Read on to see the story of the 2011/12 EFA League season so far.
September
The new EFA League season got off to an explosive start on Tuesday night as the two new teams in Division 1 both opened their accounts with memorable wins.
Berkhamsted 1 took a full strength team down to Orpington to take on the Old Olavians 1. The Olavians team, as expected, featured four of their top schoolboys supported by former Kinnaird winners James Toop and Howard Wiseman and the result was a keenly fought contest. 2010 Midland Tournament champions Ant Theodossi and Ryan Perrie made a fast start against Toop and Chris Self at first pair winning the first game 12-2 before the Olavian pair got into their stride, taking the second game 12-9 to level the scores. From there, the Berkhamsted pair began to exert their authority on the match, running out 3-1 winners. At second pair, Doug Foster and Andrew Joyce made short work of Howard Wiseman and Sanjay Kundu and George Campbell and Jeremy O'Neill also won fairly comfortably at third pair against Tony Barker and Harry Ravi. Despite the loss, Howard Wiseman was delighted with the performance of his schoolboy players in what was something of a baptism of fire for them and is confident that they will improve rapidly during the course of the season and will be more than able to hold their own at this level.
Meanwhile, up at Highgate, the Old Millhillians 1 were making their top flight debut against the Old Wesminsters 1 and matched the 3-0 winning scoreline of their fellow newcomers. OM secretary James Hutcheson was quick to acknowledge that the absence of John Reynolds from the OW line-up had a strong bearing on the outcome, but the OMs still had to overcome a strong looking Westminster team to claim the points. OW captain Laurie Brock also bemoaned the absence of his most experienced player, but was generous in his praise of the Millhillilans, especially the performance of Ian Hutchinson in his first match back at this level for a few seasons. Ian partnered Vishal Bhimjiyani to a four game win over Laurie and Harry de Quetteville at first pair whilst the most impressive win of the night probably came at second pair where the fast-improving Sunil Tailor and Jitesh Patel won in three increasingly tight games against the more experienced pair of Giles Coren and Ed Rose. The third point was clinched by Hutcheson and James Mason* who won at third pair against Freddie Krespi and Will Illingworth.
*not to be confused with the multi Oscar-winning actor of the same name, who incidentally went to school at Marlborough and then to University at Cambridge, although whether or not he played Fives at either establishment is not known. It would seem rather appropriate if he did.
Berkhamsted 1 took a full strength team down to Orpington to take on the Old Olavians 1. The Olavians team, as expected, featured four of their top schoolboys supported by former Kinnaird winners James Toop and Howard Wiseman and the result was a keenly fought contest. 2010 Midland Tournament champions Ant Theodossi and Ryan Perrie made a fast start against Toop and Chris Self at first pair winning the first game 12-2 before the Olavian pair got into their stride, taking the second game 12-9 to level the scores. From there, the Berkhamsted pair began to exert their authority on the match, running out 3-1 winners. At second pair, Doug Foster and Andrew Joyce made short work of Howard Wiseman and Sanjay Kundu and George Campbell and Jeremy O'Neill also won fairly comfortably at third pair against Tony Barker and Harry Ravi. Despite the loss, Howard Wiseman was delighted with the performance of his schoolboy players in what was something of a baptism of fire for them and is confident that they will improve rapidly during the course of the season and will be more than able to hold their own at this level.
Meanwhile, up at Highgate, the Old Millhillians 1 were making their top flight debut against the Old Wesminsters 1 and matched the 3-0 winning scoreline of their fellow newcomers. OM secretary James Hutcheson was quick to acknowledge that the absence of John Reynolds from the OW line-up had a strong bearing on the outcome, but the OMs still had to overcome a strong looking Westminster team to claim the points. OW captain Laurie Brock also bemoaned the absence of his most experienced player, but was generous in his praise of the Millhillilans, especially the performance of Ian Hutchinson in his first match back at this level for a few seasons. Ian partnered Vishal Bhimjiyani to a four game win over Laurie and Harry de Quetteville at first pair whilst the most impressive win of the night probably came at second pair where the fast-improving Sunil Tailor and Jitesh Patel won in three increasingly tight games against the more experienced pair of Giles Coren and Ed Rose. The third point was clinched by Hutcheson and James Mason* who won at third pair against Freddie Krespi and Will Illingworth.
*not to be confused with the multi Oscar-winning actor of the same name, who incidentally went to school at Marlborough and then to University at Cambridge, although whether or not he played Fives at either establishment is not known. It would seem rather appropriate if he did.