BEACHILL v WILLSTROP:
James Willstrop almost beat his training partner Lee Beachill in a what turned out to be real squash match with long rallies and points won in the back corners. Willstrop was playing his usual brand of impeccable squash and showed that he was Beachill's equal and, at times, more than equal.

By the fifth fatigue affected Willstrop's racket arm and four errors on low drives was a major factor in Beachill taking the game 9-4 and sealing the 60 minute victory. It was probably the best match of the evening and Willstrop is rapidly become the most entertaining player on the circuit. WHITE v PALMER:
David Palmer had another match later in the evening in Birmingham, two hours away by taxi and train. So promptly at six pm Greenwich Mean Time, Palmer and world number one John White started warming up the ball while a taxi was ordered at 6.45. There was no way this match was going to last sixty minutes and the two players set a supersonic pace from the start. Nobody has to tell White to speed the game up — he can play no other way.

This was the opposite of slow motion: if you blinked you missed four shots. Sitting on the press table by the side wall reminded me again how fast the ball moves when hit by a pro and just how fast these guys move to cover the court. Palmer took the first game 9-7 with grim determination, trying to keep the loose balls to a minimum to stop White slamming them down the nick.

These guys grew up together and play to a similar set of rules, so the referee was rarely called in to decide a point — the rackets were doing it all. While the squash was breathtaking for the spectators, it was hardly that for the players. The first game was over in 7 ½ minutes, White took the second game 9-5 in just six minutes and the third in seven minutes 9-4. He was slamming cross courts into the nick and hitting sizzling straight drives. In this form he is unstoppable and so he went on to win the fourth 9-7, the whole affair taking 34 minutes, allowing Palmer to get his taxi with time to change.

SCORELINE: CANADA GROUP
John White (Sco) bt David Palmer (Aus) 7-9, 9-5,9-4, 9-7 (34 mins)
Lee Beachill (Eng) bt James Willstrop (Eng) 8-10, 10-8, 7-9, 9-3, 9-4 (60mins)

All recorded from rear of the court in high fidelity; no narration but with voice of referee. The DvD in NTSC version will play on USA, far East and multi-function; multi-region players (including computers); if in Europe must request PAL format IF you DO NOT have above listed devices. (Allow one week extra for PAL).