Cumberbatch shows quality against regional Squash legend

By Morissa Lindsay

Barbadian top player Khamal Cumberbatch demonstrated he is one of the best squash players in the Caribbean, when he earned silver in an exciting match against Jamaica’s Christopher Binnie at the 37th Senior Squash Championship in Jamaica last night. The regional squash star Binnie claimed his 10th individual men’s title.

Played in front of a capacity crowd at the famous Liguanea Squash Club in Kingston, the 20-year-old Bajan played one of the best games of his career but in the end, it was Binnie who delivered on his home soil 14-12, 11-5 and 11-5 in the three best of five sets showdown.

After the match Cumberbatch told Barbados TODAY it was a tough battle to reach the final against Binnie and that he was pleased with his overall performance.

“It was a tough battle making it to the final so I’m very pleased with my performances thus far. I came in as the number two seed and knew to at least keep my seeding I would have to perform at the best of my abilities. So, I can’t be happier to accomplish that.

“I’m extremely proud of how I was able to stand up to Chris Binnie on what would be the biggest stage of my Caribbean career. I kept [my] focus and intensity in the first game to make it to a tiebreak, but his experience and consistency of high-level squash was able to help him close out the remaining games,” Cumberbatch said.

Sponsored by WATA, Cumberbatch put the hometown lad Binnie under early pressure which came as no surprise taking into consideration that he had youth on his side against the 33-year-old Jamaican.

 

 

Cumberbatch proudly carried on his family legacy in a sport previously graced by his father and former Barbados Squash Association President Monty Cumberbatch, along with his three older brothers Gavin, Rhett and Bryant who all represented Barbados at some point.

In the opening set, both right-handed players went on the attack and it was the Barbados number one and Caribbean number two seed Cumberbatch that applied the early pressure on the top ranked Binnie with a 6-2 lead.

The regional number one men’s player Binnie however showed his experience as an undefeated champion for over a decade at the Senior Caribbean Area Squash Association Competition, to come from behind and equalise at 6-6 and worked his way back into a keenly contested first stanza.

The first game is always crucial especially in a final’s match and with several long rallies, Binnie at 10-7 appeared set to take the lead but not without resistance from the talented Cumberbatch who came from behind for the first time in the set and tied the scores 10-10.

It was a spectacular showing to start from Cumberbatch who managed to save three game points and went on to take the lead 11-10 after Binnie made an error.

At this stage Cumberbatch who was an undisputed king of squash at the junior level in the Caribbean, had Binnie under pressure. However, Binnie showing great composure at 12-12 went on to secure the next two points to take an early 1-0 advantage.

While Cumberbatch fought with vigour and seemingly sent a strong message to the region that he is next in line to sit on the throne, it was the Jamaicans who celebrated as Binnie went on to capture the next two sets and accomplished what no man has ever done before completing a whopping ten individual championship titles.

It was even sweeter for Binnie because that was the first time he had ever won at home in Jamaica and based on his calm composure during the nightcap match, it was evident he was not willing to let Cumberbatch deny him such glory.

In the Women’s consolation final, Barbadian teenager Eboni Atherley playing in her first senior tournament defeated Courtney Stafford of Cayman Islands 5-11, 11-5, 8-11, 15-13 and 11-4 in an exciting three best of five sets showdown.

The mixed doubles team comprising Jodi Smith-Padmore and Darien Benn finished with a bronze medal that was shared with Trinidad and Tobago.