Cattermull Cup 2018
Cattermull Cup 2018.
The increased turn-out for the 2018 Cattermull Cup, played in January came as a pleasant surprise. It is never easy coordinating applications for a competition soon after Christmas and New Year. A record 20 schools entered this handicap doubles tournament with a maximum of two pairs from each school, giving rise to 25 entries in total. Will Burns, the professional at MURTC returned from holiday in Mexico to mastermind the draw and having consulted with Chris Bray, they opted for 6 groups starting at 3pm on Friday 19th following which the knock out stages finished around 5pm on the Sunday. It was quite a momentum that they needed to sustain and fortunately Will did not have to mark every single match as we sought additional assistance from Adam Phillips.
Starting with the conclusion, the final was played between King’s School Canterbury and Worth with King’s prevailing in a closely contested match. Worth were probably somewhat tired having played all their group matches as well as knock out stages on the Sunday. In turn, King’s had defeated defending champions Rugby while Worth overcame one of the Marlborough pairs that had been fancied to do well from the start in Group 1.
Other quarter finalists were a home MURTC pair from Bryanston, both pairs from Charterhouse, Radley, Clifton, Eton and Leys School. Much of the Tennis was superbly hard fought with Eton only going through because Cheltenham Ladies lost their final point. One of the Clifton pair was also a previous winner of the tournament. Both Wellington pairs were unfortunate to go out at the qualifying stages as were Downside (after a long journey) Taunton (having been finalists on two previous occasions), Millfield, Princethorpe, Shrewsbury, Harrow and Highgate. Haileybury had to withdraw at the last minute but are sure to field a pair next year.
We are working towards having a single coordinator at each school for both the Henry Leaf Open Doubles and this Handicap Tournament so that they can select their representatives as the pressure on numbers mounts. This was the tenth year that the handicap trophy has been contested and there were a large number of players right across the age and ability range. It was very pleasing to have a new name on the trophy who won in the first year of their entry.