Melbourn won 10-3

A thing with short running leagues, such as Cambs Summer League Division 2 (five sides, playing each other once, so only four fixtures each), is that a bye week early on can leave you feeling like you are significantly playing catch-up. Being one match behind when one match is a full 25% of your fixtures, is quite a big chunk. For that reason this clash with Ely felt important for Melbourn – it was second-bottom (us) vs bottom… even though we had a game-in-hand and on sober reflection were probably going to gain enough points to climb clear. But points-on-the-board always feels more comfortable. So a win was definitely the target.

The first to try it was Kate Bradshaw (1). But she knew she would be up against it against an old foe, Ben Mitchell, what with Ben being ~4500 on Squashlevels to Kate’s ~3000. The first game didn’t look all that promising for long spells as Ben chased, retrieved and drove Kate deep, with Kate initially attacking from behind. However midway through the game a new tactic from Kate became evident – lob it up and either challenge Ben to volley or make him drop deep. When Kate managed to tie this in with driving her own court position forwards, so her attacks were coming from the service line rather than the back of the service box (… or deeper) we got a sea-change: from 12-6 to Ben all the way back to 12-all. Ben edged in front again 13-12, Kate levelled and then benefitted from an error to lead 14-13. One close out drop into the front forehand corner and she was a game up.
Was this the start of an upset? Sadly not as Ben made sure he didn’t lose his focus again. He even played a few drop shots of his own as the match progressed, which worked as by now Kate was hanging deep, expecting it to be hit back to her. The clash was a fascinating watch in truth – one of those where you fully understand why Squash gets called physical Chess. Both players were manoeuvring the ball about, probing for openings and relative weaknesses in their opponents movement. That added up for a win for Ben as his was better (and lets be clear, Kate’s movement is very good – her power-to-weight ratio is very high… but Ben was even sharper) adding up to a 15-13, 8-15, 8-15, 10-15 loss for Kate.

That meant Melbourn needed to win the remaining two strings. Things initially looked touch-and-go for Moises Estrelles Navarro (3) against Kristof Kucharczyk as the Ely players hard hitting and chasing was similar to EL Bandido’s game. But as the first progressed Moises began to play some more considered Squash – lungs burning but mind icy… or at least slightly chilled – even including the occasional drop shot. That saw him win the opener 15-10, and then kick on from there. Once on top, Moises really dominated about from one brief spell (1-0 to 1-5) at the start of the third. Game two in particular was very clean, and there was a streak of 11 points claimed out of 13 in the next as he rattled through a 15-10, 15-4, 15-10 win.

That sent it all down to Jan Brynjolffssen (2) against Jonathan Slater. Once again there was some initial probing, but from around 6-4 in the first Jan’s tactics became obvious – attack Jonathan’s deep corners, especially the backhand. The visitor was struggling to dredge the ball out from the back, and nagging lengths and widths played to his weakness, whilst a more attacking game would allow the Ely player to use a strength – his foot speed. It added up to an easy take of the first but then in the second Jan rather lost his way (lost focus), finding himself 11-9 down after some poor shot choices and odd errors. A recovery to lead 13-11 was then frittered away again, with Jonathan having a clear chance to reach gameball first when a forehand boast from Jan sat nicely in the front backhand corner for a counter-drop winner. Only… it flubbed off Jonathan’s racket and bounced before the front wall. A let off Jan wasn’t about to pass up, closing game two out with a deep forehand length and then staying on it through the vast majority of the third to wrap up a 15-6, 15-13, 15-8 victory.

And that meant Melbourn (we) jumped from second bottom to top of the table… briefly. Then the other result was inputted and it was back down to third. However, with a winnable match next week there is every chance of finishing top or second once the summer concludes.