13/03/23: The 2023 Kinnaird Cup in association with Advanta Wealth got underway at Eton at the weekend, with a full programme of main tournament, Pepperpot plate and Festival keeping the courts full all weekend.
First up on Saturday morning - with the snow and ice of earlier in the week thankfully gone - was the first round of the main tournament, with a neat 32 pair entry and all sixteen courts in play. As you would expect, the eight seeded pairs all eased into round two pretty efficiently; unusually none of the eight ties between non-seeded pairs went to four or five games with the closest being the first couple of games between R/rydalians Tom Cotterell & Will Sissons and Ipswichians Steve Burnell & Tim Gregory, the younger pair eventually prevailing despite some stern resistance from their opponents and a blow in the eye for Tom courtesy of his partner.
The second round followed suit, with all eight last sixteen matches won in straight games. Top seeds Riki Houlden & Hugo Young, bidding to become the first Old Westminsters to win the Kinnaird, looked in fine fettle as they disposed of U21 champions Jack Pemberton & Gwydion Wiseman, while second seeds Tom Dunbar & Seb Cooley - trying to win a scarcely believable 13th successive Kinnaird at the end of a rather disrupted season - saw off Wulfrunians Ben Hart & Sid Simmons, who had to content themselves with their dominant first round win over Nick Choustikov & Nathan Turnbull. There was a welcome return from Japanese exile for former champion Matt Wiseman, teaming up once again with James Toop, a quarter of a century after their first Kinnaird semi-final appearance as teenagers bursting onto the scene. They were up against a familiar face in Olavian contemporary David Mew, who was playing with Joey Prior, and who was unable to stop Toop & Wiseman qualifying for the quarter-finals with relative ease. Fourth seeds Noah Caplin & Ed Taylor - another fixture in the later stages of the competition for the last 20 years or so - ended the run of Cotterell & Sissons, fifth seeds Howard Wiseman & Tony Barker beat Cholmeleians Aroop Bhattacharya & Joe Marks, while the top-ranked Highgate pair - sixth seeds Jonny Ho & James Hopkins - came through a potentially tricky tie against Millhillians Vishal Bhimjiyani & Charles Plummer in impressive style. The final two places in the Sunday quarter-finals were also claimed by the seeded pairs, seventh seeds Ant Theodossi & Ryan Perrie overcoming Westminsters Sahil Shah & Can Koksal and eighth seeded Salopians Chris Hughes & Sam Welti always in control against Alex Abrahams & Richard Tyler.
The other order of business for Saturday was the prestigious Pepperpot Plate competition, for the pairs knocked out in the first round. The advantage of a 32 pair draw meant that the Pepperpot could proceed with a full four round knockout structure and a Plate B for the eight pairs who successfully doubled up on first round defeats. I think it is fair to say that this was a vintage edition of the Pepperpot; helped by the neatness of the format but ultimately made by the difficulty in predicting a winner, with a large number of pairs all in with a realistic chance of winning. A couple of them counted themselves out due to the need for an early departure but not before Charlotta Cooley & Karen Hird (R/repton netball tournament) took Burnell & Gregory to a 15-14 second game win in their quarter-final and young Olavians Franklin Baron & Ethan Nancekivell-Smith (England rugby intern/national at Twickenham - not sure that was worth the effort) got to 11-11 in the decider before withdrawing against Nathan Turnbull & Nick Choustikov. Elsewhere, the Westway/QEB scratch pairing of Adam Field & Viral Gudiwala were working hard, just making it through their first match 15-12 against the unlucky Chris Lumbard & Al Taylor, then holding off Newbury's Will Thomas & Paul Holland 13-10 in a tight second game to make it into the last four. They were joined there by Burnell & Gregory (Pepperpot winners in 2017 and finalists in 2019 and 2021), Choustikov & Turnbull and defending Pepperpot champions Matt Chinery & Stephen Thatcher, who were putting up a strong defence with wins over Olavians Chris Michaels & Aaditya Deshmukh and Brigands Alex Knight & Tom Leach (a topsy-turvy - Thatcheresque you could say - 12-14, 12-2, 14-12). By the semi-final stage of the Pepperpot, fatigue is usually starting to play a part and the ability to stay the course is often almost as important as the quality of the Fives. Both semi-finals were close affairs but both were won in straight games: Gregory & Burnell this time failed to come out on the right side of a 15-14 second game to miss out on taking Field & Gudiwala to a decider and Chinery & Thatcher's hopes of back to back wins (a feat only achieved once before in the history of the competition - by Tony Barker & Harry Ravi) were dashed by a gutsy performance from Turnbull & Choustikov.
