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.