Just 2years after an ankle injury against the German No1 caused Nick Matthew (pic le) to pull out of the Men’s World Team Squash Championship – and his team to finish an all-time low 4th – the Englishman avenged his loss to Simon Rosner (pic ri) in the 2nd qualifying round of the 2011 championship in Paderborn to lead favourites England to victory over hosts Germany. The tie was played out on a spectacular new ASB all-glass showcourt at the city’s Ahorn-Sportpark – surrounded on all four sides by a sell-out crowd of 1,000, 99% of whom were cheering every single winning shot by the German side. The English world No1 went down in the 1st game 11-13 to Rosner, much to the ecstatic delight of the crowd. Matthew soon gained the upper hand before closing out the match 11-13, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8. James Willstrop, the world No4, clinched England’s 2nd win (11-5, 11-5, 11-6) over Raphael Kandra, the German No3, before Peter Barker made it a clean sweep by defeating Andre Haschker 11-6, 11-6, 11-5. Titleholder Egypt eased through their 2nd pool tie by beating Hong Kong 3/0. 3rd seeds France, runners-up in the 2009 championship in Denmark, triumphed on the all-glass showcourt earlier in the day, beating 14th seeds Netherlands 3/0. Finally 4th seed Australia overcame Colombia 3/0 in 73 minutes of play.
