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In both the Colts events the standard was exceptionally high, and the final day saw a good Second Pairs final followed by a quite exceptional championship final.

In the Peter Gray Cup for Junior Colts eleven schools entered second pairs. The top two seeds Winchester (B ….Stevens and Christian Portz) and Cheltenham (Felix Clarke and Richard Owen) played unseeded pairs in the semi-finals. Winchester had the edge in weight of shot in beating Eton (Henry Faber and Archie Burgess) 15/12 15/10 15/5, but Wellington (Charlie Pickard and Nick Hopcroft) recovered from a two game deficit to beat Cheltenham. In the final game Cheltenham led 8-1, later pulled back from 8-13 to 13-13, but Wellington got home 4/15 3/15 15/8 15/4 16/13. In an excellent final Winchester started strongly Portz serving to game from 7-4. Wellington combining well, led 13-12 in the second game but Stevens varied his serve cleverly to win the game in the set to three. Thereafter Portz’s power dominated, and although Wellington saved two match points at 14-4 Winchester won 15/4 16/13 15/9.

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In the Eric Angus Cup for colts there was a surprise in the first round when St Paul’s (Mark Hine and George Barnes) beat the second seeds Winchester (Sean Knight and Alex Portz) 15/12 18/13 1215 15/3. The first semi-final was a repeat of last year’s Junior Colts final and this time Eton (Ted Morrison and Henry Nicholls) prevailed over Cheltenham (Charlie Wootton and Dan Shiner). With Eton leading 3 games to 1 and 12-9 Cheltenham played their best, winning that game and reaching 11-11 in the next, but Eton kept attacking to win 6/15 15/12 15/4 15/11 12/15 15/11. In the second semi-final Tonbridge (Jack Shields and Tom Spurling) beat St Paul’s 15/8 16/13 15/11 15/10. In the final game St Paul’s led 9-6 and had both hands in at 10-11 but good serving by Shields saw Tonbridge home. In the final Eton won the first game, Nicholls serving five aces in a run from 6-8 to 12-8, but Tonbridge drew level following some neat touches by Spurling. Honours were even in some cross –court duels between the left handers Morrison and Shields, but crucial was Eton’s recovery from 10-14 to 17-14 in the fourth game and they won a very good final 15/8 10/15 16/16 17/14 15/8.

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In the Second Pairs competition the semi-finals followed the seeding with Eton (George Maltby and Max Barber) beating Tonbridge (Adam Maltz and Oliver Durell) 15/11 12/15 18/13 15/5 15/5 and Harrow (Gayland Crawley and Will Jones) beating Cheltenham (Chris Palmer and Bruce Mason) 15/7 15/11 9/15 15/8 15/6. The finalists would probably have gone far in the main tournament but for being drawn in the same quarter as the top seeds, Eton’s first pair, A hard hitting final came to life in the third game, often at some peril to the spectators, when Harrow held off a service run by Barber from 3-11 to 12-11 to level 2 games to 1. Eton levelled the score, however, following another run by Barber, well supported in the rallies by Maltby, from 0-1 to 11-1. Thereafter Harrow kept the initiative, both Crawley and Jones volleying well mid-court, to win 10/15 15/10 15/13 2/15 15/10 15/4.

In the main Championship there were some long matches in the early rounds but the four seeds survived and both semi-finals contained much of interest. In the first, St Paul’s (Dan Tristao and Alex Griffiths) had their chances against Harrow (Sam Northeast and Glenn Querl) but Northeast’s aggression and Querl’s steadiness finally prevailed. St Paul’s had both hands in at 10-10 in the first game and, thanks to Tristao’s varied serving led 15-14 in the second game. All seemed over when Harrow led 3 games to 0 and 14-11, but St Paul’s survived when Griffiths served well in the set to three. A repetition seemed possible in the fifth game when St Paul’s had both hands in at 12-14, but Harrow won an excellent match 15/10 17/15 15/3 14/17 15/12. In the other semi-final between Eton (William Hopton and Chris Stefanowicz) and Rugby (Sam Hawkesley and Richard Offord) Stefanowicz dominated the early exchanges but Hawkesley’s aggression and Offord’s dogged retrieving kept Rugby in contention until the third game when Hopton served from 8-8 to game ball. Rugby drew level again when Offord served to a teasing length in the set to five, but thereafter Eton were on top to win 15/8 10/15 15/8 15/18 15/2 15/8.

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It is hard to do justice to an outstanding final. In an unusual start Hopton served straight to 13-0 with 10 aces, only for Northeast to do likewise with the help of 6 aces. At 13-13 some exceptional rallies saw Eton have two game balls at 17-15 but a service ace from Querl won the game 18-17. In the second game a run by Stefanowicz from 2-7 to 9-7 helped Eton level the score, but with all four players shining in turn Harrow won the next two games, the latter after Eton led 9-6 and had two hands in at 11-13. In the fifth game Eton had a game bll at 14-11 but only won in the set to three following good play by Hopton. Amidst mounting excitement Eton needed only four hands to draw level at 3 games all, and then led successively 6-5, 9-6, 11-9 and 12-10 before Northeast’s flair and Querl’s steadiness under pressure gave Harrow the title by 18/17 11/15 15/3 15/12 15/17 3/15 15/12. Many in the gallery felt that it was the best final they had seen both in its standard of play and sportsmanship.

This was echoed by David Faber when he presented the Mark Faber Cup to Eton as some consolation, the leading scores being Eton 32, Harrow 26, St Paul’s 17, Cheltenham 16 and Winchester 12.

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