30/01/23: It was Alan Barber Cup semi-final day at Eton yesterday, with wins for the Olavians and Salopians seeing them through to yet another final.
Seven out of the the last ten finals in this competition have been between these two teams and neither the Millhillians nor the Westminsters were able to prevent a repeat this time round.
The Salopians were up against the Millhillians, who had put together an excellent run to reach the last four, including a first round win over the third-seeded Cholmeleians. The strength in depth of the Old Salopians was too much for them in the semi-finals, however, as Tom Cox & Tom Gerrard wrapped up third pair very quickly and Chris Hughes & Sam Welti held off a strong second game challenge at second pair from Charles Plummer & Oli Sander to win in straight games. Sunil Tailor & Vishal Bhimjiyani came from two games down against Rex Worth & Ed Taylor to lead 9-5 in the fifth in a bid to claim an impressive consolation victory, but it wasn't to be as Ed & Rex finished strongly to win 3-2 and finish off the 3-0 win overall.
Only twice since the turn of the century have the Olavians failed to win this tournament and they had three of the long-term mainstays of that winning run in the line-up to take on last year's league champions the Westminsters. James Toop & Howard Wiseman were unable to hold off the London Tournament champions Riki Houlden & Hugo Young at first pair, but Seb Cooley cleaned up pretty quickly at second pair, with Morgan Pugh against Sahil Shah & Can Koksal. The match would be decided at third pair and was in the balance for a while. Tony Barker & Prajeeth Sathiyamoorthy won the first game 12-9 against Issy Salim & Harry de Quetteville, but with Issy finding his range and Harry channeling the Kinnaird Cup winning DNA of his de Quetteville forebears, the Westminster pair got to 10-6 up in the second. That was as good as it got, though, as Tony & Prajeeth fought back, survived a couple of game points and then took the game 14-11 before running away with the third.
Old Olavians beat Old Westminsters 2-1
J.Toop & H.Wiseman lost to R.Houlden & H.Young 0-3 (6-12, 6-12, 3-12)
S.Cooley & M.Pugh beat S.Shah & C.Koksal 3-0 (12-1, 12-2, 12-2)
T.Barker & P.Sathiyamoorthy beat I.Salim & H.de Quetteville 3-0 (12-9, 14-11, 12-2)
Old Salopians beat Old Millhillians 3-0
E.Taylor & R.Worth beat S.Tailor & V.Bhimjiyani 3-2 (12-9, 12-8, 5-12, 7-12, 12-9)
C.Hughes & S.Welti beat C.Plummer & O.Sander 3-0 (12-6, 12-10, 12-6)
T.Cox & T.Gerrard beat J.Coakely & L.Vanhaesebroeck 3-0 (12-1, 12-1, 12-1)
You can see full results from this year's competition HERE
The final will be at Eton at 2:30pm on Sunday 5th March.