Melbourn lost 4-10

An international clash opened up this evening. Spain had initially success, before England gradually figured out their opponents style and took over, ending the game as comfortable winners. There were some parallels between the Women’s Euro 2022 QF (which was on the Berko clubhouse TV) and the clash between Melbourn debutant Moises Estrella Navarro (3) and James Barron, though also key differences – though Moises did have his best spell in the early going, this merely achieved parity for most of the opening game, up to 11-all or so, rather than the lead his countrywoman held until the closing minutes. And James didn’t have to produce the equivalent of Stanway’s stunner (headline credit – basically every news organisation in England) to seal the victory – standard play got him there comfortably enough. No-one could accuse Moises of not trying, and there were a number of archetypal rallies that saw him cannonballing around the court, but ultimately it wasn’t enough to prevent defeat as James had too much power and consistency, especially on his forehand. Moises lost 11-15, 3-15, 7-15.
Next on court was Jan Brynjolffssen (2) against Anthony Chudleigh. This was cleaner, more considered Squash, albeit still high intensity (and high bounce and high sweat on a very warm and humid evening). Game one was close all the way through, until Anthony pulled clear late on to take it. Game two saw Jan straightening his lines up and trying to be more proactive in his shot choices – this worked to level things up at a game-all as Jan established an early lead and then clung on to it. Anthony tightened things up in turn in the next and seemed on course to take a 2-1 lead as he gave himself four game points at 14-10. However an error going for a spectacular kill on the first was followed by some determined defence from Jan that gradually chipped these points away. That got it to 14-all… where Jan immediately made a mistake! Having saved that fifth Game Ball and then a sixth at 16-15, Jan got his own first chance at 17-16, and took it for a big psychological blow. Game Four saw Jan in the lead from early on, as he worked his way to a 14-11 advantage – three Match Balls. He showed he wasn’t learning from his opponents errors as he frittered these away to find himself 15-14 down. A nerveless drop saved that, followed by a trickle boast that was JUST up gave him a fourth chance, and this time he converted when a good backhand length didn’t come back. Jan won 12-15, 15-12, 18-16, 17-15.
That set up Mike Herd (1) and Ryan Perry to play the decider. Mike didn’t look himself in the opener, making a string of uncharacteristic errors, mainly on drop shots, to lose the game quickly and by a distance. Unforced errors from Mike’s racquet considerably outnumbered kills from Ryan’s in this game. Mike steadied himself with some conservative rallies at the start of the second, finding his groove from this. That allowed him to get up the court and start to dictate, leading him to winning the second by a margin nearly as considerable as the gap had been in the first.  Now the momentum appeared to be with Mike… expect Ryan was also refocusing after finding the opener was an aberration and he would have to work harder than that to win games now Mike was underway. Ryan’s tactic turned out to be volley-kills, and highly impressive ones at that, particularly those dragged down from high on the backhand into the front forehand corner/nick. He pulled this off too often for it to be luck; these were shots Ryan was in control of. Mike’s focus for game four was keeping the ball tighter on drive, either by width or power, to deny Ryan the chance for more spectacular kills. This was only effective so far as despite all Mike’s efforts Ryan kept going for and making his overheads, including on match point with a ball he seemed to need a step-ladder to reach but this stretched up for and killed down stone dead. Mike lost 6-15, 15-8, 6-15, 9-15.
Skipper Jan commented “Thanks to Moises for his flexibility in stepping in at the last moment and ensuring we had three. He gave his opponent a proper work-out, which was impressive when thrown in at the deep end. Mine and Mike’s games were battles which could have gone either way. Whilst it was disappointing to lose, it was a good evening of Squash”.