Melbourn lost 0-12

This one didn’t go very well. It was a struggle raising the team, and the side we eventually persuaded to play were each up against a higher rated player on SquashLevels as Comberton brought a strong three along – their strength in depth suggests they will be a good addition to Div.1 next winter.

First up was Mark Oppen (3) against Tom Parker. Tom took the first game comfortably (6-11), but the second was an epic as it went to a tie-break which went on and on. It eventually finished 15-17… not in Mark’s favour. It turned out this was the high point of the evening for Melbourn; it certainly was for Mark as he was gassed in the third, losing it 1-11.

Next on was Kate Bradshaw (2), who was taking on Harry Hennesey. Kate has been in brilliant form recently, putting together a long winning streak that culminated in winning the British Open, but her confidence drained away in this one. Harry was too good, too consistent, and just too big. Despite telling herself she can compete against 4000 level players (she beat such an opponent in that major final, after all), Kate couldn’t find her self-belief or game, and lost 4-11, 3-11, 5-11.

That meant Miles Jeanneret (1) was playing for pride only against Connor Harmer. Possibly for the best as teenager Connor is coming on leaps and bounds – Matt or Vinod (possibly) can still beat him, but he is now too much for Miles game. The first was nip-and-tuck for a while, but Miles was having to work beyond his capacity and it couldn’t last. After he slowed down back into the yellow zone he didn’t have enough to find a winning way out of points, going down 7-11, 2-11, 3-11.

At least it was all over quickly!