Houlden & Young Win The Kinnaird Replay
22/09/25: Riki Houlden & Hugo Young retained the Kinnaird Cup in association with Advanta Wealth at Berkhamsted yesterday with a 3-1 win over former champions Tom Dunbar & Seb Cooley in the replayed final.
R.Houlden & H.Young beat T.Dunbar & S.Cooley 3-1 (9-12, 12-5, 12-5, 12-5)
The Kinnaird Cup was first played for 100 years ago, back in 1925. The longest ever Kinnaird Cup final since it first started finally reached a conclusion yesterday at Berkhamsted, nine games and five months after it started back in early April. That first match had to be stopped deep in the fifth game after an injury to Tom; Riki & Hugo were adamant they didn't want to win by default so with Tom's finger now mended, the four players reconvened at Berkhamsted to take each other on once again with Riki & Hugo looking to defend their title, having finally ended Tom & Seb's thirteen year winning streak in 2024.
A good crowd had assembled in the sunshine to see if the match would rival some of the other fantastic battles these two pairs have had over the course of the last three seasons and they were not disappointed with two and a half hours of extraordinarily good Fives, suffused with exemplary sportsmanship and good humour throughout, no mean feat in a match which both pairs desperately wanted to win.
The first game was a bit of a roller coaster, with Tom & Seb starting better and establishing a 4-0 lead before their opponents had really found their range. Riki & Hugo quickly hit back, finding more accuracy on the set piece and working their way into a 9-6 lead before a final momentum shift saw Tom & Seb take control for a few decisive hands, levelling at 9-9 then immediately pushing on to win the game 12-9 at the first time of asking.
Seb & Tom then went 2-0 up at the start of the second and perhaps needed to take advantage of a slight lull at this point to see if they could forge ahead and put the Westminster pair under some pressure. A double change quickly reversed the momentum, putting Riki & Hugo 4-2 ahead and although Tom & Seb kept in touch on the scoreboard up to 5-6, it was the defending champions who were beginning to take control, gaining an advantage in the set piece that they never relinquished. Along with their relentlessly accurate rally play, this became a hard combination for Seb & Tom to crack and despite playing some excellent Fives across the next three games they never managed to find the answer, unable to find enough cut returns or enough winners (at times it felt like they pretty much had to hit the ball in the hole to stop Riki & Hugo getting it back) to get the run of points that would have got them into a position to challenge on the scoreboard.
This was pretty much the pattern through to the end of the match, with some terrific Fives to watch and some incredible athleticism and accuracy from all four players, but with Riki & Hugo holding most of the cards and progressing inexorably to three successive 12-5 wins and a well-deserved second Kinnaird title, denying Tom that elusive twentieth win in the competition. For now anyway...
Our thanks go to all four players, for (twice) showcasing all that is best about the sport of Eton Fives, to Doug Foster and everyone at Berkhamsted for hosting the final (twice) and to Advanta Wealth for their ongoing and greatly valued sponsorship.
