KEEBLE’S RECORD FIVE TIMER

Thirty nine year old Richard Keeble is still the Cromer Squash Club champion. In the final in March, the defending champion and No.1 seed surpassed the records of club legends John Baker and Steve Mutton, when he won the title for a fifth time, recovering from the loss of the first game to beat the young Cromer squash coach, Henry Geaves 14-16 13-10 13-1 13-1.

The first game was full of high quality squash from both players and there was never more than a couple of points between them as they covered all the court and made some incredible shots. Both players had chances to win the game before Geaves won two important rallies at 14-14 to open up a 1-0 lead and then when he won the first five points of the second game it looked as though the club might have a new champion.

Keeble however is now an experienced player who still has incredible speed and athleticism and he gradually knocked off the deficit to draw level at 7-7 and then edged ahead 11-8 before taking the game 13-10 to draw level at 1-1.

By this stage the champion was firmly on top and Geaves resistance ended as Keeble eased his way through the third game 13-1 and then took the fourth by the same score to win the match 3-1 and retain his title.

Keeble has now won the prestigious club championship an unprecedented five times – the first time way back in 2010 and it is certainly hard to see anybody overtaking this record – certainly in the foreseeable future. After the match Keeble said “When I first won the championship I was just pleased to win it once and see my name on the honours board and never did I think that I would go on to win it for five times” and John Baker, one of the players whose record he broke tweeted “Fantastic achievement Richard. Five titles, amazing effort”

The tournament was well supported by club members and in the semi-finals Keeble defeated the 2017 club champion Martin Guppy 3-1 while Geaves will have been delighted to have bearen the eight times former Norfolk champion Richard Millman 13-7 13-7 13-6

Next month attention will switch to the club’s annual Over 35 tournament for the Jeff Morris memorial trophy for which Keeble, who won the trophy in 2021 and is also the club’s reigning tennis champion, will, if he is available, undoubtedly be a red hot favourite.