Kinnaird Final: Houlden & Young Hang On To Win In Final For The Ages
30/03/26: Riki Houlden & Hugo Young retained the Kinnaird Cup in association with Advanta Wealth at Berkhamsted yesterday after a five game and just under five hour victory over Tom Dunbar & Seb Cooley in a remarkable final.
Watch the final here: GAME ONE GAME TWO GAME THREE GAME FOUR GAME FIVE
Berkhamsted's prep school courts have been a fantastic home for the Kinnaird final in recent seasons while building work has been ongoing at Eton. Hitherto the weather has always played ball, allowing large crowds to watch in glorious sunshine. This time round, however, while there was still a sizeable gathering (although perhaps not quite as large as it might have been had the sun been out again), arctic temperatures and persistent rain had the crowd huddling together under the canopy a little way back from the action.
Those who braved it, though, were rewarded with an afternoon of unbeatable entertainment, nearly five hours of sport of the highest possible standard, played in a spirit of exemplary sportsmanship (more on that later) with fortunes swinging back and forth, a miraculous comeback to take the match into a fifth game, epic rallies, astonishing shotmaking and powers of recovery, bouts of cramp on both sides and the outcome in the balance right up to the very end. A truly extraordinary match.
These two pairs have now met several times in the last four seasons and have produced some memorable matches in that time; their two meetings this season hadn't quite hit the heights of some of their other encounters, however, with a relatively comfortable win for Riki & Hugo in the 2025 Kinnaird final replay at the start of the season and a four game win for Tom & Seb in the Northern final at Shrewsbury, where neither pair quite produced their best Fives. Right from the off, however, it was clear that all four players had brought their best game to the court this time around, as an enthralling first game unfolded, with the two pairs matching each other shot for shot and point for point all the way to 10-10 and then 12-12. There was a tremendous piece of sportsmanship to match the quality of the play at 12-12 as Hugo declared a double hit against himself that no one else had noticed in a rally that would have taken them to 13-12; Tom then responded with a vintage trademark volley winner from the mid-court, which was followed up by two more outstandingly constructed and finished points from Tom & Seb to take the first game 15-12 after just over 60 minutes play.
One of the many qualities of Riki & Hugo as a pair is their equanimity of temperament in the face of apparent setbacks, although this could perhaps be differentiated between Riki's carefully managed and thought through approach to the achievement of an ultimate goal compared to Hugo not really knowing what the score is most of the time, and they remained unfazed by the loss of the first game. This was perhaps not surprising - only once in the multiple Kinnaird finals between them have Riki & Hugo won the first game, but only once have they failed to come back and win the match. The second game once again fairly fizzed with fantastic Fives right from the first rally, but the scoring pattern was notably different to the first game, as all four players began to return more cuts and create more scoring chances. Tom & Seb started off by establishing a 2-0 lead, but Riki & Hugo then hit back with five unanswered points of their own. It could easily have been a couple more but Tom & Seb produced a couple of exceptional rallies to hold them at 5 and regain the serve, before going on a run of their own over the course of the next few hands, charging into a 7-5 lead. Again, the run was halted before it could become decisive and parity was then restored at 7-7. The standard of play at this point in the match was scarcely believable, with incredible spin and slice into the buttress being met by equally exceptional defensive volleying and retrieving and the occasional unforced error (emphasis on the occasional!) standing out like a sore thumb in contrast to virtually every other shot. A brilliant slice from Hugo and a scintillating volley into the back bricks from Riki seized the initiative at 8-8 and this time the move was decisive, Riki & Hugo taking the second 12-8 to level the score.
When play resumed in the third game it was clear that the momentum was still very much with Riki & Hugo. Tom & Seb's level may have dropped slightly, but it was only slightly as the third game was a tour de force from the Westminster pair who were simply irresistible, their set piece functioning smoothly, their defensive play like a wall and Tom & Seb temporarily reduced to Fives King Canutes, unable to turn back the tide of Westminster winners. Having raced out to an 11-2 lead, the result of the game was pretty inevitable but Tom & Seb did begin to regain a foothold towards the end of the game, winning three points back to get it to 5-11 before Riki & Hugo scored the final point and just giving themselves something to work with going into the fourth.
