Just 24 hours after announcing that his final appearance on home soil will be at next month's Mamut English Open, British squash hero Peter Nicol described the draw for the five-star PSA Tour event hosted by Sheffield City Council as the "toughest we've ever had".

Nicol is both defending champion and co-promoter of the star-studded event which boasts eight of the world's top ten squash players and will be staged at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield from 15-19 August. 

The event, one of the biggest tournaments on the sport’s world circuit and now in its fourth year at the world-renowned venue in the English city, will be featured on BBC TV 'Grandstand' for the first time.

Nicol, Britain's most successful squash player of the modern era, attracted tributes from around the globe when he announced his retirement plans in London this week.  After defending his title in Sheffield, the 33-year-old former world number one and world champion will make his farewell at the Al-Ahram World Open at the sport's most spectacular setting by Egypt's famous pyramids near Cairo – where he won four of the more than 50 major international titles of his career.

Seeded five at the Crucible, Nicol is drawn to face England team-mate Peter Barker, from Essex, in the opening round.  Success would take him through to a projected quarter-final clash with top seed David Palmer, the world No2 from Australia whom he beat in dramatic style to secure the Commonwealth Games gold medal in Melbourne in March.

"This is the toughest draw we've ever had – but I am training hard to retain this important title to me," said Nicol.

Of small relief to the Mamut champion should be the fact that the three England team-mates who shared with him the glory of reclaiming the World Team Championship title in Pakistan last year are all in the other half of the draw.  The Yorkshire trio of Lee Beachill, James Willstrop and Sheffield's own Nick Matthew are likely to have to meet each other in order to set up a dream all-English English Open final!

But also lurking in the bottom half of the draw is France's Thierry Lincou, the No2 seed who is one of the event's five former world number ones!  He faces Scotland's 2003 champion and ex-world number one John White in the opening round.

The Mamut English Open is promoted by Eventis Sports Marketing Ltd, a company formed by Nicol and fellow former squash players Tim Garner and Angus Kirkland.

"It is a quite outstanding draw, with some mouth-watering matches from the early rounds onwards," said Garner, Director of Events at Eventis.  "It is not so long ago that White v Lincou would be seen as a great final for an event, let alone a first round match!  Whoever comes through the draw this year must set themselves up as favourite for the World Open a week or so later."

1st round draw:
[1] David Palmer (AUS) v Qualifier
[5] Peter Nicol (ENG) v Peter Barker (ENG)
[3] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) v Stewart Boswell (AUS)
[7] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Qualifier
[8] Lee Beachill (ENG) v Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS)
[4] James Willstrop (ENG) v Qualifier
[6] Nick Matthew (ENG) v Qualifier
[2] Thierry Lincou (FRA) v John White (SCO)