56 pairs took part in the Kinnaird Cup and Kinnaird Festival at Eton over the weekend, with the top four seeds making it through to the semi-finals of the main tournament in two weeks time and two Shrewsbury School pairs reaching the final of the Festival.
33 pairs took to the start line for this year's main tournament, with the match of the first round the encounter between Olavian schoolboys and Pepperpot Trophy holders Tony Barker and Harry Ravi and Joe Coakley and Sunil Tailor, which the more experienced pair won in four games, despite a 0-12 blip in the third. The second round saw the top five seeds progressing in straight games, while seeds 6,7 and 8 had a much tougher time. Sixth seeds Anthony Theodossi and Ryan Perrie had to come from a game down to beat Gareth Hoskins and Nick Shaw to clinch their place in the last eight; elsewhere, seventh seeds Laurie Brock and Rob Beenstock were in a real dogfight with Tailor and Coakley in a match that saw the unseeded pair come from two games down all the way to 12-12 in the fifth, then save a match point with a miraculous shot by Sunil Tailor that had no right to go up before a Beenstock cut went long to put Tailor and Coakley into the quarter-finals for the first time. The other pair in the draw from the Old Millhillian club, Vishal Bhimjiyani and Justin Lefort, were up against number eight seeds Jack Hudson-Wiliams and Henry Lewis from Shrewsbury School in a tense and at times feisty match; this hinged on the Millhillian pair's 14-13 first game victory, which gave them the momentum to go on an win the match in straight games.
The Sunday quarter-finals were a reflection of the improvement in Old Millhillian Fives in recent years with three unseeded OMs in the last eight plus adopted OM Sunil Tailor, the first ever old boy of QE Barnet to reach this stage of the Kinnaird Cup. Drawn against the top two seeds, however, their runs soon came to an end, Tailor and Coakley losing to James Toop and Howard Wiseman - a late replacement for injured brother Matthew - and Bhimjiyani and Lefort coming across top seeds and defending champions Seb Cooley and Tom Dunbar, who were in absolutely imperious form as they won for the loss of only two points.
The other two quarter-finals were more closely balanced. Theodossi and Perrie were up against third seeds Peter Cohen and David Mew and although the match lasted a long time, it was Cohen and Mew who always had the edge to win 12-5, 12-5, 12-8. The last quarter-final featured former semi-finalists Ed Taylor and Will Sorrell and rising stars George Campbell and Doug Foster, looking to make the last four for the second year in a row. This looked like a tight contest on paper and so it proved on court, with some terrific Fives played by all four players. In the end the exceptional cut returning of Sorrell and some trademark left hand attacking from Taylor were just enough to edge out the Lancing pair in three tight games.
Tony Barker and Harry Ravi overcame their disappointment at losing in the first round by producing some dominant Fives to retain the Pepperpot Trophy with a convincing win over the Bhattacharya brothers in the final.
Plate B for second round losers was won by veterans Grant Williams and Mike Hughes, with the standout performance their 2-1 win over Hudson-Williams and Lewis in a ferocious Shrewsbury derby.
The Festival tournament on Sunday saw 23 pairs do battle in a long and enjoyable day of Fives. In the end the first semi-final was between Shrewsbury School pair Mucklow and Morris and St.Olave's School pair Chris Self and Josh Ravi and the second between Flowers and Jones from Shrewsbury and uber-veteran Nigel Cox and the fast improving Karen Hird. Both Shrewsbury School pairs were victorious, setting up a final to be played during the week back on the Shrewsbury courts.
Plate A was won by Jeff Lawrence and James Alster, Plate B by Chris Lavelle and Alex Macfarlane and Plate C by Freddie Rowe and Andrew Pilkington.