By this stage of the day, with darkness falling and the rain settling in, there was only a small and select crowd left to watch the final but they were both treated to an excellent and entertaining match. It was especially pleasing to see players who had started their Fives journey at Westway, QEB, RGS High Wycombe and City of London getting to the final, proof that Fives is alive and well away from the major schools. It was also a nice feather in the cap for Cambridge University EFC, a week after a disappointing Varisty match result, to see three of their recent former captains taking part in the final. The match itself had the potential to be long and close; as it turned out, it was Adam Field & Viral Gudiwala who had lasted the pace better and who always looked in control, with Adam in particular dominating on the top step and Viral providing strong support, both in the set piece and around the court. Nathan & Nick gave it everything they had but were never able to get their noses in front and Adam & Viral ran out deserving 2-0 winners.
With the big boys enjoying their Sunday morning lie-ins and pre-match fry ups (or maybe that's where I've been going wrong all these years?) Sunday morning was given over to the increasingly popular Festival, with 23 pairs making it to the start line. There was the usual eclectic mix of entrants - the keen young school pupils taking their first steps towards potential future Kinnaird-winning greatness, the shameless pot-hunters eyeing up the winners' chocolates, experienced Festival specialists in their natural habitat and grizzled veterans just grateful to still be shuffling onto court thanks to large amounts of strapping and the wonders of modern medical science. The morning was spent in four large groups, with the players sorting themselves out into three mini knockouts competitions for the afternoon - group winners and runners-up going for the Festival title, 3rds and 4ths battling it out for Plate A and 5ths and 6ths setting their sights on Plate B. The sorting out process itself was a delight, with a huge range of ages and styles on view, some close matches (including a 12-11 win for Hatam Barma & Joel Robb over Charlotta Cooley & Tony Stubbs which naturally ensured that Stubbsy would be in the Plate) and a combined age of 278 in the Bishop & Nowinski v Cox & Bunyan match. An attempt was made by the tournament photographer to take some action shots but eventually he got bored waiting and went elsewhere, but before moving on it should be noted how delighted Andy Bishop was to be the youngest player in that particular match, a rare occurence for someone who spends most of his time on court with prep school pupils.
Having made very certain that he got into Plate A, Stubbs then proceeded to stamp his authority all over it, he and Charlotta storming through the field, troubled only by a gallant effort in the second game of the final by Matt Chinery and the fast-improving Oxford student Cyril Schroeder. Bunyan & Cox finally ran out of steam definitively in the semi-finals of Plate B (as opposed to some point in the early 1990s, as was rather cruelly suggested by some onlookers), leaving the final stage to Westminsters Elana Garfield-Osen & Alex Weiss and Oxford's Freya Butler & Rachel Wood. They put on a show worthy of a final with rarely more than a point or two separating the pairs from start to finish, the Westminster pair coming out on top 15-13.
The knockout stages of the Festival itself brought together the best pairs on the day in a series of exciting and increasingly close matches. The bottom half of the draw contained two Ipswich School pairs in Elliot Caldwell & Henry Gardner and Harvey Garrard & Alex Phillips, the St.Olave's pairing of Alex Sapozhenko & Aryan Akanda and Newbury's Jack Hopkins & Ed Porter. The semi-final battle between Elliot & Henry and Alex & Aryan was a bona fide classic, with Henry doing remarkably well to overcome a bout of cramp to help take his pair through to the final with a tense 13-11, 15-14 win. The top half of the draw contained rather more experience, not least in the form of the two Peters, Boughton & Scholey, who made it into the semis with a strong performance against Emily Scoones & Mill Hill youngster Harris Maclennan. Their semi-final opponents were Ben Merrett & Vatche Kassardjian, winners of a Westminster/Highgate v Westminster/Hghgate quarter-final against Robb & Barma, and it was Ben & Vatche who came through covincingly against the tiring Peters.
