A round dozen of victories was sealed last night as Spencer 1st hosted Cheam 4th side on a hot summers evening to record a hard fought 4-0 victory and claim the prestigious Surrey Summer Cup Division 8B title!

Cheam had been kind enough to swap the home and away fixtures and we were looking forward to clashing racquets with them once more this time on home territory. A maximum 15 points would guarantee the top spot in the league this season and we were keen to try to wrap it up before the holiday season approached. A very hot evening with equally hot courts provided a stern test of the fitness and tempers of all the players.

Preparations were hampered by our 9ft giant number 1 player Dan injuring his back at Monday night training. A quick ring around the other players found a variety of cryptic excuses pleading unavailability to play of which Rupert's "I've injured my hand" ran a close second to Dale's flat "No". Fortunately cometh the hour, cometh the man and Paul Quarterly stepped into the breach.

This was Paul's first appearance this summer and it transpired he was determined to get his monies worth. Playing at # 4 Paul was up against Karen an experienced campaigner for Cheam with significant match savvy. Paul's pace of game saw him stretch open a 2 game lead hitting good line and length and moving Karen around the court. However in every squash player there is a stubborn streak that refuses to give up. In the hot conditions Karen slowed the pace of the match and dictated the rallies for the next two games to level at 2-2. And so it was down to an epic 5th game which lasted nearly as long as the rest of the match. Paul by this stage was on to his 3rd racquet (one breakage and one strings) and the crowd were exhausted just from watching. Paul took a good early lead after which a deadlock formed at 6-4 which neither player could break. Eventually however Paul's Herculean efforts driven by sheer fear of loosing to a lady saw him triumph 9-5 for a hard fought and entertaining 3-2 victory in a match lasting over an hour.

Meanwhile I had played at #2 against Ken. Ken and I also met in the first leg of the season and Ken was determined to use his front court game to disrupt my rhythm on the hot court. Given the heat it was difficult to play a winning drop as the ball sat up and we had a close cat and mouse contest with the match never really finding a natural pace. Fortunately I managed to control the game and pull through 3-0.

Mike went on at # 3 playing against Ray. Mike's recent fitness training has been more of the endurance drinking variety and so he was a little, well, slow before heading on court. Not that it showed in the match as he produced a fine performance with barely an error. Hitting the ball crisply Mike found his line and length easily given the conditions and simply moved his opponent around remorselessly in the heat to produce a fine display dropping only 2 points for a 3-0 victory.

Niall then played at # 1 against Mark. I played Niall on Saturday and can vouch that he is playing good aggressive squash at the moment (he stuffed me off court at least). Mark had previously said he was looking forward to trying to get revenge on Spencer's normal number 1 Dan. Presumably Mark's opponent growing a full head of hair but halving in high confused him a little. Niall did try and mutter to himself during the match but couldn't replicate Dan's intense self-appraisal mid match. Niall's good form allied with his opponents confusion saw him dominate the match from the start to a 3-0 victory with an impressive performance.

So 15 points in the bag and the title won. Thanks to all for playing last night and Cheam for the understanding in rearranging the fixture. We look forward to playing them in the Winter leagues at some point.