Melbourn Squash Club’s Kate Bradshaw helps England Over-45s to retain Home Internationals title in Edinburgh
Melbourn Squash Club member Kate Bradshaw was the star of the show as the England Women’s Over-45s Masters team successfully retained the Home Internationals Trophy in Edinburgh.
England went into the event on a long unbeaten run – no other country had won the Women’s O45s Cup in more than 20 years – but they were aware that the Scots would pose a considerable threat this time as the hosts’ team included a number of ex-professional players.
The opening two days went to form with England beating Wales and Ireland 5-0 and Scotland also racking up two comfortable victories.
Bradshaw, who featured at second string for England, played her part as she picked up 3-0 wins over Sandra Walsh (Ireland) and Clare Catto (Wales) respectively.
The final day pitted England against the home side in an effective play-off for the title. This encounter see-sawed as England twice moved a string ahead, only for Scotland to respond each time.
With the score standing at two strings apiece, everything rested on Bradshaw’s match against Lisa McKenna.
The first three games were extremely tight as McKenna,who is a former player on the World Tour that reached a peak world ranking of 37, won the opener narrowly, 11-9, but Bradshaw struck back to claim a key second game on a tie-break, 12-10.
She then moved 2-1 up by edging the third 11-9 and buoyed by this success powered through game four 11-7 to take a victory that ensure that Nat Townsend’s England side retained their crown.
And the organisers of the event, which also included the Women’s O65s and Men’s O45s and O65s categories, recognised Bradshaw’s clutch performance by naming her as Player of the Tournament.
Bradshaw said: “It was an amazing finale to what had been a great weekend of squash.
“There was a lot of pressure on my match given England’s track record of wins, but it was both an honour and a relief to be able to pull through for the team at the end.
“Looking up to everyone on the balcony after I’d played the final winning point was the best moment of the tournament as I could see just how much it meant to the rest of the England girls.”
Meanwhile, Bradshaw was back in club action last week as Melbourn’s first team kicked off their Herts Summer League campaign against last season’s champions, Radlett.
She continued her winning streak, collecting a 3-1 success at third string, which was part of a 12-2 overall victory for Melbourn on the night.
Mike Herd (2) also contributed a 3-1 win, while Matt Sampson (1) cruised through 3-0 to see Melbourn off to a flying start in this year’s competition.