Every good tournament deserves a good final, and this one was spectacular. The ingredients were good - two well-matched pairs, a classic youth vs experience battle and four players who all played the game in exactly the right way, with impeccable sportsmanship even in the tensest and tightest moments of the match. The match hinged on a period of play at the end of the second game. After a tight start to the first game, the Ipswich boys had moved away at the end to claim it 12-8; when they turned another tight 10-10 game into a 14-10 lead in game two it looked all but over. They had a bit of bad luck with the first match point cut bouncing up off the ledge at the bottom of the buttress and into the cutter before they had a chance to play it; at that point they probably felt it didn't matter too much but the next cut was unreturnable, then three successive rallies ended with Ipswich shots going out and suddenly it was 13-14. Ben & Vatche grabbed the lifeline with alacrity, levelling at 14-14 and then taking their own gameball chance first time to take it to a decider. The disappointment and shock on the faces of Elliot & Henry at that point was palpable and it is hugely to their credit that they came back strongly and continued to play well in the third game. Vatche & Ben, though, were making the most of their unexpected chance, maintaining their form and with Ben in particular finding an excellent cutting groove to keep the Ipswich boys just at arms' length all the way through to a 12-8 win to take the title and get their hands on the chocolate.
Sunday afternoon also saw the main competition quarter-finals, always a treat for the spectators with the opportunity to watch the best eight pairs in the country fighting it out for the four semi-final places. Riki Houlden & Hugo Young had got their match done and dusted in the morning, looking like they meant business in beating Sam Welti & Chris Hughes in straight games, the Salopian pair playing strongly in the first game but increasingly running out of ideas as the match went on in the face of their opponents' relentless excellence. That marker having been laid down earlier in the day, Tom Dunbar & Seb Cooley then produced an impressively efficient performance of their own, dismissing Theodossi & Perrie for the loss of just seven points to join them in the last four.
James Toop & Matt Wiseman have been Seb & Tom's final opponents six times in their record winning run in this competition; this year threw up the tantalising prospect of a first semi-final meeting between the two of them. First, though, James & Matt had to find their way past the tough obstacle of four-time finalist Jonny Ho, this year playing alongside James Hopkins, former Highgate School wunderkind but a newcomer to this level of senior competition. The first two games of this match produced some magnificent Fives, with Toop as formidable an opponent and competitor as ever and Wiseman showing glimpses of his class, despite his lack of game time and an issue with his arm. Ho & Hopkins were not intimidated, however, either by their opponents' play or their reputation and showed themselves more than capable of matching them; both of the first two games were set, the first at 10-10 and the second at 11-11. Both times, it was the Cholmeleian pair who seized control when it mattered most, winning 15-10 and then 14-11. It felt a long way back for James & Matt at that point and with Matt's arm clearly troubling him, they conceded the match early on in the third game, sending Jonny & James through to the semi-finals in a couple of weeks time.
The final quarter-final was between the fourth and fifth seeds, left-handers Ed Taylor & Noah Caplin taking on Olavians Howard Wiseman & Tony Barker. The first game was long and close, with Howard & Tony taking it 14-12; as the match went on, however, Ed & Noah began to impose their attacking game, gaining the ascendancy in the second game and not letting go from that point onwards.
The semi-finals will be at Eton at 2:30pm on Sunday March 26th:
R.Houlden & H.Young v E.Taylor & N.Caplin
T.Dunbar & S.Cooley v J.Ho & J.Hopkins
Our thanks go to Eton for hosting the weekend, to Advanta Wealth for their sponsorship and to everyone who came and played and spectated and made it such an enjoyable weekend.
