MATT MEDCRAFT BECOMES THE  THIRTY THIRD PLAYER TO TAKE HANDICAP TITLE

Cromer Squash Club hold four internal tournaments during the course of a season and the last one of these, the annual handicap tournament, traditionally takes place in the spring of each year just before the winter season of matches draws to an end. The first tournament was held in 1981 and since then, apart from two years early in the millennium and one year when Covid was the winner, players of all abilities have taken to the courts each year in a bid to lift the prestigious trophy which was originally presented by The Gateway Building Society.

The beauty of the handicap tournament is that players of all abilities, in theory at least, have an equal chance of lifting the trophy and this year two of the higher handicap players, Will Warren (+8) and Matt Medcraft (+8) fought their way through to the final. Both players are members of the club’s second team with Warren having previously won the title back in 2020 and Medcraft looking to get his name on the honours board for the first time.

After a week of intense competition and closely fought matches, the tournament reached its conclusion on Friday evening and it was Medcraft who narrowly came out on top as he became the thirty third different player to lift the title, coming from behind to win 13-15 15-11, 12-15, 15-10, 15-9

With both players on identical handicaps and of similar playing ability, a close match was anticipated and so it proved with each game closely contested.  In the first game the players traded point for point until with the score at 9-9 Warren won the next four points to open up a 13-9 lead before going on to take the game 15-13. The second game followed a different pattern with Medcraft going from 4-4 to 9-4, a lead he maintained as he took the game 15-11 to draw level.

The third game followed a similar pattern to the first with Warren establishing a five point lead at 13-8 before taking it 15-12 to lead 2-1 only for Medcraft to draw level when he overcame a few nerves at 11-5 in the fourth to take the game 15-10.  At 7-7 in the fifth, the match could have gone either way, but it was a delighted Medcraft who took eight of the next ten points to win the game 15-9 and the match 3-2 thereby ensuring he would get his name on an honours board at the club for the first time.

The four times Handicap champion John Baker who first won the tournament 41 years ago back in 1984 was among the large and appreciative crowd on the balcony and said afterwards: “Well played Matt and Will. It was a very good final which could have gone either way” and Baker was in fact beaten in this year’s semi-final by Warren , “who played exceptionally well and took full advantage of his seven point start” going down 15-2, 15-7 15-12 while Medcraft beat one of the club’s newer players, Tommy Makeown 3-1.

CROMER SQUASH CLUB -  HANDICAP COMPETITION 

                     WINNER                                               RUNNER-UP 

1981   GORDON LITTLE                                 NICK AMIS 

1982   DAVE LONG                                           JOHN HAUGHAN 

1983   DAVID BUTLER                                     JIM RUSSON 

1984   JOHN BAKER                                         DAVID BUTLER 

1985  GRANT GOODEN                                 MARTIN BRAYBROOK 

1986   KIM PAYNE                                               TOBY AMIS 

1987  GWEN BRAYBROOK                          JOHN BAKER 

1988  DAVE ANDERSON                                NICK AMIS 

1989  GILL RUSSON                                           DAVID JOHNSON 

1990  JOHN BAKER                                           ALAN SPINKS 

1991  JOHN BAKER                                            GILES MARGARSON 

1992  SUZANNE BRAYBROOK                   JEAN DRISCOLL 

1993  PAUL SMITH                                              HELEN RATCLIFFE 

1994  ROGER TUCK                                            GARY SPRUCE 

1995  CHRIS MOORE                                         GARY GULLER 

1996  CHRISTINE HAYDON                           HELEN RATCLIFFE 

1997  SUZANNE BRAYBROOK                    IAN GRAY 

1998  STEVE MUTTON                                      NICKY BURTON-PYE 

1999  TRISTAN BURTON-PYE                       BEVERLY KNOTT 

2001 DAVID JONES                                             CHRIS CAREY 

2003 MICHAEL HOLDOM                              STEVE MUTTON  

2004 STEVE MUTTON                                       JOHN PELTON 

2005 CHRIS MARSHALL                                  SEBASTIAN GASSE  

2006 STEVE MUTTON                                       SIMON BARCLAY 

2007 BEN HERRIEVEN                                      CLIVE SLATER  

2008 ALEX FOSTER                                             KIM PAYNE 

2009 HENRI PAUL                                                 MARTIN BRAYBROOK 

2010 PETER FOSTER                                           MARTIN SANVILLE 

2011 RICHARD KEEBLE                                    ALISTAIR DUNNETT 

2012 RICHARD KEEBLE                                    HENRI PAUL 

2013  MARTIN SANVILLE                                PETER FOSTER 

2014 PETER ARBUTHNOT                              MARTIN SANVILLE 

2015 RICHARD MOORE                                   MATTHEW JORDAN 

2016 JOHN BAKER                                              JOHN CHANDLER 

2017 JOHN CHANDLER                                   ALAN HARPER 

2018 MATTHEW JORDAN                              MARTIN SANVILLE 

2019 ALAN MASON                                            JEAN SPRUCE 

2020 WILL WARREN                                           JAMES BLOOM 

2021 COVID 

2022 RICHARD KEEBLE                                   HENRI PAUL 

2023 HENRY GEAVES                                        BEN HERRIEVEN 

2024 RICHARD KEEBLE                                   BEN HERRIEVEN 

2025  MATT MEDCRAFT                                 WILL WARREN