Wood Cup Final Teams

We have had a fantastic weekend in London playing fives, with Wessex entering 2 teams into the club knockout. Our second team had matches against Old Paulines and Cambridge University and whilst they sadly lost both matches there were some strong performances. It was great to see James Bristow (formally of our parish but more recently having spent 5 years in Johannesburg) back on a fives court and looking fighting fit, and credit to Ben Hale for playing in both the matches before heading off to be tight head prop in his rugby team's cup semi final! Ed Hawke enjoyed a technical 11-0 over DanTristao (no ranking points in this tournament Ed I am afraid!) and Andy Passey, the oldest in the tournament by > 10 years was as steady and fit as ever. 
Our first team beat the RFA and then the West of England to set up a final against Old Paulines for the 3rd year in a row. 

It is difficult to write too much about what happened today as I did not see the other singles (mine being the longest.... and most painful!) but we came out 12 points ahead going into the doubles. Most of that advantage was due to Will Ellison's amazing 11-2 win over Dan Tristao which must have been some performance. In the doubles it was a case of could Dave Butler and myself loose less badly than Will and Giles would win by! Again I saw none of Will and Giles playing as their matches were shorter than ours, but that they lost only 9 points in their 4 games was a really amazing achievement. Whilst we would all like to have Will as a partner it was clear from the players and spectators that Giles had played a blinder as well. Dave Butler carried me well over the weekend and we scratched and scraped our way in the final and did enough damage limitation to ensure that Wessex came out 20 points to the good. Thanks very much to Tom Dean for organising the tournament and to Dan Tristao, Julian Aquilina and James Tilston for being such good hosts and fine opponents. 

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Barnes Bridge 2016

Early footage to yesterday's play. More to follow.

After the concerns of potential leaky roofs, wet courts and a possible late move of the competition to Bradfield we were greeted to a stunning day weather-wise at Malvern for the 35th Winchester Fives Barnes Bridge competition.

The draw made a week in advance had 20 pairs entered but sadly in the run up to the competition we lost the 5th seeds and one half of the top seeds making the top half of the draw somewhat easier than the bottom half. 

There were many good games in the first and second rounds, although no major upsets, but we had a near shock as Thomas and Luk took the first game off the number one seeds Tristao and Fox. Chris Thomas was understandably disappointed by the organiser’s lack of confidence in him when, on walking off court for a breather after his victorious first game, he found himself already drawn into the plate competition!

Coffee and Hale managed to squeeze past the Winchester first pair (Song and Kullavanijaya) 15-13 in the third whilst the Malvern first pair  (Tudor and Nelson) only narrowly lost to Buchanan and George 15-12, 15-11. The quarter-finals were all won reasonably comfortably although Watkinson and Arnold, being perhaps harshly seeded, played Ellison and Kay and managed to get nearly as many points as anyone else did on the day. 

The first semi final saw Tristao’s speed and Fox’s steadiness plus his ability to serve into the ‘nick’ hold firm in beating Akerman + Butler, whilst in the second semi final Ellison and Kay beat the experienced Winchester pair of Munn and Hawke, who as usual spent the majority of the game sliding and diving around the front of the court. 

The final was an enjoyable game to watch and whilst not the classic of the last few years, was filled with fast action packed rallies and plenty of buttress play around Malvern’s larger than normal buttress. The power and consistency of Kay and Ellison proved too much for Tristao + Fox (stepping into Dan Grant’s large shoes with < 24 hours notice- Thanks Dave) giving Will his 7th title (half way to Dave Hebden’s 14) and Ed Kay his first. 

The plate competition was dominated by the Malvern first pair (Tudor and Nelson) and the Winchester first pair (Song and Kullavanijaya). During their school match just 72 hours earlier after an hour and half of playing the pairs were separated by a single point, so quite why the organiser decided the final should be a best of 3 to 15 was a mystery to all watching! Winchester took the first 15-6 but Malvern sneaked the second 15-13 and came home strongly to win the decider 15-9 and in doing so got revenge for the school match. Their likely meeting at St Paul’s at the Schools National Championships in a couple of weeks’ time should be a classic.

Thanks very much to Chris Thomas and all at Malvern for hosting us on a busy day for the school when they also hosted the National Prep School cross country championships with more than a 1,000 runners. There is also a special mention also to one of Malvern’s former pupils Shinan Zhang who very much held her own whilst being the first lady entrant into the Barnes Bridge.

Results: Barnes Bridge

First Round

Thomas + Luk bt Lidard +McKinney 15-7, 15-6; Thompson + Lee bt Zhang + Reeves 15-9, 15-4; Tudor + Nelson bt Arnott + Harrison 15-0, 15-0; Thompson-Green and Bentley bt Ward + Ward15-7, 8-15, 15-9; 

Second Round

Tristao + Fox bt Thomas + Luk 13-15, 15-2, 15-1; Coffey + Hale bt Song + Kullavanijaya 16-15, 5-15, 15-13; Younger + Kidner bt  Goodwin + Davey 15-7, 16-14; Akerman + Butler bt Thompson + Lee 15-1, 15-1; Buchanan + George bt Tudor + Nelson 15-12, 15-11; Hawke + Munn bt Sinton + Neal 15-3, 15-1; Watkinson + Arnold bt Akerman + Passey 15-5, 15-1; Ellison + Kay bt Thompson-Green + Bentley 15-0, 15-0

Quarter Final

Tristao + Fox bt Coffee + Hale 15-5, 15-9; Akerman + Butler bt Younger + Kidner 15-1, 15-9; Hawke + Munn bt Buchanan + George15-13, 15-7; Ellison + Kay bt Watkinson + Arnold 15-7, 15-5

Semi Final

Tristao + Fox bt Akerman + Butler 15-7, 15-12; Ellison + Kay bt Hawke + Munn 15-8, 15-7

Final

Ellison + Kay bt Fox + Tristao 15-4, 15-6

Results: Plate Competition

First Round

Thomas + Kuk bt Thompson-Green + Bentley 15-6; Lidard + Mckinney bt Sinton + Neal; Arnott + Harrison bt Zhang and Reeves; Goodwin + Davey bt Ward + Ward

Second Round

Song + Kullavanijaya bt Thomas + Luk 15-3; Lidard + Mckinney bt Thompson + Lee 15-13; Akerman + Passey by Arnott + Harrison 15-0; Tudor + Nelson bt Goodwin + Davey 15-6

Semi Final

Song + Kullavanijaya bt Lidard + Mckinney 15-6; Tudor + Nelson bt Akerman + Passey 15-13

Final

Tudor + Nelson bt Song + Kullavanijaya 6-15, 15-13, 15-9

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