Rex Hedrick and Jessica Turnbull wrap up their Nations Cup tournament in seventh place

The inaugural Nations Cup came to an end yesterday after a great weekend of Squash in Tauranga, New Zealand. England were crowned first Nations Cup champions defeating New Zealand in the final of a new squash event intended to trial changes to the traditional competition and scoring formats used at official tournaments, including those on the PSA Tour.

The Australian team of Rex Hedrick and Jessica Turnbull was included in Pool A alongside New Zealand ‘A’, Canada and Scotland, with England, Team Europe, USA and New Zealand ‘B’ making up Pool B. The Aussies finished in seventh place after going 1-1 against Canada and Scotland and losing 0-2 from seed no.1 New Zealand ‘A’.

Under the Nations Cup format, games were played to seven points with a sudden-death point played at 6-all. An innovative 2-point ‘power play’ was also introduced, with each player allowed to call for a power play twice per match.

Rex Hedrick explained that the new format was a "really cool experience" for the two Australian athletes.

“It was different! But I think I speak on behalf of everyone who played in that it was a really cool experience to try a new format in a setting where everyone took it seriously, and it didn't get too 'exhibitiony'. 

“The power play was probably the biggest takeaway, giving it good crowd involvement. The increase in the intensity of the rallies when a power play was called was significant,” said Hedrick 

“I really enjoyed the format,” added Jessica Turnbull. “I don’t think it necessarily has a place in an event tournament, but I would love to see this event be an annual thing and for it to become bigger, with more teams. 

“The biggest thing for me was that it was fun,” she said. 

Australia was seeded at no. 7 and Hedrick and Turnbull knew they were going to be up against some world-class players, including world no. 2 Paul Call and world no. 5 Joelle King from New Zealand, and recent Australian Open runner-up Greg Lobban. After a tough debut against New Zealand, Turnbull managed to beat Lisa Aitken (SCO) 4-3 on day two, followed by Hedrick’s 4-2 success against Canadian David Baillargeon on day three.

 “Jess and I did OK considering the quality we were up against,” Hedrick commented. 

“We were seeded seventh and came seventh. Although the Final seemed a bit out of reach from the get-go, as we needed to beat a world-class New Zealand team, Jess and I felt like we could have potentially made the 3/4 playoff if all things went well,” said Hedrick. 

“We started off against Paul Coll and Joelle King and I thought we both played well and made good matches of it. In the second tie, I personally felt like I wasn't hitting the ball that well and lost out to Greg Lobban who was sharp, but Jess played awesome and took the win over Lisa Aitken. 

“In the last match of our pool we swapped, I found my range a bit more and I thought I played quite well to beat Canada's David David Baillargeon, while Jess may have been feeling the effects of the previous days a bit and couldn't quite get her best game going against Hollie Naughton,” Hedrick said.

“So in hindsight, we were only really one match win away from making that 3/4 playoff, if I had beaten Greg or Jess had beaten Hollie,” said Hedrick. 

“Overall, I’m pretty happy with my performance on the court,” echoed Turnbull. “It was a great experience to play these women, they’re all ranked much higher than me, so just to get on the court with them is fantastic.

“I would’ve liked to finish the week with a better performance than I did, but two out of three isn’t bad,” said Turnbull. 

Going forward both Hedrick and Turnbull will remain in New Zealand, where they will compete in the New Zealand Open (PSA Silver). 

“It’s a quick turnaround for the both of us. Tomorrow the New Zealand Open begins, so Jess and I are sticking around and playing in that. Once that finishes up, I'll be flying back home to Melbourne and that will be it in terms of pro tournaments for the rest of the year for me,” said Hedrick 

In yesterday's final match, England was crowned the Carrus Nations Cup champions after they overcame hosts New Zealand by the slimmest of margins. Men’s world No.4 Mohamed ElShorbagy put in an amazing performance to beat home favourite Paul Coll 7-5, 7-6, 7-1, 7-4 after 43 nail-biting minutes of world-class squash.

Off the back of ElShorbagy’s triumph, England went on to win the title 45-44 on points overall, despite Sarah-Jane Perry's defeat to Kiwi Joelle King 7-4, 7-2, 7-5, 7-6.

All Nations Cup results are available on the Nations Cup website.