Melbourn won 20-0

Back in the 2022/23 season Spalding were in Division 3 alongside, and competing against, Melbourn 2nds for promotion to Division 2. The matches between the sides ended with one win a piece, the 2nds winning 20-1 at home with Spalding getting revenge as they won 16-8 in the reverse fixture. Despite the 28-17 aggregate in out boys and girls favour, it was Spalding who ended up going up that season as runners-up to Newmarket 1sts, with Melbourn 2nds ending up in fourth place after a late season collapse (6-2 before Christmas to 2-6 after it! And we shall never speak of this again).

Given the gaps in standard between the Divisions in the Cambridgeshire Leagues, we might have expected to see Spalding back at Melbourn in 2024/25, just as happened to that season’s Division 3 Champions Newmarket 1sts. And we did get Spalding back. But rather than playing the 2nds, Spalding had, both surprisingly and impressively, earned back-to-back promotions to be in Division 1 this season. This was only really down to the addition of one player, their nominal 2nd string (but #1 on this evening – see below) Sam Booth joining the 22/23 squad. Thing is, if the step up in standard between Division 3 and Division 2 is large, the gap between Division 2 and Division 1 is enormous… just as the 1sts have experienced over recent years. The end result has been a difficult season for the Lincolnshire club in which they have picked up very few wins, either as individuals or as a team. Hopefully they have found a way to enjoy the challenge… but its likely they will be happier back in Division 2 next season, where they can compete and win.

This is all setting the scene for this report. It’s also padding because otherwise this would be over nearly as fast as the match was. It took only 15 games for the 1sts to cruise through 20-0, with the away players getting past 7 points just twice in that. Kate Bradshaw (5), being a non-believer in SquashLevels was initially nervous about playing Charlie Farrow as she wasn’t aware of their level difference – 2824 to 1594. Her assessment from the knock-up that Charlie was strong and hit the ball cleanly so she could be in some trouble didn’t last long into the match as it rapidly became clear Kate had too much touch and skill for him. A slight lapse off in concentration as the pressure didn’t come allowed the games after the first to get a little closer than the opener, but it still added up to an 11-4, 11-7, 11-9 win.

And that set the pattern for straightforward victories for the Melbourn players. Miles Jeanneret (4) cruised past Jason Hadland 11-6, 11-5, 11-6; Vinod Duraikan (3) was similarly on top against Daniel Deprez winning 11-7, 11-5, 11-7; it was a breeze for Chris Shaw (2) against Gary Slator, Chris rattling up an 11-0, 11-3, 11-1 win; and at top string Matt Sampson (1) was focused on playing good Squash against Sam Booth as he won 11-2, 11-8, 11-4.

This report has focused on the opposition rather, but lets look instead at the 1sts – the boys have had their struggles since their last visit to Division 2 in 2021/22 saw them win 16 out of 16 to be promoted as Champions: the 1sts finished last 22/23 with a 3-15 record but stayed up due to other teams withdrawing (a bit lucky, that…) and then ended up 9th out of 10 in 23/24 with a 5-13 analysis (second bottom is usually a play-off place, but drop outs meant it wasn’t necessary). However, this win lifted Melbourn up to 6th place with a 5-9 record and two potentially winnable matches left to play. It remains to be seen if winnable will actually equal victory, and it’s possible that defeat in both would see the team slip back to second bottom (what was I saying about the nosebleed level of Division 1?!?) but we can hope that this is the season where the 1sts finally get the mid-table finish their talent… and SquashLevels… would indicate they should be capable of amongst the elite of Cambridgeshire Squash.