Melbourn lost 1-12

The second half of the Herts Summer season got underway with the 1sts taking on Biggleswade. So that is Cambs vs Beds in the Herts League. Go figure.

In line with the geographically flexibility on show the first match, which pitted Moises Estrelles Navarro (3) against Richard Anthony was a repeat of a Cambs Winter League encounters, but ones between Melbourn and Comberton – Richard was featuring for his ‘other club’ here (Moises also plays at Biggleswade sometimes as it happens, so they may also come across each other in an internal box league sooner or later!).
Both those Cambs Winter encounters had been epics, Richard winning each 3-2 in the end. However this one started with the Comberton…, um, sorry, Biggleswade player on top as Moises hung deep and tried to play a reactive game. Not what he and Head Coach Chris have been working on, and not terribly effective. Game two saw Moises stepping up to the service line more, which worked, but proved too tiring to maintain – the game go to around 9-all but then Richard powered away to win it. And that was Moises best chance it turned out as Richard, a strong match-player, surged for the line in the third to complete a 9-15, 12-15, 10-15 win.

Next up was Jan Brynjolffssen (2) against Tom Dupuy. The players opted to play PAR-11 for the match, which seemed wise after an early rally went on and on and on. Nip and tuck exchanges occurred through the rest of the opening game, but as it came towards the end Tom edged out a couple of point lead that he hung on to until the conclusion. Jan’s general play had been good in the opener, but a couple of key errors (one tinned backhand drop particularly stood out) had cost him. However, rather than Jan stepping it up in game two it was Tom as he took greater charge of the service line. This led to a quick kill in that game. The third was closer, with Jan getting 8-6 up at one point. That being the point where Tom dug in to see things out, sealing a 9-11, 6-11, 8-11 win… which went down on the league website as 13-15, 10-15, 12-15.

The final match on pitted Mike Herd (1) against Ryan Harper, two players who know each other well. Ryan had the upper hand for most of the opening two games as Mike made uncharacteristic errors on balls he has generally been dealing with recently. These were enough to see the first two escape, leaving the 1sts on the brink of a whitewash. However that motivated the skipper to steel himself, cut out the mistake and instead play some sweet drops as he took the third by a significant margin. Game on! The fourth turned out to be an epic, with the scores swinging backwards and forwards. Each player had chances to win it, but it was eventually Ryan who got over the line as one last error leaked from Mike’s racket. The game scores were 6-11, 7-11, 11-5, 13-15, or 10-15, 11-15, 15-9, 17-19 as we reported it to the league. PAR-15 makes scores look better, doesn’t it?!?

Melbourn lost 4-10

The first game of the second half of the summer season sent Melbourn, leaders at the mid-point, to Radlett, who were 11 points behind us with a game-in-hand (max score in summer league games is 12). So an important match for the eventual destination of the title.

First on court were Jan Brynjolffssen (3) and home player Ravi Oberoi. The first game was initially going well for Jan who built an early lead, until Ravi shocked him by not only picking up a backhand dropshot that Jan thought was a winner, but producing a stone dead counter-cross drop in response. Now things got tight with Jan missing balls he would ordinarily and have made generally feeling rushed by Ravi’s policy of taking the ball early. Jan was still able to fashion a game ball, but he snatched at this, tinned it, and Ravi deservedly took the game. The second was a bit calmer from Jan, and that was key to turning things around – the change wasn’t that dramatic, but this time it was Jan getting to game balls first and Ravi who made a key mistake with a tin when 13-14 down. This was the turning point as from here on out Ravi began to tire, with Jan finally able to follow teammate advice to counter drop Ravi’s attacking shots as the Radlett player was now staying deep. This lead to Jan getting increasingly control, seeing out a 15-17, 15-13, 15-11, 15-6 win.

