2001 Ipswich Tournament

Tim Fletcher reports:

Once again in an attempt to fend off the winter blues and to work off the Christmas excesses many players - Old Ipswichians, School pupils, staff and guests - entered the infamous 'Ipswich Handicap'.

It was good, as always, to welcome OIs who do not normally turn out for the Fives Club and particularly pleasing to see Liz Savage and Portia Clayton, who were undeterred by not having hit a ball since leaving School. Stalwart supporter of the Tournament and (supposedly) joint organiser, John Caudle, obviously got a better offer and went skiing instead but failed to earn the deserved broken leg.

With a three groups of four pairs format it looked as though the organiser had lost the plot, due to envisaged problems after the group phases. Within each group a clear pair emerged as dominant and the group phases produced several exciting matches. In particular, Steve Burnell and Tim Fletcher versus Simon Woolfries and Tom Sharland, finishing in an exciting third game at 15-14 to Woolfries & Sharland. Of the four matches taken to three games in the group stage, two involved the OI Fives Club founder, Mike Fenn, in partnership with John Millington. Unfortunately they lost both but Mike retained his reputation for enjoying extended matches.

This was the first time that the newly refurbished and extended pavilion had been used for the Fives dinner and it proved to be an incredibly fitting venue, especially for Courtney Friend, who utilised the facilities to the maximum by finding the new carpeting perfect to sleep on.

Whether this assisted him in the first game played on the Sunday, against Gareth Hoskins & Jim Wright in the playoff for the "privilege" of playing Tom Fletcher & Tim Gregory in the semi-finals, only his partner, Alex Dunlavey could tell. The sight of Friend drinking water on Sunday morning was particularly disconcerting. However, with Hoskins & Wright finding form after a shaky first day they found their way through. Having already played Fletcher & Gregory the previous day and been beaten, Hoskins and Wright, as underdogs, put up a brave fight going down 12-6, 12-9. In the other semi the two Freeman brothers battled it out with Steve Freeman & Andrew Cameron eventually coming out on top against Bob Freeman & Tim Wyndham (12-8, 12-3) although this may have had something to do with Bob's "disagreement" with a meat fondue set a few days previous.

The final was a tense affair with the favourites still Fletcher & Gregory but not by a huge margin. The first two games were a relatively quick affair, 12-6 12-4, and it looked as if it was in the bag for F/G. However, perhaps complacency and fatigue crept in, but certainly Steve and Andrew showed great determination and fought back to snatch the third game 12-8. Tom and Tim then bounced back and aided by good cutting and the superior fitness of Gregory won the fourth game and the match 12-9.

The Plate competition was well subscribed to for the second day with some extra players who couldn't make the Saturday. In a round robin style tournament the final ended up between Woolfries & Sharland and Friend & Dunlavey. In an extremely close match Friend & Dunlavey picked up both games (15-14, 14-11) to steal it and be heralded Plate champions.

Results

Semi-finals

Steve Freeman & Andrew Cameron (OIs) beat Bob Freeman & Tim Wyndham (OIs) 2-0 (12-8, 12-3)

Tom Fletcher & Tim Gregory (OIs) beat Gareth Hoskins (OI) & Jim Wright (School) 2-0 (12-6, 12-9)

Final

Fletcher & Gregory beat Freeman & Cameron 3-1 (12-6, 12-4, 8-12, 12-9)

Plate Final

Courtney Friend (Edwardian) & Alex Dunlavey (School) beat Simon Woolfries (OI) & Tom Sharland (School) 2-0 (15-14, 14-11)