Mark Herring reports:
With a last minute change of venue to Harrow School the weekend looked a promising one. A high level of entry in the Main Tournament saw seventeen pairs entering which was an increase from last year, mainly due to the entry of several Cambridge University pairs. The Festival, slightly down on numbers, still looked strong with twenty-one pairs entering with a large number from Westminster school staying for the weekend.
Saturday
The main competition saw one pool of eight and one of nine compete in a one game match first to fifteen points. Pool A was the group of eight and the four top pairs did eventually all go through but not in the expected order with the Dunbars dropping a game to H Wiseman and Hawkins in a tightly contested game 15-13. The top pairs all encounted evenly balanced games against each other with close scoring throughout. Pool B was much the same with close games between the top pairs. The big upset was Taylor & Hutchinson losing 15-14 in what was an outstanding game with S Cooley & Varma; Seb upped the class and played some outstanding winners to clinch the game in sudden death. The other surprise result in the pool was the Cambridge pair of Patel and O'Callaghan just missing out on points' difference in a 3-way tie with Foster & Theodossi and Mew & Cohen.
Pool A Results
1 - Wiseman & Hawkins
2 - Dunbar & Dunbar
3 - Walters & Walters
4 - Herring & Rose
Pool B Results
1 - Varma & Cooley
2 - Taylor & Hutchinson
3 - Foster & Theodossi
4 - Cohen & Mew
Sunday
The weather very much like Saturday, a classic English day, a slight frost, blue skies and the sun beaming down. Perfect conditions for Fives.
The Quarter-finals
The Quarter-finals were drawn with Pool A winners playing the bottom of Pool B and so on. All the results were as expected with Taylor & Hutchinson and the Dunbars winning 2-0. Herring and Rose took the first game in their quarter-final only to lose the next 4-12 and the third 2-12. The game of the round was between the Olavians; the power of Mew & Cohen was not suited to the courts but they fought hard all the way. There were some awesome rallies, with a high class of shot selection between all four players. The final score being 2-1 in favour of their coach - Howard partnered by Dan Hawkins!
Semi-finals
The Dunbars came up across an in form Seb and his partner Alick. Seb was playing well all weekend, and fought hard, Alick was playing nicely yet struggling to kill the ball off and with Tom and Pete on their home courts they were always in control. They both were exceptional on the top step and were retrieving everything yet killing anything which was given to them, they seemed to be playing well at this point and won 2-0 (12-6, 12-4).
Wiseman & Hawkins were up against the Salopian pair of Hutchinson & Taylor. Howard and Dan, playing well all weekend, made a confident start and the scores were level early on. However the Salopian paired started to pull away and their set piece was strong. The Olavians were struggling slightly with their cutting and Taylor especially took advantage and he and his partner took the first game 12-5. The second game was much the same story and went 12-6 to the Salopians who were always in control of the match.
Final - Harrovians v Salopians
Tom and Pete Dunbar seemed to have sorted out their troubles of the first day and were looking confident and dangerous all of the Sunday and seemed to be hitting somewhere near top form in all aspects of their game. Taylor and Hutchison were in for a fight all the way! The first game never really got started as the brothers took control returning everything winning convincing 12-3 with Ed and Ian making too many unforced errors costing them dearly. The second game was a cracker! With the scores being level up to 6-6 Tom then showed his class and he and Pete hit a string of winners to take them to 10-6. The game seemed over until at 11-7 Ed cut them down then scored three straight points to 10-11. Sadly it was not quite enough and Pete and Tom took the game 12-10 in what was one of the matches of the weekend. Pete and Tom won 12-3, 12-10
I would like to thank Harrow School and Graham Dunbar for their superb hospitality and for allowing us to use the courts in a hugely successful and surprisingly dry weekend!
Results:
Final:
P Dunbar and T Dunbar (Harrovians) beat E Taylor and I Hutchinson (Salopians) 2-0 (12-3 12-10)
Plate Winners:
A Theodossi (Emanuel) and D Foster (Lancing)
Festival Final:
Cook and Amiwalla (Westminsters) beat Brock and Bott (Westminsters) 2-1 (3-12 12-2 13-10)