Cambridge 42 - 48 Oxford
Report by Hugh Lund
The 2011 Men's Varsity Match, sponsored by no-one, took place over the weekend of the 7th and 8th May. Early indications from the nationwide BUCS tournament in February suggested that it would be a close match, neither team featuring any 'star' names, but both showing impressive strength in depth. The mind games began almost immediately, as Oxford turned up thirty minutes despite having to make the same journey every other year. Nevertheless the match soon began, enhanced by the news that CUPC was now on twitter (@CUPoolClub, for anyone interested...).
The Cambridge captain, Paul Thomas, led his team off in an order featuring many of our (supposedly) best players first. With the exception of Luke Bennett these players skilfully failed to live up to their billing, particularly Hugh Lund who produced a performance of nerveful potting Luke Gleave would have been ashamed of. Despite at one stage trailing 12-6, the strength in depth of the Cambridge team shone through as we went into the doubles only 2 frames down - Jon Nelson providing a timely boost with a comfortable 3-0 victory over former Cambridge man Relja Arandjelovic. Score: 17 - 19
Doubles has traditionally been a strength of Oxford, yet early on it was Cambridge who got the upper hand, winning 3 of the first 4 matches. A late comeback from Oxford prevented any inroads being made into the overall score, yet given our history in the doubles it was a highly creditable performance. Score: 26 - 28
The 'Sunday Singles' in fact began on Saturday, as Oxford's gamesmanship reached new levels by insisting (or maybe asking...) that 3 of their players finish up early. The Cambridge captain Paul Thomas, gentleman to a fault, nobly agreed - a decision that was to prove costly. The Cambridge players, caught unawares having already completed their warm-downs, were forced unprepared into the fray once more - losing the 3 matches by a combined score of 7-2. This left a mountain for the rest of the team to climb - a challenge they attacked admirably, winning 6 of the remaining 9 matches. This included a 3-0 victory for Paul Thomas that ensured he maintained his record of finishing above 50% in every varsity. However, this comeback was to prove too little, too late as a classy performance from the Oxford captain Ben Charlston saw them over line. Score: 42 - 48
This was, in many ways, a disappointing result from Cambridge's point of view. After a relatively successful BUCS campaign, we faced an Oxford side there for the taking, one lacking any household names, yet a combination of bad luck and bad fortune prevented the final scoreline truly reflecting the respective quality of the teams. Put another way, however, it was a highly creditable performance. This Cambridge side featured 8 varsity debutants, and pushed an experienced and consistent team very close. With most of the team able to return for next year's match in Oxford, we can look forward to Varsity 2012 with excitement. Revenge will be ours.
| FULL RESULTS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cambridge | Oxford | ||||||
| Saturday singles 20-16 |
1 | Paul Thomas | 1 | v | 2 | Richard Walters | 2 |
| 2 | Hugh Lund | 1 | v | 2 | Martin Henstridge | 4 | |
| 3 | James Palmer | 1 | v | 2 | Nicki Hoskins | 6 | |
| 5 | Luke Bennett | 2 | v | 1 | Tommy Hodgson | 7 | |
| 5 | Tom Sutton | 0 | v | 3 | Will Higham | 10 | |
| 6 | Tom Place | 1 | v | 2 | Ahmed Mohammed | 12 | |
| 8 | Drew Miley | 2 | v | 1 | Ian Pethick | 13 | |
| 10 | Paul Carter | 2 | v | 1 | Ben Charlston | 14 | |
| 13 | Jon Nelson | 3 | v | 0 | Relja Arandjelovic | 14 | |
| 15 | Tom Harbour | 2 | v | 1 | Russell Smith | 15 | |
| 17 | Paul Bradwell | 2 | v | 1 | Dan Fulford | 16 | |
| 17 | Craig Nunes | 0 | v | 3 | Gwilym Enstone | 19 | |
| Saturday doubles 6-12 |
18 | Paul B and Craig | 1 | v | 2 | Richard and Gwilym | 21 |
| 20 | Drew and Luke | 2 | v | 1 | Nicki and Dan | 22 | |
| 22 | Jon and Tom S | 2 | v | 1 | Ahmed and Relja | 23 | |
| 24 | James and Tom H | 2 | v | 1 | Ian and Russell | 24 | |
| 25 | Paul T and Tom P | 1 | v | 2 | Ben and Will | 26 | |
| 26 | Hugh and Paul C | 1 | v | 2 | Martin and Tommy | 28 | |
| Sunday singles 19-17 |
27 | Tom Harbour | 1 | v | 2 | Nicki Hoskins | 30 |
| 28 | Paul Carter | 1 | v | 2 | Dan Fulford | 32 | |
| 28 | Craig Nunes | 0 | v | 3 | Ahmed Mohammed | 35 | |
| 30 | James Palmer | 2 | v | 1 | Relja Arandjelovic | 36 | |
| 32 | Hugh Lund | 2 | v | 1 | Russell Smith | 37 | |
| 32 | Tom Place | 0 | v | 3 | Richard Walters | 40 | |
| 33 | Tom Sutton | 1 | v | 2 | Gwilym Enstone | 42 | |
| 36 | Paul Thomas | 3 | v | 0 | Ian Pethick | 42 | |
| 38 | Jon Nelson | 2 | v | 1 | Tommy Hodgson | 43 | |
| 40 | Luke Bennett | 2 | v | 1 | Martin Henstridge | 44 | |
| 42 | Paul Bradwell | 2 | v | 1 | Will Higham | 45 | |
| 42 | Drew Miley | 0 | v | 3 | Ben Charlston | 48 | |
| 42 | v | 48 | |||||
| INDIVIDUAL STATS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Singles (out of 6) | Doubles (out of 3) | Overall (out of 9) | Doubles Adjusted (out of 7.5) | ||||
| Won | % won | Won | % won | Won | % won | Won | % won | |
| Jon Nelson | 5 | 83 | 2 | 67 | 7 | 78 | 6 | 80 |
| Luke Bennett | 4 | 67 | 2 | 67 | 6 | 67 | 5 | 67 |
| Paul Bradwell | 4 | 67 | 1 | 33 | 5 | 56 | 4.5 | 60 |
| Paul Thomas (c) | 4 | 67 | 1 | 33 | 5 | 56 | 4.5 | 60 |
| Tom Harbour | 3 | 50 | 2 | 67 | 5 | 56 | 4 | 53 |
| James Palmer | 3 | 50 | 2 | 67 | 5 | 56 | 4 | 53 |
| Paul Carter | 3 | 50 | 1 | 33 | 4 | 44 | 3.5 | 47 |
| Hugh Lund | 3 | 50 | 1 | 33 | 4 | 44 | 3.5 | 47 |
| Drew Miley | 2 | 33 | 2 | 67 | 4 | 44 | 3 | 40 |
| Tom Sutton | 1 | 17 | 2 | 67 | 3 | 33 | 2 | 27 |
| Tom Place | 1 | 17 | 1 | 33 | 2 | 22 | 1.5 | 20 |
| Craig Nunes | 0 | 0 | 1 | 33 | 1 | 11 | 0.5 | 7 |
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