22/11/22: Ten teams took part in an excellent day of qualifying for the EFA Trophy in association with Advanta Wealth at Eton on Sunday, with the four Midlands teams - Salopians, Wulfrunians, North Oxford and Oxford University - making it into the semi-finals.
This was one of the strongest qualifying fields for a while, featuring last year's finalists (Old Salopians and North Oxford), semi-finalists (Old Ipswichians, Old Citizens), the return of a full strength Old Wulfrunian team and of 2018 and 2019 champions Oxford University. With two good young Olavian teams, an improving Newbury squad and a hybrid Cambridge/Cholmeleian outfit also in the mix, qualification was never going to be straightforward.
The teams were split into two groups of five, playing two game matches against each of the other four teams in their group with six points up for grabs in each match and the two highest-scoring teams in each group qualifying for the semi-finals in February.
North Oxford (Alex Abrahams, Nick Shaw, Karen Hird, Nathan Turnbull, Matt Chinery and Stephen Thatcher) and the Old Wulfrunians (mixing and matching between Sid Simmonds, David Jones, Mark Yates, Gary Baker, Andy Husselbee, Tom Husselbee, Greg Hammond and Robert Pye) both made an early statement of intent in Group A with 6-0 wins over St.Olave's B and Newbury respectively. It was great to see 1992 Kinnaird Cup winner Gary Baker in action - one of two former Kinnaird winners taking part with the legendary John Reynolds leading the Citizens team - even if injury meant his first round appearance was also the end of his day. He still won, of course. The Newbury side were showing signs that they are continuing to improve as a group: Will Thomas & Paul Holland have been regulars on the league and tournament circuit recently and it is making a clear impact, Will Seath & Ollie Avery continue to purvey their splendid brand of slightly undirected enthusiasm and Jack Hopkins & Marc Tavra made a mercurial third pair. The young Olavian outfit (effectively their U16 squad) impressed all day and they, Newbury and the Ipswichians (Charlotta Cooley, Simon Cass, Peter Boughton, Peter Forrest and a decent school pair) were involved in some ding dong battles for the minor placings. North Oxford and the Wulfrunians were always ahead of the chasing pack, though, and it was North Oxford who won the group decider at the end of the day, a humdinger of a drawn first pair match between Shaw & Abrahams and Simmonds & Jones underpinned by an eye-catching second pair win for Hird & Turnbull over Husselbee jr & Yates and a narrow double for the determined Chinery & Thatcher over Husselbee sr & Hammond.
The defending champions Old Salopians (Guy Williams, Adam Morris, Mike Hughes, Al Taylor and two schoolboys) didn't enter the Group B fray until Round Two so it took a little longer for a clear picture to appear on that side of the draw. Two 6-0 wins in the first two rounds for Oxford University (Charles Plummer, Ben Hart, Edwin Gosnell, Nick Choustikov, Joel Robb and Spencer Chapman) put them in pole position early on, and a third round win 5-1 win over St.Olave's A secured their spot in the knockout stages. The Old Citizens side (John Reynolds, Sam Packer, Chris Lumbard, Saajan Shah, Ralph Morgan and Stephen Kelly) were competitive throughout without ever quite threatening to win enough matches to get into the qualifying mix and the Cholmbridge side (Jamie Levinson, Lewis Drummond, Emily Scoones, Vatche Kassardijan, George Poole and Rachel Wood) were finding points hard to come by, although they were certainly no pushovers and produced some excellent performances during the course of the day, including a memorable first pair first game 11-12 defeat for Emily & Jamie at the hands of Reynolds & Packer, which kept a good sized crowd entertained throughout. The biggest threat to the qualification chances of the Oxford University and Old Salopian teams were the St.Olave's A outfit, a tricky blend of senior pupils (Genesis Nsenga, Franklin Baron, Tommy Farmer) and old boys (Dom Robson, Vish Shetty, Coby Plews). The key match was probably the Salopians first entry into the competition against St.Olave's, and with the first and third pairs both producing 1-1 draws, it was the evergreen Mike Hughes at second pair who guided his team to a crucial 4-2 win with a 12-10, 12-8 double at second pair over Robson & Farmer in a match that could easily have gone the other way. The final round of matches produced two terrific 3-3 draws, the tie enough for Oxford University to take top spot in the group ahead of their Salopian opponents, while St.Olave's held on to third place in front of the Citizens.
