Squash: England face semi-final showdown

ENGLAND moved smoothly into the last four of the World Team Championships yesterday to set up a testing semi-final against Pakistan, writes Richard Eaton from Karachi.

The clash, sure to be played out in front of a fiercely partisan home crowd, will be a much more severe examination than yesterday's 3-0 victory over Sweden that meant England finished top of their group.

England completed their third group victory - in a match that lasted less than two hours - with every expectation that they would have to play today against the world champions, Australia.

Instead, the Aussies silenced the crowd with a 2-1 victory over Pakistan, including a straight-games defeat of Jahangir Khan by Brett Martin, who won 9-2, 9-6, 9-5.

As expected, Pakistan's world champion, Jansher Khan, beat the half-fit Rodney Martin but the decider was won by Rodney Eyles against Zarak Jahan Khan by 9-3, 3-9, 9-3, 9-2.

That left Pakistan second in their group, with Australia now meeting the second team in England's group, Finland.

England's success yesterday was too one-sided to form meaningful judgements with the No 1, Peter Marshall, and the national champion, Phil Whitlock, conceding only four points against, respectively, Fredrik Johnson and Daniel Forslund.