First Round
R.Houlden & H.Young beat W.Seath & O.Avery 3-0 (12-1, 12-1, 12-0)
J.Pemberton & G.Wiseman beat F.Baron & E.Nancekivell-Smith 3-0 (12-6, 12-5, 12-2)
R.Tyler & A.Abrahams beat W.Betts & A.Constantine 3-0 (12-0, 12-7, 12-3)
C.Hughes & S.Welti beat C.Lumbard & A.Taylor 3-0 (12-0, 12-2, 12-2)
H.Wiseman & T.Barker beat T.Leach & A.Knight 3-0 (12-5, 12-1, 12-3)
J.Marks & Ar.Bhattacharya beat M.Chinery & S.Thatcher 3-0 (12-7, 12-5, 12-8)
T.Cotterell & W.Sissons beat T.Gregory & S.Burnell 3-0 (12-9, 15-11, 12-3)
E.Taylor & N.Caplin beat K.Hird & C.Cooley 3-0 (12-2, 12-3, 12-0)
J.Toop & M.Wiseman beat A.Field & V.Gudiwala 3-0 (12-3, 12-2, 12-1)
J.Prior & D.Mew beat W.Thomas & P.Holland 3-0 (12-4, 12-0, 12-3)
V.Bhimjiyani & C.Plummer beat A.Lumbard & E.Scoones 3-0 (12-3, 12-0, 12-0)
J.Ho & J.Hopkins beat A.Vinen & E.Garfield-Osen 3-0 (12-0, 12-0, 12-0)
A.Theodossi & R.Perrie beat B.Briggs & C.Graville 3-0 (12-2, 12-0, 12-2)
Sahil Shah & C.Koksal beat C.Michaels & A.Deshmukh 3-0 (12-1, 12-3, 12-7)
B.Hart & S.Simmons beat N.Turnbull & N.Choustikov 3-0 (12-1, 12-4, 12-0)
T.Dunbar & S.Cooley beat J.Greenhouse & Saajan Shah 3-0 (12-0, 12-0, 12-0)
Second Round
R.Houlden & H.Young beat J.Pemberton & G.Wiseman 3-0 (12-1, 12-2, 12-1)
C.Hughes & S.Welti beat R.Tyler & A.Abrahams 3-0 (12-7, 12-5, 12-6)
H.Wiseman & T.Barker beat J.Marks & Ar.Bhattacharya 3-0 (12-5, 12-1, 12-2)
E.Taylor & N.Caplin beat T.Cotterell & W.Sissons 3-0 (12-2, 12-4, 12-7)
J.Toop & M.Wiseman beat J.Prior & D.Mew 3-0 (12-4, 12-5, 12-1)
J.Ho & J.Hopkins beat V.Bhimjiyani & C.Plummer 3-0 (12-3, 12-8, 12-5)
A.Theodossi & R.Perrie beat Sahil Shah & C.Koksal 3-0 (12-3, 12-6, 12-5)
T.Dunbar & S.Cooley beat B.Hart & S.Simmons 3-0 (12-1, 12-1, 12-2)
Quarter-Finals
R.Houlden & H.Young (1) beat C.Hughes & S.Welti (8) 3-0 (12-5, 12-1,12-2)
E.Taylor & N.Caplin (4) beat H.Wiseman & T.Barker (5) 3-1 (12-14, 12-8, 12-2, 12-5)
J.Ho & J.Hopkins (6) beat J.Toop & M.Wiseman (3) 3-0 (15-10, 14-11, 2-0 ret)
T.Dunbar & S.Cooley (2) beat A.Theodossi & R.Perrie (7) 3-0 (12-3, 12-1, 12-3)
Pepperpot Plate
First Round
N.Choustikov & N.Turnbull beat W.Seath & O.Avery 15-10
F.Baron & E.Nancekivell-Smith beat A.Vinen & E.Garfield-Osen 15-6
M.Chinery & S.Thatcher beat C.Michaels & A.Deshmukh 15-3
T.Leach & A.Knight beat C.Graville & B.Briggs 15-4
W.Thomas & P.Holland beat A.Lumbard & E.Scoones 15-8
A.Field & V.Gudiwala beat C.Lumbard & A.Taylor 15-12
K.Hird & C.Cooley beat J.Greenhouse & Saajan Shah 15-4
T.Gregory & S.Burnell beat W.Betts & A.Constantine w/o
Second Round
N.Choustikov & N.Turnbull beat F.Baron & E.Nancekivell-Smith 2-1 (12-8, 4-12, 11-11 ret)
M.Chinery & S.Thatcher beat T.Leach & A.Knight 2-1 (12-14, 12-2, 14-12)
