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Richard Barber Cup: Shrewsbury Retain The Title By The Barest Of Margins

13/01/25: A remarkable Richard Barber Cup in association with Advanta Wealth at Eton on Sunday was won eventually by Shrewsbury after a threeway tie with Eton and St.Olave's.

The Richard Barber Cup is the three pair team competition for current & former pupils. Putting teams together can be a tricky business and there were a few almost there but not quite efforts, leaving just three teams on the start line at Eton. The good news was that the three teams there were all strong and evenly balanced, especially with Eton coach Ryan Perrie subbing in late on for an OE non-arrival and between them they produced an epic series of matches.

First up were Eton and Shrewsbury. Ryan & Toby Webster were too strong for Rex Worth & Michael Draper at first pair, but Shrewsbury's strength in depth showed, with Sam Welti & George Battersby overcoming the Turcan brothers at second pair and Adam Morris & Louis Hursthouse comfortable winners at third pair over Arthur Clover & Hugo Turpin.

Shrewsbury had an opportunity to wrap things up early on as they took on St.Olave's in the second game. The senior Olavian schoolboys were unavailable, but their U15/U16 players were up to the challenge, aided by the formidable adult support of Seb Cooley, Gwydion Wiseman and Kieran Walton. Adam & Louis at third pair again proved to be Shrewsbury's bankers, taking advantage of some rustiness from Kieran & Krivi Bhavsar to win in straight games, meaning a win for either of the other two Salopian pairs would guarantee them top spot. It wasn't to be at second pair as Gwydion & Henry Etherington put in an inspired and high intensity performance to win against Sam & George. First pair was in the balance, however, Rex & Michael taking the first game against Seb & Oscar Rushton to 8. The Olavian pair came back strongly, though, Seb beginning to find his range and Oscar more than playing his part, with some solid support play and excellent cut returning at crucial times and they won the next two games to 7 to give St.Olave's the 2-1 win and put them in pole position going into the final round.

The WinViz predictor at this stage had St.Olave's as strong favourites, needing to win two of the three pairs against Eton to be sure of overall victory. Eton needed to win all three pairs to guarantee first place with Shrewsbury's only hope lying in a 2-1 win for Eton and the scores to go their way to give them a win on points difference. The next hour or so of Fives was full of excitement and tension as fortunes ebbed and flowed, with each of the three teams within a point or two of overall victory at various junctures. Eton got off to the perfect start across the board, going 1-0 up in all three pairs; Ryan & Toby at first pair confirmed their status as the best pair on the day with a convincing 2-0 win over Seb & Henry, but an Eton procession was averted by the second and third pairs, where Gwydion & Krivi dominated the second game against Jake & Hugo to level at 1-1 and Kieran & Oscar recovered from a poor first game to turn things round and win the second 12-9. 

At this stage, the calculator came out and it became clear that while Eton or St.Olave's needed to win both remaining pairs to take the title, if they won one each, Shrewsbury were back in the hunt with a superior points difference. Third pair finished first, Arthur & Lochie Turcan just managing to hold off a closing in Kieran & Henry 12-10, keeping Eton's hopes alive but finishing Olavian chances of victory. Eton's fate was still in their own hands as Jake Turcan & Hugo Turpin got in front of Gwydion & Krivi in the third game of the second pair. What the Olavian pair didn't know, however, is that they were carrying Salopian hopes as they battled to win as an Olavian win would tie everything up and give Shrewsbury the cup on points difference. Eton got close, so close - 10-6 up, then 11-9 up and a whisker away from the winning shot on a couple of occasions. They couldn't close it out, however, and a superb gameball cut return from Krivi for a clean winner at the first attempt gave Olave's the win and a slightly disbelieving Shrewsbury the cup.

Despite the small entry, this was an excellent day's Fives and a hugely worthwhile competition to have in the calendar. Hopefully one or two more teams will manage to organise themselve to play next year, although they will be hard pressed to produce anything as dramatic as this year's edition!

Our thanks go to Eton for hosting the competition, to Advanta Wealth for their sponsorship and to those who put teams together and played.

 

Shrewsbury beat Eton 2-1

R.Worth & M.Draper lost to R.Perrie & T.Webster 0-2 (6-12, 4-12)

S.Welti & G.Battersby beat J.Turcan & L.Turcan 2-0 (12-9, 12-6)

A.Morris & L.Hursthouse beat A.Clover & H.Turpin 2-0 (12-3, 12-5)

 

St.Olave's beat Shrewsbury 2-1

S.Cooley & O.Rushton beat R.Worth & M.Draper 2-1 (8-12, 12-7, 12-7)

G.Wiseman & H.Etherington beat S.Welti & G.Battersby 2-0 (12-4, 12-8)

K.Walton & K.Bhavsar lost to A.Morris & L.Hursthouse 0-2 (2-12, 8-12)

 

Eton beat St.Olave's 2-1

R.Perrie & T.Webster beat S.Cooley & H.Etherington 2-0 (12-4, 12-7)

J.Turcan & H.Turpin lost to G.Wiseman & K.Bhavsar 1-2 (12-11, 4-12, 11-12)

A.Clover & L.Turcan beat K.Walton & O.Rushton 2-1 (12-2, 9-12, 12-10)

 

All three teams won 1 match and lost 1 match

All three teams won 3 pairs and lost 3 pairs

 

Shrewsbury - 7 sets won, 6 sets lost, points difference +7

Eton - 7 sets won, 7 sets lost, points difference +3

St.Olave's - 7 sets won, 8 sets lost, points difference -10

 

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