The Ipswich Tournament for the Graves Cup was held as usual at Ipswich School on the first weekend of the New Year and attracted 22 players who competed in 3 Groups to see who would go through to the Knock Out Stages. The players consisted of O.I.’s and boys of Ipswich School as well as 3 guests including a lady player.

In Group ‘A’, Steve Burnell (O.I.) & Alex. Dunlavey (O.I.) won easily without dropping a game, with Courtney Friend (O.Ed.) & O. Waters (Ips Schl) taking second slot. Tim Fletcher (O.I.) managed to avoid being bottom of the Group – One had to feel sorry for his partner, J. Thorne (Ips Schl) who put a brave face on things.

In Group ‘B’, John Caudle (O.I.) & Alex Bowditch (O.I.) came out winners but had a much tougher passage. Although they defeated K. Mann & Tim Rakow (O.O.) – Yes you couldn’t have a Tournament these days without at least a token Old Olavian presence – they dropped a game to both the other pairs. The match against Gareth Hoskins (O.I.) & Ed Hunt (Ips Schl) was particularly close with John and Alex scraping in 12–11; 10–13; 12–9. John and Alex had a slightly easier game against Peter Forrest (O.I.) and the ‘Old Man’ of Fives, Mike Fenn, beating them 8–12; 12–7; 12–9 but the ‘Father of the Game’ was not finished yet and he and Peter came back to defeat Gareth and Ed 8–12; 12–2; 12–9. If there is an easy way to do it, Mike doesn’t know it – He always gets his moneys worth and the only reason his matches did not go to 5 games was that they were the best of 3!!

It was decided that as Group 3 had only 3 pairs, their matches should be best of 5. Mike Fenn’s application to join the Group on the basis that his matches always go to 5 sets was peremptorily turned down. If Peter Boughton (O.I.), who organised the Tournament thought he would have an easy time by putting himself in this smaller Group he was mistaken. Tom Fletcher (O.I.) & D. Bowditch (O.I.) totally exhausted him and his partner A. Yanuf (Ips. Schl) in a match that went all the way. Tom and his partner eventually subdued Peter and his partner, 12–13; 15–14; 12–14; 14–12; 12–13.

On the Saturday evening a most enjoyable dinner was held in the Pavilion of the School and the Old Boys Club donated the wine for the dinner – Our thanks to William Coe and the Committee for this most generous gesture. Williams comments when he found out how much we drank are not repeatable.

The quarter-finals were hard fought – Tim Fletcher was allowed to change his partner but he had no more success with R. Leach than he had had the previous day with his first partner and was defeated by Steve Burnell & Alex Dunlavey 11–15; 7–12. Gareth Hoskins & David Leach despatched Simon Woolfries & Andy Cameron 9–12; 12–5; 12–4; whilst Mike Fenn & Peter Forrest defeated Courtney Friend & O. Waters 12–3; 12–8. The match between John Caudle & Alex Bowditch and Tom Fletcher & Ollie Bowditch had to be abandoned with the score at 11–12; 12–11 when Ollie Bowditch was unable to continue due to an injury to his elbow. Rumours that Alex did not want to run the risk of being beaten by his younger brother are said to have been greatly exaggerated.

In the semi-finals Steve Burnell & Alex Dunlavey made short work of Mike Fen a& Peter Forrest – how Mike was still standing by this stage is still a mystery – whilst Gareth Hoskins and David Leach beat Tom Fletcher & Ollie Bowditch 13–12; 12–3, thereby ending the Fletcher family run of appearing in Ipswich Finals.

The Final had the makings of an epic struggle as Steve Burnell & Alex Dunlavey only just scraped home 14–12 in the first game. Unfortunately the Match did not then live up to expectations and Steve and Alex won the next 2 games 12–2; 12–1. The fact that somebody pointed out to Alex that the Courts are not 100 yards long may have had something to do with it!!

The machinations of the Plate eluded the author of this report but suffice it to say that it was won by Simon Woolfries & Andy Cameron who beat Peter Boughton & J. Thorne 12–7; 12–9.

Once again a most enjoyable Tournament was organised by Peter Boughton and hosted by the School. Hopefully next year we may entice more guests to attend and make it even harder for Peter to organise.

Results

Semi-finals:
S Burnell & A Dunlavey (O.I.'s) beat M R Fenn & P Forrest (O.I.'s)
12-3, 12-5
G Hoskins & D Leach (O.I./School) beat T S Fletcher & O Bowditch (O.I.'s)
13-12, 12-3

Final:
S Burnell & A Dunlavey beat G Hoskins & D Leach
14-12, 12-2, 12-1

Plate:
S Woolfries & A Cameron (O.I.'s) beat P Boughton & J Thorne (O.I./School)
12-7, 12-9

J.A.C.

Graves Cup Report 2005-2006 by John Caudle
Created 25th March 2007
efa@etonfives.co.uk

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