11/02/19: The Old Salopians and Old Harrovians will meet in the 2019 Alan Barber Cup final in association with Advanta Wealth, after 3-0 wins in the semi-finals at Eton yesterday against the Old Wulfrunians and Old Westminsters respectively.
After their thrilling win over the Old Olavians - champions for the last fifteen years - in the last round, the Old Harrovians were taking no chances, adding Peter Dunbar to that team and managing to overcome the late withdrawal of Rahul Wijeratne. Standing in their way were the Old Westminsters, a young team on the up with impressive wins already in this year's competition over the Cholmeleians and Lancing. The Harrovians drew first blood with a convincing win at third pair from the experienced Nick Shaw & Jamie Fleming against Matt Lewin & Sahil Shah. There was a brief period where the Westminsters were in with a shout, as Laurie Brock & Riki Houlden came within a whisker of levelling first pair at 1-1 against Tom Dunbar & Oskar Denby and Ed Rose & Ismail Salim took the third game against Peter Dunbar & Qasi Gaba to reduce their deficit to 1-2. Hopes of a Westminster fightback were quicly extinguished, though, as Tom & Oskar won that crucial second game 15-14 and then took the third 15-11, while Peter & Qasi reasserted their earlier dominance in the fourth to take the Harrovians into the final and put an end to the fine run in this year's competition from the Westminsters.
The other semi-final was more straightforward, with the Old Salopians too strong in all three pairs for the Old Wulfrunians, who had once again done well to make the last four.
The final is at Eton at 2:30pm on Sunday February 24th.