BOURNE Club squash veterans Steve Jackson and Alan Davison represented Surrey in the Inter County finals, played at Pontefract Squash Club at the weekend.

Jackson was captaining the Surrey O60s team who were going for a hat-trick of titles. Facing them in the semi-finals was a strong Cheshire team and number 3 Paul Ekins gave Surrey a bright start, although he had to resist a strong fightback before taking the fourth 15-12 to win 3-1.

Number 1 Dave Clarke looked to be tiring at 2-2 against a feisty opponent, but with some deft touches and lengths he controlled the fifth to win 3-2 and seal Surrey’s place in the final.

Jackson, at 2, should have taken it easy with nothing to play for, but got drawn into a marathon contest. The captain eventually closed out the match 3-2, giving Surrey an impressive 3-0 winning margin.

In the following day’s final, Surrey met Northamptonshire who had beaten Hampshire 2-1 in the other semi. Ekins romped to a 3-0 win, but Clarke had a battle royal and at 2-1 and match-ball down, the final looked set for a decider. But Clarke saved that match-ball and took the fourth 16-14.

In the fifth, Clarke suddenly found another gear and from 9-5 down, he only lost one more point and clinched victory with a nick drop-shot.

Skipper Jackson, aiming to make the win that bit more emphatic, lost the first game, but found his touch and reeled off the next three games for the loss of very few points.

Game, match and championship to Surrey. And this was Steve Jackson’s tenth Inter County title as a captain, going back to his first win in the O35 category, 28 years previously.

Allan Davison represented the Surrey O65 team and, fresh from a victory in a previous round over Ian Graham, the O65 National champion, was hoping to help his county into the final.

But Davison could not repeat his heroics and lost narrowly to the number 1 as Surrey went down 2-1 to a strong Cumbria squad.

There was some compensation as Surrey won the play-off for third place, with Davison winning 3-0 against the Lancastrian number 1.

* Bourne Club 2nd team recorded a notable home win against Spencer 2 who are already assured of promotion from the Surrey League Division 6R.

David Henderson (3) and Allan Davison (5) both won 3-1, but Dan Kirkland lost his unbeaten record in losing 3-1 to Leon Louw.

Steve Jackson, meanwhile, was having a right old tussle with Charlie Duckworth, 40 years his junior. Trailing 2-0, the Bourne man changed tactics to great effect and took the next three to win 3-2.

Number 1 John Lane played squash that was nearly as fearsome as his new hair-cut and demolished Dan Wells 3-0 to clinch a 17-7 overall win for Bourne.

In Division 4B, Bourne 1st team crashed to a 4-1 defeat away to promotion rivals Surbiton 2. A 3-0 win for number 1 Darren Gray augured well, but his Bourne team-mates could not follow up and the four remaining matches all went to Surbiton.

Second-placed Bourne need to win their final two games to guarantee an immediate return to Division 3.