A.Field & V.Gudiwala beat W.Thomas & P.Holland 2-0 (12-1, 13-10)
T.Gregory & S.Burnell beat K.Hird & C.Cooley 2-0 (12-4, 15-14)
Semi-Finals
A.Field & V.Gudiwala beat T.Gregory & S.Burnell 2-0 (12-4, 15-14)
N.Choustikov & N.Turnbull beat M.Chinery & S.Thatcher 2-0 (12-7, 12-10)
Final
A.Field & V.Gudiwala beat N.Choustikov & N.Turnbull 2-0 (12-5, 12-7)
Plate B
First Round
A.Vinen & E.Garfield-Osen beat W.Seath & O.Avery 2-0 (12-3, 12-11)
C.Michaels & A.Deshmukh beat C.Graville & B.Briggs w/o
C.Lumbard & A.Taylor beat A.Lumbard & E.Scoones 2-0 (12-7, 12-7)
W.Betts & A.Constantine beat J.Greenhouse & Saajan Shah 15-7
Semi-Finals
A.Vinen & E.Garfield-Osen beat C.Michaels & A.Deshmukh w/o
C.Lumbard & A.Taylor beat W.Betts & A.Constantine w/o
Final
C.Lumbard & A.Taylor beat A.Vinen & E.Garfield-Osen 2-0 (12-3, 12-8)
Festival
Quarter-Finals
P.Scholey & P.Boughton beat E.Scoones & H.Maclennan 15-8
B.Merrett & V.Kassardjian beat H.Barma & J.Robb 15-11
E.Caldwell & H.Gardner beat J.Hopkins & E.Porter 15-4
A.Akanda & A.Sapozhenko beat A.Phillips & H.Garrard 15-4
Semi-Finals
B.Merrett & V.Kassardjian beat P.Scholey & P.Boughton 2-0 (12-5, 12-7)
E.Caldwell & H.Gardner beat A.Akanda & A.Sapozhenko 2-0 (13-11, 15-14)
Final
B.Merrett & V.Kassardjian beat E.Caldwell & H.Gardner 2-1 (8-12, 15-14, 12-8)
Quarter-Finalists Plate
Semi-Finals
H.Barma & J.Robb beat E.Scoones & H.Maclennan w/o
J.Hopkins & E.Porter beat A.Phillips & H.Garrard 15-14
Final
J.Hopkins & E.Porter beat H.Barma & J.Robb 15-13
Plate A
Quarter-Finals
M.Chinery & C.Schroeder beat W.Burton & A.Butler 15-5
L.Drummond & I.Gianfrancesco beat G.Wiseman & S.Clifford-King 15-5
A.Jadhav & B.Lan beat A.Bishop & S.Nowinski 15-12
C.Cooley & T.Stubbs beat H.Etherington & O.Rushton 15-2
Semi-Finals
M.Chinery & C.Schroeder beat L.Drummond & I.Gianfrancesco 15-12
C.Cooley & T.Stubbs beat A.Jadhav & B.Lan 15-1
Final
C.Cooley & T.Stubbs beat M.Chinery & C.Schroeder 2-0 (12-3, 12-10)
3rd/4th
L.Drummond & I.Gianfrancesco beat A.Jadhav & B.Lan 12-4
Plate A Quarter-Finalists Plate
Semi-Finals
G.Wiseman & S.Clifford-King beat W.Burton & A.Butler 15-11
A.Bishop & S.Nowinski beat H.Etherington & O.Rushton 15-4
Final
A.Bishop & S.Nowinski beat G.Wiseman & S.Clifford-King 15-8
Plate B
Quarter-Finals
N.Bunyan & N.Cox beat S.Cook & L.Davidson 15-11
F.Butler & R.Wood beat J.Tye & S.Tye 15-10
O.Nowatschek & M.Ludden BYE
A.Weiss & E.Garfield-Osen beat G.Norfolk & S.Bloomfield 15-2
Semi-Finals
F.Butler & R.Wood beat N.Bunyan & N.Cox 15-9
A.Weiss & E.Garfield-Osen beat O.Nowatschek & M.Ludden 15-2
Final
A.Weiss & E.Garfield-Osen beat F.Butler & R.Wood 15-13
Plate B Quarter-Finalists Plate
G.Norfolk & S.Bloomfield beat J.Tye & S.Tye 15-12