BADMINTON: England trounce Poland at the Oasis

8:10am Saturday 8th November 2008

By Gareth Moorhouse

ENGLAND laid down a marker for next year’s European Team Championships with a whitewash of rivals Poland as international badminton returned to Swindon for the first time in 27 years.

The home nation eased to victory in front of a packed house at the Oasis Leisure Centre on Thursday night, dropping just one set in a comprehensive 5-0 triumph.

European Mixed Doubles champions Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg lived up to their billing as the world’s number three pairing, crushing a nervous-looking Wojciech Szkudlarcyk and Malgorzata Kurdelska 21-6, 21-6.

Rajiv Ouseph then produced a clinical display of power and finesse to out-gun world number 12 Przemyslaw Wacha in the men’s singles, 21-16, 21-13.

Ouseph, the English National Champion, was only told he was playing on Wednesday night after Hampshire’s Andrew Smith was forced to pull out through illness.

Needing to win the third rubber to keep their hopes alive, Poland made the perfect start when Anna Narel won an error-strewn opening set in the women’s singles.

Not to be outdone however, three-times English champion Elizabeth Cann battled back, and took the match into a decider with a 21-10 success.

The third end was a tight affair until the halfway point, when Cann’s superior footwork and smashing power helped her to a 21-12 victory.

With the outcome of the match already decided, the stage was set for the women’s doubles.

The all-Leeds duo of Jenny Wallwork and Gabby White were in no mood to relax however, as they took on the Polish number two pairing of Kurdelska and Agnieszka Wojtkowska.

The opening rally was a real war of attrition, with the crowd in raptures as Wallwork finally put the shuttle away for the kill.

The match continued in the same vein, with both pairs displaying superb defensive skills to treat the spectators to some of the most entertaining action of the night.

Wallwork and White shaded a tight opener 21-19, but pulled away in the second to seal it by a margin of 21-13.

The most eagerly anticipated match of the evening was the men’s doubles, and it certainly didn’t disappoint.

Though the English pair of Clark and Nathan Robertson were far superior, Adam Cwalina and Szkudlarcyk at least gave a good account of themselves.

Ever the showman, Clark produced some thrilling drop-smash combinations to ease England to victory in set one 21-14. Former would number one (mixed doubles) Robertson woke up at the switch of ends, and he sent down some big smashes of his own to win a closer second set 21-16.

For the majority of the capacity crowd, the match was a highly satisfying way to end the evening, and a fitting way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Swindon & District Badminton Association.