Comberton III vs Bidwells I 29th January

It was a case of Comberton vs Comberton at the Bidwell's courts last night. The
Comberton III team losing to a team that had four current or past Comberton players: Jo Scrivens, who plays for the Comberton Ladies team; Ed Dodson, a member last season; together with Toby Geering and Nick Harris, both current
members of the club.

Nick Harris at five played a gutsy all-or-nothing game against Mike Macnamee. Nick mercilessly exploited any openings to finish off the rallies. Under this pressure Mike never settled and never found his length game on the Bidwell's court with its rather dead front wall. Nick was able to snatch his match 3:0 putting the 'real' Comberton team under immediate pressure. However both Steve Swanton and Neil Stutchbury were is good form and cruised to 3:0 wins at fourth and third positions. Euan Macnamee started out on very even terms with his opponent Ed Dodson, the Bidwell's number two. The first game was competitive with some varied and challenging rallies. Known for his stamina in long matches Ed is also a master of when to apply pressure. He took the next game fairly easily with Euan still looking unsure tactically. Then Ed played a tight hard game in the third to exploit this uncertainty from the younger man and clinch it 3:0 for Bidwells and incidentally continue his own run of nine unbroken wins in this league.

The pressure then fell on Martyn Symmons and Jo Scrivens in the first string decider. Jo looked in fine form and rose to the occasion playing a textbook attacking game from the T forcing Martyn to work hard retrieving from the back corners only to be stretched by Jo's short volleys. Jo took the first game fairly convincingly, but then lost the second when she looked unsettled by some awkward crowded exchanges as Martyn struggled to cover the front court. However Jo soon regained the advantage in fine style to take the rubber 3:1.

So a final score of 7:14 for Comberton III - severely narrowing our lead at the top of the division. We can only hope that Bidwells produce similar quality squash against the two Crown lodge teams - neither of whom they managed to play in the first half.
Joanne Scrivens 9-4 3-9 9-3 9-6 Martyn Symmons
Ed Dodson 9-7 9-3 9-6 Euan MacNamee
John Somerville 1-9 4-9 1-9 Neil Stutchbury
Toby Geering 6-9 1-9 3-9 Steve Swanton
Nick Harris 9-4 9-0 9-7 Mike MacNamee