The evening kicked off with the 5th seeds Tom Robb and David Kirk. David took control of the match straight away dominating the T with the better precision to the back court meaning Tom never managed to get a strong foothold in the tie despite some great rallies throughout. 11-4 11-6 11-1 to David.
Next on were Mike Beck and Olly Willans at 4. The last fixture between them was a 3-2 win for Olly so lots to battle for. The first game was very tight with neither player winning more than 2 points in a row but Mike clinched it 11-9. At the start of the second a combination of winners and errors took Mike to a 5-1 lead which he maintained to win 11-6. The 3rd game went 11-5 to Mike.
Up next were the 2nd seeds Dylan Muldoon and Andrew Hepworth. Both brought a high tempo and similar style most of us were out of breath watching. The first game was very tight to 5-5 then a run of 3 points took Dylan 8-5 up and then closing it out 11-8. The next two games continued at the same blistering tempo but with each player winning a flurry of points and then it was the other’s turn to push. Andrew made it to 10-6 and then held out to 11-9. A similar ebb and flow in the 3rd with Dylan 7-4 up and then 5 straight points meant he could take it 11-8. The 4th was tense to 7-7 and then Andrew found a way to clinch it 11-7, overall 3-1.
In parallel were the 3rd seeds James and Jon. This played out similarly to the 5’s. Here James was able to control the T and keep Jon covering all four corners. Jon rattled off a number of very impressive backhand kills that kept James honest in the front corners but James had enough to see this out 11-7 11-2 11-4.
It all came down to the 1st seeds Hamish Miller and Jordan Barry with the tie balanced at 2-2 on the night. The first game saw a battle for position down the backhand wall with Hamish taking a 5-1 lead with some great counter drops. Jordan rallied well and found himself controlling the T and keeping Hamish off balance to go 8-6 up. Hamish found a foothold and fought back to take the first 11-8. The second game had a similar feel with Hamish finding a 5-3 lead which proved crucial as they traded points ending 11-9 to Hamish. The 3rd had signs of a comeback with Jordan going up 4-2 and controlling play with a very accurate and high tempo period of play. A brief period trading points in 1s and 2s took things to 8-7 to Jordan. Hamish found a late surge to snatch it 11-9, claiming the trophy for Nuffield 1.
Nuffield 1
Witney
Witney & Nuffield
