Winchester College, 30th October 2011
Harry Akerman has sent in a report from what he describes as a 'cracking match' at Winchester in which the (very newly formed!) Winchester Fives Association did themselves proud. As you can see from the results below, in the eight-a-side fixture, the match included a game to 15 against each pair finishing with two games to 15 against the opposite-numbered pair. No one went home feeling like they did not have enough Fives!
On the face of it, says Harry, the teams were poorly matched, with four of the eight in the RFA team being in the top seven singles rankings, while Winchester had only one player in the top 50. But how a six-inch buttress changes the whole dimension of the game! And so, despite being theoretically inferior, the Winchester Fives 'Association' players were able to use their significant home advantage and squeak out a very narrow victory.
The closeness of the match can be demonstrated by the fact that the overall victory was by an average of just a point and a half per 15-point game. Several scores were revenge for previous Barnes Bridge defeats by the Winchester players, and this victory sets things up very nicely for this season's tournament in Sedbergh. Two exhausted teams recuperated in The Queen while trying to work out why the harder you try, the harder the buttress is to hit!
Results
W. Ellison + J. Pearce-Smith vs D. Tristao + S. Roberts 15-10
E. Ronan + J. Marshall vs H. Buchanan + D. Grant 16-15
H. Akerman + M. Mohammed vs G. Price + T. Marshall 15-6
E. Hawke + G. Munn vs A. Lee + J. Minta 5-15
51-46
W. Ellison + J. Pearce-Smith vs G. Price + T. Marshall 15-2
E. Ronan + J. Marshall vs A. Lee + J. Minta 15-13
H. Akerman + M. Mohammed vs D. Tristao + S. Roberts 15-9
E. Hawke + G. Munn vs H. Buchanan + D. Grant 8-15
53-39
W. Ellison + J. Pearce-Smith vs A. Lee + J. Minta 15-9
E. Ronan + J. Marshall vs G. Price + T. Marshall 15-2
H. Akerman + M. Mohammed vs H. Buchanan + D. Grant 15-11
E. Hawke + G. Munn vs D. Tristao + S. Roberts 6-15
51-37
W. Ellison + J. Pearce-Smith vs H. Buchanan + D. Grant 15-8, 6-11
E. Ronan + J. Marshall vs D. Tristao + S. Roberts 7-15, 13-15
H. Akerman + M. Mohammed vs A. Lee + J. Minta 11-15, 15-11
E. Hawke + G. Munn vs G. Price _ T. Marshall 11-15, 15-5
93-95
Winchester Fives Association win 248-217
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