this weekend.

This will be the 46th year of the competition, which this time will be hosted by the Marlborough Squash Rackets Club. The shield was first played for in 1976 after being presented by Neil Senior from Nelson and David Winstanley from Marlborough.

From his position as team reserve, captain Grant Craig will lead a strong Marlborough team in defense of the trophy. Last year, Marlborough enjoyed a comprehensive victory in Nelson, winning 28 matches to West Coast’s 11 and the home side’s nine.

Two A-grade players, both playing in their first Heaphy Shield competition, head Marlborough’s men’s team.

Thomas Jordaan, who is new to the region, and junior Tom Marshall will play at number one and two for Marlborough with Hannes Schoeman and Henry Moran filling the third and fourth positions. Nelson’s team comprises Henry Aiken, Nick Wiffen, Nick Burns, Liam Gale and reserve Angus Morris Denby, while West Coast’s line-up includes Nathan Coll, Ben Coll, Clarke Ellery, and Shaun Lynch. Both sides are expected to provide strong competition for Marlborough’s men.

The local women’s team welcomes back Megan Craig, who will take the number one spot, with Mickayla Kerr playing at two. The reverse singles format of the competition will see them playing Erin Ellery and Sam Rooney from the West Coast and Karen Walton and Keren Barcus from Nelson.

Leonie Marshall and Julie Brown round out the women’s team with Rachel Hebberd in reserve. Their opposition will be Christine Palmer and Kayla Harvey from Nelson and Terri Campbell and Jolene Godfry from the West Coast. Sue O’Connell is Nelson’s reserve and Beth Giles will fill that role for the Coasters.

This year the competition sees a notable rule change. Previously a reserve was only allowed to play if a team had a genuine injury but this year a team is allowed to substitute a player with their reserve for any reason. However, they can only make one substitution during the competition. This gives teams the opportunity to play strategically by bringing in a fresh player part way through the competition.

The public are welcome to attend, with high quality, competitive squash on offer. Matches start at 6pm on Friday July 2, with final games scheduled to go on court at 12.45pm on Sunday after a 9am start. Two rounds will be played on Saturday, starting at 9am and 2pm.