NORFOLK EIGHT: CROMER ONE – FIRST CROMER TITLE FOR MILLMAN

Way back in 1984 a young, fresh-faced Richard Millman won the Norfolk squash championship for the first time. Between then and 1992 he went on to win the championship for a record breaking eight times but despite these years of success he had never won the prestigious Cromer Squash club championship. This all changed on Friday evening when, after being runner-up in 2022, he won the title for the first time, beating Matthew Jordan 13-6 13-9 13-11 in an entertaining and far from one-sided final.

After defeating club legend Henri Paul in the semi-final,  Millman went into the final as firm favourite to go one better than he did two years previously - especially as the reigning champion, Richard Keeble got his holiday dates confused and was out of the country while the No.1 seed, Henry Geaves picked up a football injury just before the tournament started and was forced to withdraw.

His withdrawal opened the door for Jordan to have a much easier run in the top half of the draw and after beating the tournament’s oldest competitor, Alan Harper in the semi-final he duly reached the final for the fourth time in the last seven years.

Millman’s court awareness and racket skills are legendary and although after such a long career he has understandably lost some of his speed around the court he always seemed to be in control and in the right place at the right time leaving Jordan to do all the hard work.

Millman tired towards the end of the match but he always had enough in hand, pacing himself well, and both players gave the large and appreciative crowd a match to enjoy. Afterwards Jordan said: “I enjoyed the match but at the end of the day Richard was just too good” while Millman tweeted: “Delighted to win the Cromer club championships. My trophy cabinet is complete!”

Next month attention will switch to the club’s annual Over 35 tournament for the Jeff Morris memorial trophy which Millman won for the first time last year. 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.