Melbourn lost 0-12

Hmm. What to say about this match then? Well, for starters, concern about the hot weather (a Met Office amber weather warning on extreme heat was just coming in to force) lead all the games to start at 4-4, making them effectively PAR-11 encounters. That way we could have some hope that the match [checks notes] would overrun. Hmm. Turned out not to be necessary, that…
OK, to the games. First on were the second strings, Jan taking on Neal Woodburn. After some early sparring, Neal opened a lead of a few points in the first. His ability to add unexpected pace was catching Jan out. And this was the pattern for the rest of the match, really. Jan got closer in games 2 and 3 (a poor serve at 13-all in the second is still a vivid memory), but Neal always had a bit extra and never looked particularly worried. Game scores were 9-15, 13-15, 12-15.
Next on were Aidan (3) and Nick Henderson. Aidan started OK, looking a bit tense but mostly playing his shots. However midway through the opening game he went over on his ankle and appeared to hurt it. Whilst he was able to carry on his movement was clearly affected with hard pushes off that foot now avoided. This, in turn, amped up Aidan’s tension about the match which led to some mistakes. Nick’s style was also not to his liking, as rather than clean up and down the walls stuff the Radlett player was cutting the game up, asking questions of Aidan’s movement. Something he never got comfortable with as he lost 11-15, 10-15, 11-15.
That meant Kate (1) was playing for pride and hopefully a point or two against James Ockwell. The two players appeared to know each other well from the Masters Tour, and as might be expected of that produced lots of clean, classical, easy-on-the-eye Squash. The first game was nip-and-tuck through most of it, indeed for long periods it appeared no server would win a point, but at the denouement James pulled clear. Game 2 was clearly Kate’s chance to get Melbourn on the board as she built a 13-9 lead with some rallies that perfectly balanced patience with snapping on genuine chances as soon as they appeared. However having got to the brink of the game Kate then began to go for things too early and 13-9 became 13-14. She saved that game ball and then had a number of her own across an extended tie-break, but when this went against her 19-17 it was a significant blow. Game three was still good stuff, but a little bit of belief had fled Kate and James was that extra touch more sure of himself. That was enough to secure things as Kate went down 12-15, 17-19, 8-15.
Melbourn skipper Jan remarked “Yes, they were better than us and 9 times out of 10 would have won. But getting nothing from the night was a bit disappointing.”