Melbourn lost 4-9

The 2nds were unable to overturn Division 4 leaders Allenburys 1sts, despite giving it a good effort.

The standout performance of the evening came from Sean Hamilton (3), who collected a fine 3-0 win over a familiar face, our own Gareth Jones – Gareth plays for Ware-based side Allenburys in the Herts Leagues, and us in the Cambs ones. To be fair, this was Gareth’s comeback game after three months out injured, whilst Sean has been playing regularly. Gareth certainly appeared rusty, and a rusty Gareth is a mistake-riddled Gareth (a high form Gareth has been known to make the occasional one as well). Sean stayed consistent and let his opponent beat himself, benefitting to the tune of 15-6, 15-5, 15-8… which was enough for 10% for Sean on Squashlevels and -10% for Gareth! Oof.

Next on was 15 year-old Will Bradshaw (2), who was taking on Patrick Sockett. This was Will’s first attempt at second string, an acknowledgement of the significant strides he has made in his Squash in the last 6 months. He would have been a familiar face to Allenburys as he has played for them before (Gareth as recruitment agent!)… but not at the level he was now at. He certainly made Patrick work for it, turning in an excellent performance against a strong and classical player – arguably the type of opponent Will is best suited to playing so a further reason to push him up the order. Will claimed the second game, and was only narrowly edged out in the other two as it finished 9-15, 15-9, 13-15, 13-15. Not a win… but a confidence boost nonetheless.

That sent it to the top strings, where Matt Walker (1) was thrown in against Benjamin Griffith. The respective Squashlevels of the two players pre-match were ~1900 (Matt) and ~3350 (Ben). Lies, damn lies, and statistics, right? Well… not on this occasion. In fact, it proved really rather accurate as Matt struggled to land much on Ben, who was able to neutralise Matt’s favoured play by holding the service line and forcing Matt deep instead. A match of chasing shadows ensued for Matt, who went down 6-1, 6-15, 9-15 as Allenburys claimed an overall 9-4 victory.