Tom & Seb needed a good start in the fourth game and they got it, with both pairs back to matching each other shot for shot, the standard of play unrelentingly high. With the scoreboard inching forward and Riki the first to suffer from a bout of cramp, memories of the third game were long banished by the time the score got to 5-5 after around 30 minutes of captivating play. Then suddenly, one hand threatened to prove terminal for Tom & Seb as a couple of rare errors were seized on by Riki & Hugo, who then added a couple of winners of their own to go from 5-5 to 9-5, adding a further point on the next hand to move to within two points of victory. Tom & Seb pulled a couple back quickly but then it was Tom's turn to go down with cramp, sportingly treated and revived by the on court doctor (the crowd all wanting to know exactly what the miracle cure was he handed over!). Riki & Hugo moved to 11-7 ahead and match point after another exceptional rally but Tom cut Hugo down. Knowing they needed something, Tom & Seb found it, one point taking them to 8-11 and then consecutive clean winners into the hole - one from Seb then one from Tom - bringing them back to 10-11. Riki & Hugo had two more chances to win the match but weren't able to take either of them and on the next hand, it was back to 11-11. The next few hands produced some of the most incredible Fives of the match at an absolutely crucial stage and under huge pressure. 11-11 became 12-12 before Tom & Seb got their chance at 13-12...and Riki seized up with cramp again, barely able to stand, let alone hit the gameball cut he was faced with. Tom & Seb sportingly and uncomplainingly waited for him to recover, kept their focus and were rewarded with the winning point, Tom pouncing on the opportunity to hit a winning volley after another 60 minute game and take the match into a fifth.
Although there was clearly some cramp-related discomfort during the course of the fifth game, with Riki in particular battling through some pain at times, there were no further breaks in play and the hardy crowd - with the match approaching the four hour mark and the players applauded back on to the court at the start of the last game - were treated to a fifth and final game that was at least the equal of any of the previous four. It took a handful of rallies at the start of the game for both pairs to hit top gear but once they did they stayed there for the rest of the match. As in the first and fourth games, the early stages were tight with the cutting generally on top of the returning for once and neither pair able to establish a clear advantage. Tom & Seb made the first move, a stunning volley from Seb taking them 7-4 ahead, but as had often been the case in earlier phases of the match, a small lead was the signal not for a push on to victory but for a shift in momentum back to the other pair, a rare soft point gifted back to Riki & Hugo quickly followed up by two strong points from the Westminster pair. The finish line was starting to be in sight for the defending champions as a fantastic return of cut from Riki and then a well-timed ledge took them 9-7 up; a couple of half-chances for more points were then spurned - or maybe more accurately saved by Tom & Seb - and perhaps unsurprisingly, a terrific return from Seb this time and another trademark Dunbar volley winner soon had the score poised at 10-10 and set to go all the way. 10-10 became 11-11 with no sign of anyone faltering under pressure or wilting after well over four and a half hours of intense and physically demanding rallies and it was perhaps fitting that it took a couple of pieces of brilliance from Hugo on the top step to make the final move from 11-11 to 13-11 and then on to 14-11. After all that, the end was slightly anticlimactic with the first gameball cut from Tom hitting a ledge, then the top of the buttress and flying long, but that was quickly forgotten as the four players embraced amid thunderous and sustained applause from the appreciative crowd at the end of a very special match.
This was a simply magnificent final, with all four players sustaining a phenomenal standard over the course of five games and nearly five hours. It was remarkable not only for the length of the rallies and the quality of the shots but also for the physical resilience of both pairs (not least Tom & Seb who are both now in their 40s and perfectly entitled to be sporting the Fives equivalent of pipe and slippers and reminiscing about the glory days should they wish to). It was also a perfect example of how the game should be played. Five games, nearly five hours, no referee and an exceptional level of sportsmanship from start to finish: undetected foul shots declared, lets always offered but not always taken, any decision about whether a particular action should produce a let decided quickly and sensibly after a short discussion that invariably focused on what had happened and what the result should be rather than on what any individual player wanted to get out of it and a level of trust and respect between all four players that allowed the match to flow and enhanced it significantly as a spectacle. All while playing for the biggest prize in the sport and without remotely diluting the desire to win or the competitive spirit evident throughout.
Statistics were not at the forefront of anyone's thinking while watching the match (although the question was raised after the end of the fourth game as to whether a Kinnaird final had ever been won having been gameball down before) but here are a couple for those who like that sort of thing: Riki & Hugo's third consecutive win makes them the eighth pair to achieve that feat (Cooley & Dunbar*, Mason & Dunbar, Mason & Mole, Matthews & Reynolds*, Hughes & Campbell*, Kittermaster & Moulsdale, May & May); only the asterisked pairs have won more than three in a row, so another win next year would put them in even more rarified company. Seb has now appeared in 16 consecutive finals. That's pretty impressive. Tom, of course, has now appeared in 25 finals on the trot - that is surely a record that is going to be around for a very long time indeed and it would be interesting to know if anyone in any other sport can claim to have done anything comparable. And of course, they both still have power to add...same time next year, anyone?
Our thanks go to all four players for producing such an amazing match, to the crowd who braved the conditions and who were royally entertained, to Doug Foster and Berkhamsted for hosting the final and to Advanta Wealth for their sponsorship.
A recording of the final will be available to watch on YouTube before too long - I suggest you watch it.
R.Houlden & H.Young beat T.Dunbar & S.Cooley 3-2 (12-15, 12-8, 12-5, 12-14, 15-11)
