The RAC in London’s Pall Mall hosted the finals of the Newton Perkins’ Squash Tournament on 29th April 2015.
Celebrating the 40th year of this evergreen Tournament, Savills lined up to play JLL for the Main Trophy with Bilfinger GVA competing against solicitors King & Wood Mallesons, first time finalists, for the Plate.
From the 32 original entrants, the final 4 teams looked really closely matched going into the evening. In the Plate, GVA’s No.3 Jeremy Prosser employed the best of his tricky left-handed style to come back and win a close 3-2 v. KWM’s Irfaan Merali. Next on, GVA team skipper Alex Stevens playing in his 35th Tournament (!) belied the years to defeat KWM’s hard running Adam Hayward. At no.1 string KWM’s South African national player , Lithemba Velleman bought the match score back to 2-1 in an absorbing encounter with serial finalist, Ollie Slack .But to no avail as the Plate Trophy headed for the Bilfinger GVA boardroom.
In the main Trophy “Match of the Day”, JLL’s No.3 Matt Connor raced into a 2-0 lead against Savills’ Argie Taylor .Taylor recovered to claw back to 2-2 - but eventually succumbed to Connor’s admirable line and length. JLL’s Oli Marcroft then held his nerve to withstand repeated “do or die” comebacks from Savills No.2 James Barwick. Despite JLL’s unassailable lead, Savills No.1 string Richard Winter showed supreme composure to win against JLL’s top man Paul Sweeney. So the main Trophy and overall honours were claimed by the magnificent JLL trio reversing 5 years of losing finalist trauma!
The Tournament is in the first year of Property Week’s promotion. Newton Perkins’ partner’s David Alcock & Tony Wollaston regaled the RAC’s busy Committee Room with tales of the history and legends from the Tournament’s 40 years before the winners and runners up were presented with their trophies and prizes.
2015 Trophy Winners JLL
Plate Winners 2015 GVA
