Melbourn lost 17-6

This one had loomed large in the calendar for a while seeing as it was a top-of-the-table clash, the 2nds (who had been top of Division 3 for a number of weeks) visiting a Cambridge 3rds side who had recently been catching us up and were in striking distance to overtake at the start of this encounter.

The first match on was the fifth strings, Matt Walker taking on Sanjay Porja. Sanjay likes to break the game up and boast, which was information Matt took on to court with him but initially found hard to utilise as Sanjay’s attacking strategy worked well on the cold Churchill College courts. Matt gradually warmed into things though, building a lead in the mid-part of game 1 and then scrambling over the line 15-13 as both players made key mistakes on big points (fortunately for Matt doing so tit-for-tat). Game two was much better from Melbourn’s perspective as Matt executed his game-plan perfectly: stay high to counter Sanjay’s angles and reverses, and go for drops and kills as the Cambridge’s player’s approach is all rather death-or-glory – it’s either a winner or he is far out of position and set up to be counter-attacked. This game ended 15-5 to Matt and thoroughly established the pattern. Sanjay dug in as hard as he could in game three, which made things much tighter, but Matt always had his nose ahead to complete a 15-13, 15-5, 15-11 win.

The first string on the other court turned out to be an epic as 2nds skipper Colm O’Gorman ran into Gift Nuka, who is a human running machine.
Being able to go and go and go is not so different from Colm’s strategy, though in his case it’s more Irish Terrier, get-ones-teeth-in and refuse to let go rather than Gift’s hyper-fit greyhound version of going forever. Grit, determination and constant running against athleticism. And constant running. Both the rallies and the games went on and on and on as neither player could find a consistent way of putting it out of the reach of their foe. However, in the end, both games one and two eluded Colm’s grasp as an element of tiredness crept in late on, he began to search for winners that were just not there against a player as fast as Gift – Gift won the opening pair by the same score, 15-13.
Game three was much the same, apart from Colm established a few point cushion early on which enabled him to stay calm and with the game plan of simply rally and rally until Gift broke down – when fitness is an obvious strength then shot-making must be a relative weakness… or players wouldn’t be down in Cambridgeshire Division 3. Everyone at our level is flawed in some way, that is why we play where we do! Anyway, yes, grinding Colm ground out game three by the same score flipped, 15-13, but could repeat the trick in the fourth as this one was closer. The closest yet in fact, going to a tie-break. But this ended 16-14 to Gift, making the final score 3-1 in the Cambridge player’s favour. Both players seemed relieved it ended there – even someone as fit as Gift was feeling it, which goes to show how physical Colm had made the match.

By this point the 1sts strings were on the other side, Liam Murphy taking on Cambridge’s Alex Holland. And it was soon apparent that the players were going to put on a feast of Squash, with Alex’s shot making coming up against Liam’s superb movement and retrieving. Game one was nip-and-tuck until Alex upped things a notch in the final moments to squeak it 15-12. The second was Liam at his very best as he moved, lunged, kept rallies going far longer than they should and also feathered in some lovely touch drops. One particular jaw-dropping rally saw wrong-footing drop-shots exchanged at the front wall, both players lunging out to make unlikely retrieves until a slightly looser pick up from Liam allowed Alex to pump it down the backhand wall. Liam was not done though, racing back across court to boast it back. “No matter” said Alex, as he stepped in to take the forehand drop shot kill early… into the nick for good measure… yet somehow Liam ate up the court sprint to pick this stone dead shot up and flick it for a cross-court drop winner. Alex could only applaud. A handful of points later it was Alex’s turn to pull off the extraordinary when Liam produced a seemingly inch-perfect lob into the backhand corner. With no apparent angle to work with Alex somehow forced a backhand boast out that crept above the tin and dropped short enough to force an error from Liam.
These exchanges typified the high level of game two, which looked like it was going Liam’s way when he got 14-11 up. However, once again Alex found an extra gear in the clutch moments to play three very clean rallies to save the game balls. Liam was gutsy himself at 15-14 and 16-15 down, especially the first one as he won a rally that had been in Alex’s control from the serve, but eventually he broke at 17-16 to fall two games down. And that, really, was the match as it was too lung-busting and thigh-burning even for someone as fit as Liam to contemplate a comeback from 2-0 down. Liam tried to shorten rallies in the third, which just led to a string of mistakes totally uncharacteristic of what had come before. This wound Liam up, his lovely racquet (which had worked wonderfully for two games) paid the ultimate price, and Alex won 3-0. Game scores 12-15, 16-18, 4-15.

Meanwhile on the other court one epic was followed by another as Gareth Jones took on Ben Knappett at third string.
Gareth took a game to get going (never!) as the opener saw him playing his old style of overly attacking Squash, which didn’t work against a tall and swift mover like Ben, who was more than happy to counter-punch attempted kills from deep for his own winners. Having seen that Old Gareth wasn’t going to work Gareth broke out New Gareth for game two, playing with more patience and straightness, looking to work his way in front, and only then go for the kills. Not a particularly novel Squash strategy, but always a good one. And effectively delivered to win game two 15-8 and level up.
That was great. Keep doing that. Don’t get complacent and start mixing things up and going for winners agai… oh. So what we got instead was groundhog day as Gareth over-egged the pudding in game three, learned his lesson for it and played lovely controlled stuff in game four. 8-15, 15-12. 2-2. Unfortunately it is hard to break out of patterns and the same situation manifested itself at the start of the fifth as Gareth made key errors trying to over-press, falling a distance behind (memory says something along the lines of 11-3). Faced with impending defeat Gareth knuckled down, worked things rally by rally and was closing when an unlikely (*cough* mis-hit *cough*) winner gave Ben a key point at 13-10. Rather than 13-11 and getting increasingly under-pressure the Cambridge player suddenly had 4 match balls – he only needed one as Gareth was beaten 6-15, 15-8, 8-15, 15-12, 10-15.

Despite carrying an injury, Jan Brynjolffssen was determined to play and help the team against a strong Cambridge 3 side, who were positioned in 2nd position in the table before the top of the table clash. Jan was up against James Buckley, a match which would in normal circumstances go the distance.
Game 1 was evenly balanced, both players retrieving and driving to the corners, 5:5 and then 6:6. Jan was applying the pressure with relentless driving to the corners and forced the errors, to lead 6:8. Jan then uncharacteristically served out, in so doing handed over the initiative and the game 15:9.
In game 2, Jan again more than held is own in the early stages. The injury however was clearly constraining Jan’s movement and mid-way through the game, James was able to stretch ahead. Jan was forced into take some risks which inevitably didn’t pay off, James taking the game 15:9 again.
Jan, as is his nature, was in no mood to throw in the towel, and came out fighting in the 3rd. In his best period of the match, Jan moved James around the court with variety to his game and picked off points at will. Jan continued to drive to the corners but the restriction in his movement meant he gave away points he normally wouldn’t conceded, and James was able to stay in touch and establish himself in the game. While Jan continued to battle, taking 3 points in a row when his opponent had match ball, it was a step too far on this occasion and James took the game 15:12 and the match.

That meant it was 4-1 to Cambridge overall, 17-6 on points. That was enough for the sides to swap places in the table, but it remains tight at the top and the 2nds are still very much in the Division 3 title hunt.