Melbourn won 17-7

The seconds were looking to continue their highly encouraging and very positive start to the season (38 points out of 40) when they hosted Newmarket 2nds in week 3.

The first match to get underway featured a debut for Melbourn as we welcomed Hayley Green (5) to the fold. Hayley has joined us after moving to the area, but also after a spell out injured. She has played some matches internally and been to training and looked handy. Unfortunately it turned out that back-to-back days (our Team practice sessions are on Sundays) was too much for her achilles to handle – it turned out afterwards that she had seriously considered texting skipper Colm to drop out. It was immediately apparent why; Hayley, when fit, moves really well but on this evening she simply didn’t trust her body not to betray her, so couldn’t take off after the ball.
This left the front court wide open for opponent, Daniel Overett, to attack – he just needed to hang in long enough to chop one short and the point was his. Hayley showed flashes of what she is capable of with some nice kills (one hammered into the front backhand nick was particular wistful in a what-might-have-been sense), but without being able to chase forward she went down 6-15, 3-15, 9-15. Hopefully a physio can sort the problem out as, with her movement back in place, Hayley would be a very useful player to add to our squad.

Maybe Hayley should have a chat with Matt Walker (4)? Why, well Matt was away from the sport for pushing three years due to persistent injuries at one stage fairly recently, but now appears to be over it all and right back in the swing. His preferred pattern for push his opponent deep, and then pounce on the lifted response to volley-drop it away was too much for Gary Last to handle, resulting in a swift win with just one brief wobble. That came in game 1 when Matt’s fast start (first six rallies claimed to lead 6-0) slowly dwindle to the point where he trailed 11-12. However a refocused effort took the next four rallies, and that proved to be the last really stressful point of the match – Matt established 11-2 leads in each of the next two games, closing them out comfortably (not quite equally so, but still each comfortably) to win 15-12, 15-9, 15-3.

The third string brought a contest that has happened a number of times in recent seasons: Colm O’Gorman vs Oliver Pynn. Oliver led the head-to-head 2-1 going in, but this one was going comfortably Colm’s way from the very outset as he cruised into a 5-1 lead in the opening game and kept the hammer down until it’s conclusion. Oliver was looking to extend the rallies and use his fitness, but Colm was picking him off by taking the ball early and wrong-footing – his prime tactic. This also worked for the first half of game two, until Olly found an extra gear and came back to make things tense at 13-all. However, a couple of ill-timed errors from the Newmarket player let Colm off the hook, and that was really that as a run of 7 straight rallies from 6-4 in game 3 established a 13-4 advantage. That was never going to be squandered, Colm coming through 15-7, 15-13, 15-7.

That put us two strings to one up. Could Gareth Jones (2) seal the deal? To quote Douglas Adams, “Stress and nervous tension are now serious social problems in all parts of the Galaxy, and it is in order that this situation should not be in any way exacerbated that the following facts will now be revealed in advance…” then some stuff about planet Magrathea and a sperm whale and a bowl of petunias in an unsuitable situation. Well, Gareth games have tension and stress in abundance, so, Reader, for your good health, we will state now that he won this 3-2. So yes, he DID seal the deal.
How did this happen? In typical Gareth fashion, really. Stunning winners. Bizarre mistakes. Kills suddenly exploding from deep positions. Drops and volleys that dribble off the racket face and bounce at his feet. To quote the man himself “A bunch of errors”. There was also a fair amount of “debate” from both Gareth and opponent Wayne Bamforth with marker Hayley, who sadly did not have an enjoyable re-introduction to Cambs County League Squash. One can only say “Fellas, really?? Is it that important?” Anyway…
Anyway, the scores. Good Gareth edged out Bad Gareth in games one, three and five as the Gareth gestalt won 15-13, 13-15, 15-10, 11-15, 15-11.

That meant Jan Brynjolffssen (1) was only playing for gravy points against Graham Clark, though neither player knew this in game one. That went decisively Jan’s way, as he kept Graham back and was able to drop away nearly at will. Feeling confident (cocky?) Jan attempted to repeat in game two and lost his way completely. He found himself 6-4 down, then 10-6, then 14-7. At this point, though, Jan rediscovered his tighter widths from game one, at the same time as Graham eased off. One game point was saved, then two, then three… and then it was 14-all, with seven straight staved off. Jan to power through and win it, right? Well, no, because what should have been a backhand kill at 14-all was dragged back at his own ankles to give away a stroke, Graham snapping up the let off to finally get over the line on chance no. 8.
For quite a while this looked like being the critical moment of the match as Graham powered away with the later stages of game three to lead 2-1, and then overturned a decent start from Jan to hold three match balls at 14-11 in the fourth. However, once again, the Newmarket player got a bit conservative at the death, whilst Jan was stretching every sinew. One heart-in-mouth drop went just up at 11-14, but after that it was two solid rallies to save the conversion chances, followed by two very determined don’t-make-the-game-two-mistake-again rallies to complete the turn around.
That appeared to have broken Graham’s spirit as Jan rattled out to a 7-1 lead in the decided… only to once again get too confident as Graham put in one last push to race back to 7-all. Once again Jan had to steel himself, but a key rally won to go 8-7 up, converted with a forehand drop shot, set him on his way again and this time he maintained it to the death, winning 15-6, 14-16, 8-15, 16-14, 15-9.