The semi-finals and final will take place on February 19th and throw up all sorts of possibilities - can the Salopians make it three in a row? Can North Oxford win for the first time since 2009? Will there be an Oxford derby in the final? Or an old school Salopians v Wulfrunians dust up? All will be revealed when the teams return to the courts after Christmas.
Thanks go to Eton for hosting the competition, to Advanta Wealth for their continued sponsorship and to all of the teams who made it such an enjoyable day's Fives, played with just the right balance of sportsmanship and competitiveness.
Group A
North Oxford beat St.Olave's B 6-0 (12-3, 12-10; 12-4, 12-6; 12-6, 12-4)
Old Wulfrunians beat Newbury 6-0 (12-1, 12-2; 12-7, 12-9; 12-10, 12-8)
North Oxford beat Old Ipswichians 6-0 (12-3, 12-2; 12-6, 12-9; 12-8, 12-1)
Newbury beat St.Olave's B 4-2 (4-12, 12-9; 12-11, 5-12; 12-7, 12-11)
Old Wulfrunians beat St.Olave's B 4-2 (12-2, 12-6; 12-4, 12-2; 7-12, 7-12)
Newbury beat Old Ipswichians 4-2 (12-9, 5-12; 12-10, 10-12; 12-4, 12-4)
North Oxford beat Newbury 6-0 (12-5, 12-2; 12-4, 12-5; 12-9, 12-10)
Old Wulfrunians beat Old Ipswichians 5-1 (12-3, 12-0; 12-2, 3-12; 12-5, 12-4)
North Oxford beat Old Wulfrunians 5-1 (12-9, 7-12; 12-5, 12-5; 12-10, 12-11)
Old Ipswichians drew with St.Olave's B 3-3 (3-12, 5-12; 12-8, 12-11; 12-9, 11-12)
North Oxford - 23
Old Wulfrunians - 16
Newbury - 8
St.Olave's B - 7
Old Ipswichians - 6
Group B
St.Olave's A beat Cholmbridge 5-1 (6-12, 2-12; 6-12, 12-5; 6-12*, 12-8)
Oxford University beat Old Citizens 6-0 (12-8, 12-4; 12-6, 12-9; 12-6, 12-4)
*ineligible player
Old Citizens beat Cholmbridge 4-2 (12-11, 12-4; 12-0, 6-12; 11-12, 12-9)
Old Salopians beat St.Olave's A 4-2 (12-8, 5-12; 12-10, 12-8; 12-8, 9-12)
Oxford University beat Cholmbridge 6-0 (12-6, 12-7; 12-2, 12-2; 12-2, 12-5)
Old Salopians beat Old Citizens 5-1 (12-4, 12-10; 12-4, 12-2; 6-12, 12-10)
Old Salopians beat Cholmbridge 6-0 (12-0, 12-6; 12-5, 12-5; 12-7, 12-3)
Oxford University beat St.Olave's A 5-1 (12-6, 12-5; 12-1, 5-12; 12-11, 12-5)
Old Salopians drew with Oxford University 3-3 (12-11, 12-7; 0-12, 3-12; 9-12, ret)
Old Citizens drew with St.Olave's A 3-3 (12-9, 12-9; 5-12, 2-12; 11-12, ret)
Oxford University - 20
Old Salopians - 18
St.Olave's A - 11
Old Citizens - 8
Cholmbridge - 3
Semi-Finals, 19th February 2023:
North Oxford v Old Salopians
Oxford University v Old Wulfrunians