Results 2026/27

North Oxford beat Harrow School 2-0 at Harrow 19/09/26:

A.Abrahams & J.Levinson beat Henry & George 12-4; George & Laurence 12-3, 12-6; A.Ranjan & A.Au 12-5

A.Bishop & G.Hoskins beat Isa & Steve 12-4, 12-8; Sam & Freddie 12-8

Additional matches: A.Abrahams & A.Bishop beat A.Ranjan & A.Au 12-6; J.Levinson & J.Dunbar beat Sam & Freddie 12-11

A very convivial and satisfactory friendly match at Harrow saw Alex & Jamie and Andy & Gareth take on various combinations of Harrow schoolboys while the Old Harrovians played the Old Westminsters round the other side. The club captain came in for his first appearance of the season once Fred Prickett finally realised he couldn't play in two matches in the same place simultaneously, and he and the club president played a very traditional "confuse the schoolboys by hitting it as slowly and with as much spin as possible" style game to great effect, although they did have to raise their game against their second opponents. Alex & Jamie adopted a similar - if perhaps rather less brazen - strategy in their matches, including a game against the hugely talented U15 pair who romped to victory in the U14 Beginners tournament at Repton last year. The final round of matches saw Alex team up for one final win, while there was a North Oxford debut for 13 year old Jamie Dunbar, who became the first member of his family to pass the stringent criteria required to play for NOEFC and then succeeded in partnering the other Jamie to a come from behind victory against his Harrovian opponents, his grandparents sensibly opting to watch this game rather than the Dunbar T v Houlden R battle going on round the other side. A fun afternoon all round.

North Oxford 3 lost to The Abbey 1-2 at Westminster 17/09/26:

F.Fairhead & T.Bush lost to A.Gupta & E.Phillips 0-3 (8-12, 8-12, 10-12)

A.Bishop & R.Swallow beat L.Beheshti & A.Devalpalli 3-2 (12-11, 4-12, 9-12 ret)

G.Day & S.Clifford-King lost to S.Shi & T.Chatterjee 0-3 (2-12, 0-12, 0-12)

Andy Bishop reports: Despite the cathedral security staff at the entrance to Dean's Yard having no information about the match nor the list of names we eventually managed to reach the school's security entrance f the traditional season opener, a Division 3 match against The Abbey.

Pair 1 could have done with more warm-up time before starting their match, especially as Freddie Fairhead hadn't played for a while. He and fellow Old Summerfieldian Toby Bush had a good close match, but they needed best of seven, which North Oxford would undoubtedly have won!

Pair 3 had a tough time - the oppo's pre-match assurance of "Yes, there will be a significant drop in standard between 2nd and 3rd pair...." was perhaps not entirely accurate and Grace & Sophie had their work cut out from the start. They competed in the rallies but struggled to return cuts and the match was over rather too soon. Grace stayed for a while to support, but then felt the responsibilities of her new job and the need to get home in good time. Sophie gamely stayed on to join the four Summerfieldians in the pub afterwards.

Rupert & I took an early lead and then they drew level at around 4-4. We edged our way evenly onwards, NO reaching 11 first (11-8) and Abbey coming back to 11-11, 2nd hand. Rupert called sudden death, and we took it. Rupert then switched the ball to an orange one (self-painted by him), with the oppo's agreement, as the white ball had been a bit difficult to see. Following that, I struggled to see the ball for the next two games! But Rupert saw it well and covered his older partner efficiently, both scuttling around at the back of the court and volleying effectively on top step. We rather lost our way (not returning many cuts) in the second, but competed strongly in the third. As we prepared to raise our game in order to win the fourth and fifth, our opponents suddenly and mysteriously disappeared (an homage maybe to Justin Byam Shaw on his home courts), so we claimed the victory and headed to the pub...