It’s not often that match reports have a soundtrack. But this one does. But how did Jerry Lee Lewis know about this:

back in 1957?!?

Whilst trying to unentangle this chronological conundrum Moises Estrelles Navarro (3) took the court against Chloe Bhola. We had seen Chloe before when she gave Matt a run for his money at second string in the match at Melbourn in the opening half of the season, so we knew she was both a good controlled player (indeed a coach in her own right, and it shows in a properly put together game) and also a determined young lady who kept her head and fought to the end of that one despite a horrid start. Would her clean play and movement do for Moises, or would El Canibal’s hard running around the court, which he has always had but which these days is allied to much improved positional and defensive game (the work with Head Coach Chris is really paying dividends) be too much for her… as it has been for most other opponents at #3 string in Herts Div.4 this summer?
The answer turned out to be the latter as Moises put in a super-impressive performance. OK, maybe not in game 1 which was a bit scratchy and could have gone either way before he won it 15-12, but definitely in game 2 as Moises cut out the bad drops, focused on the tactics that were winning (depth, patience, trust the strengths of his game) and generally played without errors. Once again Chloe refused to get down on herself and came back in the third (an impressive trait) but despite the extra pressure Moises eased it home 15-12, 15-4, 15-9.

Next on was Matt Walker (2) against Jamie Goodman. Here the roles were somewhat reversed as this time the Radlett player (Jamie) was the ‘chase everything’ runner. Matt attempted to react to this by going for everything but his usually deadly volley-drop was misfiring, and that from the very beginning. Maybe a little longer to establish his game first would have helped. Jamie was very happy to live on Matt’s errors and counter-punch where he could, with Matt dropping the opening game (which would prove significant as the evening wore on).
Matt cleaned things up in the second, playing with more patience to create the openings before going for the kill, taking the game amid multiple fist pumps to level things up. The third started well… but then at around 5-5 it became clear the issue the opener had caused as Matt’s energy started to noticeably fade. A string of attempts to force kills were punished, Matt losing 7 rallies in a row. That was too much to recover, and now Matt was 2-1 down. And also gassed.
Game four was a matter of will for Matt – could he drag his tired body around the court enough to play the sort of extended rallies needed to break Jamie down. It was taking three kill shots for Matt to win most points… something he really didn’t have the energy to do. Trying to get out in one shot was resulting in tins though, and as the game got closer and closer to the end Matt did this more and more often. He could never break clear, fell match point down and after one last lung-busting rally was beaten 11-15, 15-12, 11-15, 13-15. He then collapsed on his back on the court for a number of minutes, leaving a large sweat patch with the Melbourn Club logo clearly picked out in it! It was that sort of match for him.

That meant things were all-square as Jan Brynjolffssen (1) and James Howell got underway. It was quickly apparent these two were very evenly matched… and also rather similar players. Yes, both were happy to exchange down the backhand wall for a while and both were also willing to lift in defence to buy themselves time to get back to the ‘t’, but they were both also looked for the opportunity to vary and get out of these exchanges. Neither was really confident they could simply outlast their opponent. For most of game one James held a narrow advantage, but as game ball approached he tightened up, allowing Jan to save one, then two, then three chances, the third with an ace. James had another opportunity to close it out at 15-14 which he should have taken, but a tight drop went high, Jan stepped up to kill and two points later he was slightly surprised to find himself 1-0 up instead.
This was good, but unfortunately Jan didn’t keep it up in game two, losing a tiny but key amount of accuracy on his lengths and depths. This was particularly evident mid-game as points leaked away. A comeback towards the conclusion, Jan closing from 14-7 down to 14-11 before James closed it out spoke again about finishing issues with his opponent… but the ideal was not to be 7 game balls down in the first place! Unfortunately game three proved to be more of the same for Jan despite the occasional framed winner, most of which were going up. This one kind of blends into game two in the memory, with the result being a 2-1 lead for James.
The fourth was better from Jan as he stepped higher up the court and played with more pop despite the sweltering conditions. Maybe this was indicative of James also losing a bit of oomph in his legs? Whatever the cause it was even at 12-all… until James got a framed winner to make up for Jan’s ~4 earlier. Better timed though. One point later it was match ball, and though Jan saved the first he lost the next after a desperation rally ended with James firing the ball as hard as he could at his opponent, Jan framing it on a win-or-bust shot… and tin. Damn. Game scores were 17-15, 11-15, 10-15, 13-15.

