Derbyshire Sport website search

Enter keyword - eg. athletics

Russell Clark leads Derbyshire to Northern Cup victory

14 May 2008

The Northern Cup is a long established inter-county squash tournament played between various northern counties, and during its history, several of its competitors have subsequently progressed to professional and international competition.

The 2008 event saw nine counties competing from all over the north of England; each team consisting of five players.

Day one consisted of pool matches, three pools each of three counties. The winners of each pool would progress to a three way final, while the 2nd and 3rd placed teams would enter playoffs for 4th-6th and 7th-9th places.

The Derbyshire team consisted of:

String 1 Russell Clark (England Ranking #2)

String 2 Adam Turner (England Ranking #40)

String 3 James Blythe (England Ranking #54)

String 4 Alex Wilson (No England Ranking)

String =5 Oliver Favell (No England Ranking)

String =5 Alex Ross (No England Ranking)

Derbyshire sailed through Saturday's pool matches against Cumbria and Leicestershire; dominant throughout, they beat Cumbria 5-0 and Leicestershire 4-1. The convincing victory earned them a place in the three way final the following day against Yorkshire & Northumbria.

It was a different story on Sunday, with two tough matches against Yorkshire and Northumbria. In both matches the Derbyshire 4th and 5th strings lost their opening matches, leaving the top three needing to win all three remaining matches.

In both ties Russell’s national calibre turned the tide, he won both matches in comprehensive style and set the tone for the 2nd and 3rd strings to finish the job.

In what was generally a close fought encounter, Russell, who is one of the beneficiaries of the Derbyshire Talented Athlete Fund (opens in a new window), led the way for Derbyshire, winning all four of his matches without dropping a single game.