Thick snow in the south and driving sleet from the north didn’t augur well for the Inaugural Midlands Schools Fives Championships, writes Bob Dolby, but in fact everyone arrived on time and the courts at the two Bedford schools held out well despite near-continuous rain, much of it very heavy.
Five centres were represented: Derby Moor, Bedford School, Bedford Modern School, Rugby School and Oundle School. The decision to split the age groups into U18 and U15 worked well: more or less equal numbers in each category.
We played the Doubles first, on a knock-out basis, managing to finish the whole of the U15 matches before lunch and leaving only the U18 final for after. In neither age-group were there any great surprises: Derby Moor and Rugby dominated the younger category, Derby Moor and Bedford the older one. In the U15s the well balanced pairing of George Romain and Freddie Evans from Rugby were too consistent for the hard-hitting but slightly erratic John Halligan and Bally Singh from Derby Moor; in the U18s Robert Whitehorn and Rob Christie from Derby Moor had too much firepower for both the Bedford 1st and 2nd pair.
Singles were played initially in pools. From these 8 players emerged in each age-group to contest the final stages. Here too Bedford and Derby Moor fought out much of the senior group, with Robert Whitehorn, actually an U16 Colt, winning the U18 title with room to spare. In the U15s George Romain was again too nimble and steady for John Halligan in a hard-fought final.
The biggest grins of the day were to be seen on the faces of the Plate winners in the doubles: Gupta & Wright from Bedford in the seniors, Derby Moor’s Keates & Johnson in the U15s. In the singles the losing semi-finalists played for the Plate: a kind of bronze medal match. Chris Davey and Freddie Evans were worthy winners.
It was good to see players from Bedford Modern competing. Jake Rees-Bidder made his mark in singles and doubles, reaching the semi-final in both. Oundle had a full complement of 12 competitors, building for the future. Only inexperience prevented their senior pair from reaching the doubles final.
Many thanks to Michael Croker and Phil Smith for laying on courts, transport, lunch and tea, and to Stuart Kirby for rejigging and running the U18 draw. And to Gareth Quarry, Jerry Cooper, Stuart Kirby, Matt Cavanagh and a modestly anonymous Old Oundelian for joining me in donating the trophies.
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RESULTS
Senior Singles
Pool A: Qualifier: Gupta (Bedford). Also played Glover (Oundle), Johnson (Derby Moor), Shields (Bedford Modern).
Pool B: Qualifiers: Jones (Bedford) and Christie (Derby Moor). Also played: Bateson (Oundle), Wright (Bedford), Hale (Bedford Modern).
Pool C: Qualifiers: Whitehorn (Derby Moor) and Baxter (Derby Moor). Also played: Cannon (Oundle), Rice (Bedford)
Pool D: Qualifiers: Blunden (Derby Moor) and Matthews (Oundle). Also played: Sorensen (Bedford) , Goodman (Bedford Modern).
Pool E: Qualifier: Davey (Bedford) . Also played: Gifford (Oundle), Perumatantri (Oundle), Singh (Derby Moor).
Quarter-finals: Baxter bt Gupta 15-11; Whitehorn bt Matthews 15-1; Jones bt Christie 15-3; Davey bt Blunden 15-7
Semi-finals: Whitehorn bt Baxter 15-2; Jones bt Davey 15-11
Final: RJ Whitehorn (Derby Moor) bt A Jones (Bedford) 15-6
Plate for losing semi-finalists: CG Davey (Bedford)
Senior Doubles
1st round: Derby Moor I bt Oundle III 15-1; Bedford II bt Bedford Modern I 15-5; Derby Moor III bt Bedford III 15-11
Quarter-finals: Derby Moor I bt Bedford Modern II 15-1; Bedford I bt Oundle II 15-0; Bedford II bt Derby Moor II 15-12; Oundle I bt Derby Moor III 15-12
Semi-finals: Derby Moor I bt Bedford I 15-6; Bedford II bt Oundle I 16-14
Final: Derby Moor I (RJ Whitehorn & RAN Christie) bt Bedford II (D Sorensen & J Rice) 15-5
Plate: Bedford III (K Gupta & M-J Wright)
U15 Singles
Pool A: Qualifiers: Rogers (Oundle) and Rees-Bidder (Bedford Modern). Also played Law (Oundle), Billington (Bedford), Keates (Derby Moor)
Pool B: Qualifiers: Evans (Rugby) and McKay (Rugby). Also played: Manger (Oundle), Shah (Bedford), Ali (Derby Moor), Varesteh (Oundle)
Pool C: Qualifiers: Halligan (Derby Moor) and Hunter (Rugby). Also played: Marshall (Oundle), Aslanoba (Bedford), Evans (Bedford Modern) , Johnson (Derby Moor)
Pool D: Qualifiers: Romain (Rugby) and Singh (Derby Moor). Also played: Pitman (Oundle), Hart (Bedford), Attwood (Bedford Modern), Rehman (Derby Moor).
Quarter-finals: Rees-Bidder bt Rogers 11-0; Halligan bt McKay 11-0; Evans bt Singh 11-0; Romain bt Hunter 11-7
Semi-finals: Halligan bt Rees-Bidder 11-0; Romain bt Evans 11-8
Final: GPM Romain (Rugby) bt J. Halligan (Derby Moor) 11-5
Plate for losing semi-finalists: FJE Evans (Rugby)
U15 Doubles
1st round: Rugby II bt Bedford II 15-5; Bedford I bt Bedford Modern II 15-4; Oundle 3 bt Derby Moor 2 15-10; Derby Moor III bt Oundle II 15-11
Quarter-finals: Rugby II bt Oundle I 15-7; Derby Moor I bt Bedford I 15-0; Rugby I bt Oundle III 15-1; Bedford Modern I bt Derby Moor III 15-4
Semi-finals: Derby Moor I bt Rugby II 15-2; Rugby I bt Bedford Modern I 15-4
Final: Rugby I (GPM Romain & FJE Evans) bt Derby Moor I (J Halligan & B Singh) 15-11
Plate: Derby Moor II (LG Keates & SJ Johnson)