So defeat. Which meant we slip from top spot once again. But only as far as second, just two points back of new leaders Letchworth with five rounds of games to go. Who the top two in Division 4 will be is anyone’s guess… but the 2nds are very much in with a shout of being involved.

Melbourn won 12-2

Two defeats in a row had seen the 2nds, who had been top at the midpoint of the season, drop down to fourth in the Division 4 table. But this game was against the bottom side, Ickleford 2nds. So a chance to reverse the momentum…?

That is exactly how it would turn out, but the bit in between, when we had to actually win the match, would prove to be anything but easy. The challenge of the evening was evident from the opening rallies between Moises Estrelles Navarro (3) and Ickleford’s Keryann Pestiaux. Keryann is a young player, somewhere around his (sic) late teens or 20th birthday. He is apparently pretty new to Squash, having played for only 18 months, and almost entirely self-taught. So the classical correctness of his game, and especially his movement, was especially noteworthy. How good could he become? Time will tell, but there is a lot of promise here. Moises is also on an notably upward track, and this match demonstrated how far he has come from his work with head coach Chris – a year ago he simply wouldn’t have had the control or patience to engage in the extended length exchanges up-and-down the backhand wall.
Both players were excellent at that, and on the movement front – Keryann using accuracy and efficiency, Moises slightly less technically correct but as always hugely tenacious. Maybe drop shots and kills were lacking… but it was a warm night. Mostly, apart from a few really tight drops in the opening exchanges of game 1, it was the player who went for a drop who lost the rally as they gave position away. Moises also benefitted from having a leveller head overall as Keryann got frustrated on a couple of occasions and the points allowed to flee easily then were critical to outcomes. That gave Moises the chance to pull away late in the first two games. He also won the third after a dramatic tie-break where both players got visibly tight, going for drops that weren’t on at times. Moises had a number of match balls and then saved a game ball before, at 18-17, he found a good backhand depth length to close things out 15-11, 15-10, 19-17.

Next on was Matt Walker (2) against Kyle Piggins… and it was immediately apparent this would be a very different type of match. Neither player was going to die wondering when they had a chance to attempt a kill shot. Or even half a chance. Maybe a quarter of a chance. However, both were striking the ball crisply so it was still staying warm and bouncy, which was mitigating against the kills. Matt dropped a little deep on the court in response to the springiness of the ball, which proved somewhat to his detriment in game 1 as Kyle caught him stretching a number of times. Matt’s best rallies came near the end of the game when he relaxed and played constructive Squash rather than striving for the kill… only to tighten again when he got to a breaker to lose the game on this.
From game two things changed though as Matt moved his position forwards, which meant he was able to chase down enough of Kyle’s attempted kills. The Melbourn player was now controlling the play – not dominating, that goes too far but playing ahead on the scoreboard and in rallies. He kept his nose well in front through all of the next three games, each built on fast starts that saw him rattle out into 5-1, 6-1, 7-1 leads. That was enough to allow a cruise home in each stanza, Matt winning 14-16, 15-8, 15-8, 15-11.

Last to start was Jan Brynjolffssen (1) and Andy Phillipson. Some initial sparring established a contrast in styles, with Andy having a nice touch-based game, with float and weight big elements, that was not ideally suited to Melbourn courts playing in super-fast mode. Jan, meanwhile, was pinging the ball around… which also fitted badly with the conditions as the red-hot orb sat up rather than dying. A feeling of chaos permeated for much of the opening game, Andy controlling it better to build a 14-11 lead. From there Jan played two good rallies to save the first two game balls… and then an ace to save the third. Yay! He then promptly made two soft errors to lose the game 16-14 anyway. D’Oh!
Calmer play allowed Jan to establish a bit of an advantage early in the second game, which was soon followed by the realisation that Andy was struggling to breath. Having initially looked to take advantage, it gradually dawned that this was just due to physical play but also a reaction to the heat of the day and dry wind of the Melbourn court heaters (which, for some reason best known to them, had turned themselves on). Being unable to breath properly is a pretty significant hindrance to playing one’s best Squash and from here on out Jan had control of things, wrapping up a 14-16, 15-18, 15-10, 15-10 that completed the 3-0 win on the night.