Next on court was Miles Jeanneret (2) against Nick Williams. The first game was a lung-buster, with lots of extended rallies. One in particularly felt like it went on for ever… and the score at the end of it was only 4-3! This appeared to worry Nick more than Miles, who was having great joy in waiting and counter-punching. He built a 9-4 lead on this basis, nearly frittered it away with a spell of more attacking play that rather than winning points more easily simply allowed Nick into the front court instead, but then hung tough in the last rallies to close out the game. Unfortunately that brief middle spell was the sign of things to come, rather than a blip – game two zipped by in a series of shorter rallies as Miles tried to make the play but only got punished for it. Game three was a bit closer to the first, but still saw Nick putting the ball away rather than the Melbourn player. The fourth was nip-and-tuck though, still all-square deep into it. Nick was the first to reach 14, having a match ball at 14-13. The rally ended up being replayed due to an ill-judged marking intervention, which possibly cost Miles as he was on top when the spurious call curtailed the first attempt. Attempt 2 saw Nick on top instead and he close things out, sending Miles to a 15-11, 7-15, 10-15, 13-15 loss.

That meant Mike Herd’s clash with Tim King at top string was the decider… though due to another court coming free this wasn’t actually known at the start as it overlapped with the end of Miles’ string. By the time that was over Mike was 1-0 down after he had struggled to get himself up to Tim’s speed-of-play, thus proving the pre-match worry that whilst his form in general was good enough to have a chance against Tim, not having been on court for a couple of weeks prior to the match. This rust was gradually being blown away as the tie progressed, with some lovely touch drop shots to end rallies off from Mike. However, Tim dug in hard just when it looked like Mike was going to take the third and extend things to four games, a run of points sealing a 7-15, 11-15, 13-15 win for the Radlett player, that also gave his side the win on the evening.

Melbourn hosted Hunts 1 in a rescheduled Cambs Summer League tie on a very warm Thursday evening. Due to a last minute withdrawal by a Hunts player, it would be 2 versus 2.

First up at string 1, Colm O'Gorman took on Rick Watson. O'Gorman was quick out of the blocks and raced to a 5:0 lead, showing a lot of energy, great variation to move his opponent around the courts and picking off winners at will. At 10:2, it was a case of closing out the game and he did so 11:4. Watson changed tack a little in the 2nd game to try to get a foothold and managed to keep the score close, each player trading score for score. O'Gorman then took the lead at 9:6 by lengthening the rallies and pushing is opponent to the back corners, patiently waiting for the opportunity. At 10:7 it looked like he'd done enough, but then made a series of errors to let Watson back into it. All of a sudden it was tied at 11:11, but steadied, taking the next 2 points and the game 12:10. Watson again dug deep in the 3rd, retrieving well and disguising his boasts, managing to keep the score close until O'Gorman asserted control, putting some distance between them at 9:5, a lead he would not relinquish, taking the game 11:8 and the match 3:0.

Moises Estrelles Navarro was then up against Danial Slade. As usual Navarro was all action, full of energy and with consistent retrieval he was able to outlast Slade, and deftly dropping or trickle boasting when the opportunity arose, comfortably taking the game 11:6. Slade had a great touch, and a particularly strong forehand but wasn't dealing with Navarro's ability to retrieve and counter. Navarro was keen to play more dominantly rather than just retrieve and react to Slade's strategy, and decided to be more aggressive and up front in the 2nd game, also aiming to depower Slade's forehand. This worked to an extent but a series of unforced errors handed Slade the initiative and an early lead which he could not bridge, ended with Slade taking the game 7:11. Navarro was determined to exert some dominance and doubled down on his strategy, as well as being less predictable. The 3rd game swung in his favour as he dominated from the start, relentlessly hitting deep hard drives and cross courts to the corners giving Slade very little chance of staying with him. Navarro took the 3rd game 11:6. Navarro had the momentum and self belief, and forged ahead in the 4th game but Slade wasn't done yet and scrambled, taking risks and pressurising Navarro, holding on at 6:6. It stayed neck-and-neck to 8:8. But Navarro was determined and had the energy to take the next few points, winning the game 11:8 and the match 3:1.

Team captain Colm was delighted to have 2 good squash matches played and this rounded off the first half of a challenging summer league with a 2nd win from 5 played. 'We look forward to the second half of the league and great to see players like Moises developing into a very competitive team mate!'