Alan Barber Cup 2025: Olavians Regain The Title In Another Epic

25/02/25: The Old Olavians regained the Alan Barber Cup in association with Advanta Wealth at Westway on Sunday with a remarkable victory over the Old Westminsters.

The 2024 Barber Cup final  was one of the most exciting, tense and high quality matches in the competition's long and distinguished history as the Westminsters finally dethroned long-term champions the Old Olavians with a 12-10 win in the fifth game of the deciding pair.

Astonishingly, the 2025 final - with the same two teams in play - matched and possibly even surpassed last year's, with only a 15-14 fifth game scoreline in the first pair match deciding the destination of the trophy this time around, the victory this time going to the Olavians, their 24th in total and into the lead on their own as the most successful team in the history of the Alan Barber Cup.

There were a couple of changes in personnel from last year, with schoolboys Tanish Arjaria and Aadi Agarwal coming into the Olavian team instead of Matt Wiseman and Prajeeth Sathiyamoorthy and James Alster replacing Harry de Quetteville in the Westminster line-up. There were changes in the pairings too, with James Toop & Seb Cooley - schools' championships winners in 1999 but more often seen playing against each other than with each other since - teaming up at first pair for the Olavians. The Westminsters changed their strategy completely from last year, with last year's second pair of Hugo Young & Issy Salim moving up to take on Toop & Cooley at one and last year's first pair of Riki Houlden and Laurie Brock teaming up with Ben Merrett and James Alster at two and three respectively, where they were up against the two Olavian schoolboys paired with Howard Wiseman and Tom Gallagher.

Houlden & Merrett had the edge over Wiseman & Agarwal from the start at second pair and won in three games, despite a strong third game showing from the Olavian pair that almost got them back into the match. The third pair game was tight right from the start with the two first time finalists Alster and Arjaria settling in well alongside Brock and Gallagher. This was a close one, and when Gallagher & Arjaria won the second game 15-14 to go 2-0 ahead it looked as though it might be decisive. The Westminster pair showed plenty of tenacity and ability to turn things round in the third game, winning to 3, but the steadiness of Arjaria and the attacking power of Tom Gallagher were enough to get the Olavian pair back into the game in the fourth, which they eventually won 13-11.

This meant that the final would be decided by the result of the first pair match. This didn't look like it would initially be the case as Toop & Cooley - in an echo of the second pair match against the same opponents last year - found themselves 2-0 down to Young & Salim, with Issy Salim in particular excelling and not looking out of place on a court with three Kinnaird Cup winners. No one with even a passing knowledge of the last 25 years of major Fives competitions would have been writing James & Seb off at this point, however, and they duly managed to get themselves back into the match, despite sailing pretty close to the wind as the third game was set at 11-11. They won it 14-11, though and then went on to dominate the fourth game, winning to 3 to take it to a fifth.

With the momentum now in the Olavians' favour, a grandstand finish to match last year's seemed unlikely, and it is greatly to the credit of Issy & Hugo that the were able to regroup - especially having been so close to victory at the end of the third - and push James & Seb all the way, first to 10-10 and then to 14-14, having been a couple of points behind and saved match points themselves. It was the Olavian pair who got there first, though, much to their delight and indeed relief, providing a fitting end to another memorable encounter. Who's betting against something similar next year?

Alan Barber Cup Final 2025 in association with Advanta Wealth:

Old Olavians beat Old Westminsters 2-1

J.Toop & S.Cooley beat H.Young & I.Salim 3-2 (4-12, 9-12, 14-11, 12-3, 15-14)

H.Wiseman & A.Agarwal lost to R.Houlden & B.Merrett 0-3 (4-12, 6-12, 11-14)

T.Gallagher & T.Arjaria beat L.Brock & J.Alster 3-1 (12-9, 15-14, 3-12, 13-11)