Badminton: Auckland squeak to victory

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Amid all the tension and cheering from the home team faithful, there was a certain irony in Auckland's spine-tingling Wisden Cup badminton victory over favourites Waitakere on Saturday evening.

The script, which had the top two seeds drawn to meet in a virtual final, could not have been better written.

The tie, and the trophy, hinged on the outcome of the four mixed doubles clashes after the Waitakere men, spearheaded by Geoff Bellingham, had won their four singles. That advantage was quickly lost when their women failed to win any of their singles.

The men's and women's doubles were also shared.

At 6-6, the trophy's final destination hinged on those four mixed doubles.

The first two matches were shared. It came down to the top two pairings from each association to fight it out.

In a minor upset, internationals Nick Hall and Amanda Carter, playing as the second Waitakere pairing, were beaten 15-10, 15-7 by the fired-up Auckland pairing of Justin Keen and Nicole Gordon.

To win the coveted trophy they had last held 12 years ago, Waitakere needed to win the No 1 clash in two sets and restrict the Auckland pairing of Andrew Haliday and Rhona Robertson to 13 or fewer points.

Brother-sister combination Dan and Gabby Shirley kept those hopes fervently alive with a 15-7 win in the first set but Robertson, New Zealand's most experienced trouper, and Haliday dug deep.

They won the second set 15-11. They lost the last 15-13 and with it the match, but it did not matter.

For Robertson, victory was especially sweet.

While winding down her international career, but still good enough to beat Olympic-bound Australian Kelly Lucas, Robertson remains an influential figure as not only captain of the Auckland team but player-coach as well. She was a member of the last victorious Auckland team in 1989.

In the final analysis, Auckland and Waitakere won eight matches each but Auckland were ahead 18-17 on sets won and had a slight advantage, 368-357, on points.

In the relegation battle, Canterbury head down to the Slazenger Cup after failing to win a match. Their place will be taken in next year's championship, to be played in Invercargill, by Waitakere's second team after they went through the Slazenger unbeaten, easily heading Auckland No 2.

Waikato were disappointing with only one win in their five outings but they retained their place for at least another season on a countback from Hutt Valley, who drop into division two.