I thought it would be interesting to look at this match strategically and tactically. Was there anything that anyone could have done to defeat Irribarria. For a small part of the semi-final between Irribarria and Bengoetxea VI at Astelena Fronton (1) (2) Eibar, Bengoetxea VI showed one way to contend with Irribarria. That match was discussed in the May 12-18, 19-25 Report but it might be revealing to take another look at part of it, specifically the part in which Bengoetxea VI rallied from a 9-3 deficit to take a 10-9 lead.
That match is linked to here (Source: EITB).
The part that is relevant to this discussion takes place between 1 hour, 2 minutes, 15 seconds and 1:10:10 of the recording. If we put forth the proposition that the way to beat Irribarria is to keep him from using his left hand, we can test this proposition by watching this 8 minute segment. The numbers below indicate the number of times Irribarria used his left and right hand in this sequence.
Irribaria serving, ahead 9-3. Irribaria left hand: 2; right hand: 1 B wins point. 9-4
B serving. B charges down the LEFT SIDE to serve but serves back to the left side. Irribaria uses left hand 1. Confused, Irribarria is beaten on his left hand side and the service ace goes to B. 9-5
B serving. B serves normally, from the right side. In the ensuing volley, Irribarria uses his left hand for every shot (4), the last shot being a titanic underhand steam shovel shot that crashes into the ceiling, hits the floor, and rolls almost to the back of the court. EITB makes a point of following the ball at the end of its roll. The sound of the ball hitting the ceiling is clearly audible. Point to B. 9-6.
B serving. B charges down the LEFT SIDE to serve and serves to Irribarria's right. Irribarria fails to return the serve with his right hand (1). Service ace to B. 9-7.
At this point Irribarria or his botillero (mentor, coach) call a time out to think things over.
B serving. B charges down the LEFT SIDE and serves to Irribarria's right. Irribarria returns with right (1) but hits the ball off the court. Service ace to B. 9-8.
B serving. B charges down the LEFT SIDE and serves back to Irribarria's left. A rally ensues in which Irribarria uses his left (2) and right (2). His second right handed shot goes off the court. 9-9.
Another time out ensues, though it is unclear who has called this one.
B serving. B charges down the LEFT SIDE and again serves back to Irribaria's left side. In the volley that ensues, B now looks as if he wants Irribaria to use his left hand and Irribaria looks like he is no longer interested in long, high shots. Five times in the course of the point, from serve to finish, B draws Irribaria into a left handed shot on the left side of the court. (5). Irribaria uses his right hand once (1). After the fifth left handed shot, as Irribaria is set up exactly where B wants him to be on the left side, B launches a perfect two wall (side to back) winner that Irribaria has no chance to get. The winner puts B ahead for the first time in the match, 10-9. Irribarria shoots a confused look at his botillero as he retreats to the back of the court for the next point.
B serving. B charges down the LEFT SIDE and serves to Irribaria's right. In the ensuing rally Irribaria has to use his right hand twice (2), once to return the serve, and once to make an incredible save on the apron returning the second consecutive two wall shot that B delivers. He uses his left hand once (1) to get off a high but not deep shot. When B tries to emulate this with one of his own, he slightly miscalculates and hits the ball too high. 10-10. Instead of 11-9. And more importantly, he loses the serve. He never regains it. Irribarria survives the scare and wins the match convincingly.
Let us take a closer look at these 8 points.
Irribaria uses his left hand 15 times, his right hand 8 times. Twice he is aced on his left hand side due to the angle from which Bengoetxea VI served the ball to the left from the left. Twice he is aced on his right side from Bengoetxea VI's serves from the left side. Two other times he loses the point directly after using his right hand. During the sequence Bengoetxea VI serves from the left side six times. By the end of the sequence Bengoetxea VI is actually working Irribarria to his left side, setting him up for two wall winners. He missed by inches of having a two point lead, 8 consecutive points, and retaining the serve. It is a testament to just how good Irribarria was in this tournament that once he regained the serve, he knew he couldn't give it back. Knowing that and executing it are two different things, especially for a 19 year old in one of Mano's brightest spotlights. His response was magnificent. But note that during the sequence, Bengoetxea VI forced him to use his right hand more than 1/3 of the time. And Bengoetxea VI was able to neutralize Irribarria's left hand either on service aces or setting the youngster up for two wall shots.
One would have expected Urrutikotxea to take notice of this in his preparation for the match. Making Irribarria play with his right hand will yield dividends. But Urrutikotxea, for the most part, didn't do this. The second time I watched the match I watched it only to take account of the number of shots Irribarria used each hand for.
Below are my findings:
Irribarria wins toss and serves
Key: server, number of Irribaria's left and right hand shots (serves included), result of the point, leader in the match.
I 4 2 1-0 I
I 4 1 1-1
U 4 5 2-1 I
I 3 0 3-1 I
I 4 2 3-2 I
U 5 0 4-2 I
I 5 2 5-2 I
I 6 2 6-2 I
I 1 0 7-2 I
I 1 0 8-2 I
I 6 2 9-2 I
I 4 2 9-3 I
U 1 0 9-4 I
U 1 0 9-5 I
U 2 0 10-5 I
I 2 0 10-6 I
U 2 3 11-6 I
I 3 0 11-7 I
U 4 1 11-8 I
U 6 2 12-8 I
I 1 0 12-9 I
U 1 0 13-9 I
I 1 0 13-10
U 1 0 14-10 I
I 5 3 15-10 I
I 1 1 15-11 I
U 4 0 16-11 I
I 4 0 16-12 I
U 4 1 16-13 I
U 1 0 17-13 I
I 1 0 18-13 I
I 2 0 19-13 I
I 3 4 20-13 I
I 5 3 21-13 I
I 2 0 22-13 I
22-13
Irribarria used his left hand (including serves) 104 times. He used his right hand 36 times. Or a ratio of almost 3 to 1. He won with his left hand 10 times, along with 3 aces, for a total of 13 winners (of course these are my judgements and as such are completely subjective). He won with his right hand 2 times. It seems that this was a strategic blunder on the part of Urrutikotxea. From a close viewing of the match, it appears that Urrutikotxea felt that if he played his normal game he could win. Urrutikotxea made, according to Asegarce, 7 errors (the same number as Irribarria), which was decidedly not his normal game. Had Urrutikotxea played a better fundamental game, the match might have been more competitive. But letting Irribarria play with the hand he preferred, I would argue, was a recipe for disaster.
For a last word on the Buruz Buruko see the Esku Pilota article here. Beautifully written by Roland Machinaud, the article describes the importance of the match and its main tactical and strategic threads. But most interesting is the conclusion, where M. Machinaud compares "mur a gauche" South Basque Mano to "trinquet" North Basque Main Nue. His conclusions are predictable, but his arguments are powerful. I love both forms, but I am inclined to agree with his assessment of the "hundreds of ways" of the trinquet, the "gladiators" v "artists".