Kinnaird Cup Results
Preliminary Round:
K.Hird & R.Morgan beat C.Turnbull & N.Turnbull 3-0
First Round:
T.Dunbar & S.Cooley (1) beat A.Bhattacharya & A.Bhattacharya 3-0 (12-0, 12-0, 12-0)
S.Welti & G.Williams beat P.Lyndon & I.Mitchell 3-0 (12-4, 12-6, 12-4)
V.Bhimjiyani & J.Lefort beat E.Christie & H.Bromley-Davenport 3-0 (15-12, 12-1, 12-2)
J.Hudson-Williams & H.Lewis (8) beat P.Boughton & S.Woolfries 3-0 (12-5, 12-3, 12-3)
G.Campbell & D.Foster (5) beat J.Tugwell & M.Asquith 3-0 (12-5, 12-6, 12-7)
M.Hughes & G.Williams beat A.Taylor & W.Skjott 3-0 (12-1, 12-3, 12-2)
G.Chapman & J.O'Neill beat J.Lawrence & M.Goldman 3-0 (12-1, 12-1, 12-2)
W.Sorrell & E.Taylor (4) beat A.Peel & C.White 3-0 (12-0, 12-0, 12-1)
P.Cohen & D.Mew (3) beat A.Knight & J.Hepburn 3-0 (12-3, 12-3, 12-4)
A.Simmons & C.Austin beat N.Cox & H.Turnbull 3-0 (12-2, 12-1, 12-2)
G.Hoskins & N.Shaw beat S.Moore & A.Rowles 3-0 (12-1, 12-1, 12-2)
A.Theodossi & R.Perrie (6) beat W.Betts & T.Betts 3-0 (12-2, 12-10, 12-3)
L.Brock & R.Beenstock (7) beat K.Hird & R.Morgan 3-0 (12-3, 12-3, 12-1)
S.Tailor & J.Coakley beat T.Barker & H.Ravi 3-1 (12-10, 12-7, 0-12, 15-10)
N.Bunyan & R.Wilson beat C.Jones & J.Flowers 3-0 (12-5, 12-9, 12-8)
J.Toop & H.Wiseman (2) beat H.Blofield & H.Flowers 3-0 (12-5, 12-1, 12-1)
Second Round
T.Dunbar & S.Cooley (1) beat S.Welti & G.Wiliams 3-0 (12-1, 12-0, 12-1)
V.Bhimjiyani & J.Lefort beat J.Hudson-Williams & H.Lewis (8) 3-0 (14-13, 12-5, 12-4)
G.Campbell & D.Foster (5) beat M.Hughes & G.Williams 3-0 (12-9, 12-8, 12-1)
W.Sorrell & E.Taylor (4) beat G.Chapman & J.O'Neill 3-0 (12-9, 12-6, 12-5)
P.Cohen & D.Mew (3) beat A.Simmons & C.Austin 3-0 (12-9, 12-6, 12-6)
A.Theodossi & R.Perrie (6) beat G.Hoskins & N.Shaw 3-1 (7-12, 12-2, 12-3, 12-9)
S.Tailor & J.Coakley beat L.Brock & R.Beenstock (7) 3-2 (10-13, 7-12, 12-4, 12-8, 13-12)
J.Toop & H.Wiseman (2) beat N.Bunyan & R.Wilson 3-0 (12-4, 12-3, 12-2)
Quarter-Finals
T.Dunbar & S.Cooley (1) beat V.Bhimjiyani & J.Lefort 3-0 (12-0, 12-0, 12-2)
W.Sorrell & E.Taylor (4) beat G.Campbell & D.Foster (5) 3-0 (12-9, 12-9, 15-12)
P.Cohen & D.Mew (3) beat A.Theodossi & R.Perrie (6) 3-0 (12-5, 12-5, 12-8)
J.Toop & H.Wiseman (2) beat S.Tailor & J.Coakley 3-0 (12-1, 12-5, 12-4)
Plate A (Pepperpot Trophy)
Final
T.Barker & H.Ravi beat A.Bhattacharya & A.Bhattacharya 3-0 (12-6, 12-7, 12-0)
Plate B
Winners: M.Hughes & G.Williams
Kinnaird Festival
Semi-Finals
R.Mucklow & A.Morris beat C.Self & J.Ravi 2-0 (12-2, ret)
C.Jones & J.Flowers beat N.Cox & K.Hird 2-1 (12-5, 10-12, 12-5)
Plate A
J.Lawrence & J.Alster beat S.Yick & J.Humes 2-0 (12-5, 12-2)
Plate B
C.Lavelle & A.Macfarlane beat P.Chen & V.Rao 2-0 (12-6, 12-11)
Plate C
F.Rowe & A.Pilkington beat C.Main & D.Seymour-Howell 2-0 (12-4, 12-10)