After four days and 80 matches, the 1998 Northern Caribbean Squash Championships came down to the third tie-breaker before hosts Bermuda were able to claim the overall title.

Nick Kyme's 3-0 victory over Jeff Broderick of the Cayman Islands in the final match of the final day meant the teams finished with 12 points each.

It also meant that they finished with the same number of team matches won (ten) and the same number of individual matches won (45). Finally, pocket calculators in hand, organisers went to the final tie-breaker -- individual games won -- where Bermuda held a 148-139 advantage.

"We've never had to go to that sort of length before,'' said Bermuda Squash Racquets Association's Roger Sherratt. "It took us 45 minutes just to work out the result. And if (individual games won) were the same, it would've gone down as a draw.'' It was only because of Kyme that it didn't.

Bermuda's men's A team had lost three of four to the Cayman Islands heading into the last match, putting their hopes on Kyme. Only 17, Kyme had lost 3-0 to Broderick in last year's Rosebowl and a similar score this time would've resulted in a loss for his country.

But hitting with power and chasing down every ball, Kyme pulled out a 9-3, 9-0, 9-5 victory -- and pulled the teams even.

"That's what's called pressure play,'' said Sherratt, whose son Tommy, Julian Rose, Richard Brewer and Jan Brewer made up the men's A team.

Playing simultaneously, the men's B squad of Dick Meredith, Sam Stevens, Colin Alexander, Chris Ward and John Stout defeated the Caymans 4-1. Minus two of their top players, Bermuda lost 4-1 in ladies play but scraped through with a 3-2 win in veterans competition when Rod Holloway defeated Ian Patrick 3-0.

"What this showed is that every single game in every single match was critical,'' said Roger Sherratt.

Tommy Sherratt, a 21-year-old university student in England, formed a dynamic one-two punch with Kyme. Together, the pair lost only one of their six matches, that a 0-3 defeat by Sherratt to Cayman professional John McCrury.

McCrury has never lost in Rosebowl play and has rarely, if ever, lost to a Caribbean Zone opponent. That hasn't changed, although he had to sweat out a 9-5, 9-7 10-8 decision over Sherratt.

Another highlight came in the ladies division. Bermuda, already without top professional Jane Parker, out with a knee injury, lost Liz Martin to a twisted ankle at the end of her match on Friday.

Lynn Furtado was forced to pinch-hit and promptly lost the first two games against Philippa Byles. But she rallied to win the next two and had match point before bowing 10-8.

Janine Bentley produced the only ladies victory, 3-1 over Cathryn Tyler.

Conversely, Dick Meredith, coming off two tough matches on Thursday and Friday, was the only loser in men's B, falling 3-0 to Tom McCullum.

And after a 3-2 loss by Rose to former Bermuda resident Russ Mucklow in men's A, with matches coming up against McCrury and Broderick, Bermuda's hopes were not high.