With that it was off to the curry house when a ravenous Moises “ate like three people” as he informed the team WhatsApp. Who promptly interposed some extra commas, and a new nickname was coined: El Canibal.

Jan, who was acting as stand-in skipper, commented afterwards “That was three enjoyable matches. They gave us a very good game. The third string match was the highlight of the evening – the Squash played was much cleaner and of a far higher technical level than is often seen at this string in this Division. Moises did very well to get through it in three.”

Melbourn lost 1-12

Derby day! Well, from our perspective, Letchworth being our shortest away trip of the season. It also paired us with one of the two teams we lost to in the first half of the campaign. Could you reverse this (the answer, dear reader, as you can see from the line above, is ‘no!’).

First on was Roger Woodfield (3), who was up against Chris Saynor. This match promised a contrast in styles as the knock-up suggested Chris had more power and better movement, but with a less classical technique than Rog. Long rallies were not going to be Roger’s friend (they never are any more) so his aim was to try and keep them short… and end them with a winner. Chris was more interested in extended exchanges, but early on he worked out that Roger was going to hang deep to cover any drives, and that meant cutting the ball in short was going to be effective. This pressured Roger to find good lines and lengths at the start of the rally to prevent Chris dropping. Unfortunately he only successfully managed this in the later half of the second game, resulting in a 5-15, 11-15, 8-15 loss. Chris later estimated the longest rally of the entire match was five shots!

Next on was Jamie Ware (2) against Jason Tinsey. This was another challenging encounter for the Melbourn player as Jason is a deeply tricky opponent, who moves well and hits a clean ball when going straight... but also no hesitation (at all!) to bring out his deadly boast shots to kill rallies off. Jamie coped well with this in the first game, up on his toes to prevent his blood getting totally twisted as he was moved into unexpected front corners, but not quite well enough as Jason shaded the game anyway. Jamie came out firing in the game two though, playing the same way but with that bit sharper purpose and determination in both shots and especially movement. This meant he was forcing Jason deeper into the back corners in some rallies, and simply asking him to play many extra shots in others (not what Jason is used to). Both elements drew errors, levelling up the score. However that level of intensity was hard to maintain, and we should also note that Jason himself responded, which meant games three and four saw Jamie being “Full Tinsey’ed”. Final score was 11-15, 15-9, 6-15, 5-15
Jamie fist-pump count: Plenty. Meter broke.
Jamie’s shout-at-self-for-perceived-error-after-winning-rally count: Three

Those scores meant the evening was Letchworth’s: the only question to answer from Jan Brynjolffssen (1) vs Jason Attwood was the scale of our loss. Things didn’t look promising for Jan when he fell 8-1 down in the opening game. It wasn’t that Jan was playing badly, or the rallies were easy (or short!) wins for Jason. It’s just that, after 15-20ish shots up and down the walls it was always the home player finishing things off. What was needed was more intensity and purpose in Jan’s Squash. Which he found to make things much closer to 50/50 in point pick up, but from so far down game 1 was gone. Game 2 featured a number of lung-busting rallies, some of them verging on the spectacular. There was one when Jason even executed a behind-the-back shot to keep himself alive (Jan killed the next ball anyway, the spoilsport!); another when Jan played a cross-lob from front backhand corner, cross-drive from front backhand corner, backhand straight volley-drop 1-2-3 shot combination that was executed at somewhere near the maximal level he is capable of. But that it took all three attacking shots to win a rally says something about Jason’s movement. And the pressure that applied told in two key moments – errors from Jan at 12-13 and then 13-14 in the second game, and then a string of them from 7-all in the third. It all added up to a 8-15, 13-15, 10-15 loss for Jan and Melbourn being beaten 1-12 overall.