Oxford and Cambridge: The Past versus Present 2026

St Paul’s School, Barnes and the University Sports Centre, Cambridge
Saturday, 14th February 2026

Nick Whitney reports from Oxford: The 40th edition of the Oxford Past vs Present match took place at St Paul’s School on Saturday, 14th February, a week before the 96th Varsity Match.

In the Men’s match, the top eight were closely matched throughout the singles, sharing the games four apiece and leaving the Past 91–75 ahead going into the doubles.

The depth of the Past squad came to the fore in the doubles, with Adam Hutchinson and Vivek Thakrar too strong for the Present’s third and fourth pairs. However, the strength at the top of the Present squad ultimately proved decisive, with Shiloh Wu and Seb Ion winning all their games, including a tight 11–9 victory over the stalwart Past pairing of Matt Hale & Nick Whitney.

There was a record-equalling four members of the Hanton family competing in the fixture. The headline family duel saw Julian Hanton and Present captain Kaito Bremner take on Past’s Peter Hanton and John Hayes, with the Present coming out on top in both games. This was enough to secure the overall victory, as the Present narrowly won by 11 points to take home the Mackenzie Bowl for the second time in three years.

The Women’s match saw a record nine players competing for the “Warner Tower”. In the singles, the Past’s Phoebe Thornhill was too strong for Present captain Abbie Evans, but Present wins for Erin Butler and Evie Duckworth gave them a three-point lead heading into the doubles. Eight fiercely contested games later, this had extended to a 22-point advantage thanks to six Present victories, with only Phoebe and her partner Yasmine Amirouch able to steal a couple of games for the Past.

Dick Warner and Chris Blakeley led the Past to a comfortable victory in the Beavers match, ahead of the traditional dinner at Queen’s Club, where the Past wished the Present good luck for the coming weekend’s Varsity Match.

Bob Dolby reports from Cambridge: The 77th Past v Present was its usual delightful occasion, with three contests played out on the Cambridge Sports Centre courts. In the Men’s match the Past were a little too strong overall, steadily building winning totals in both the singles and doubles. There was some swapping around as Emrys Thursfield and Ben Yass dropped out to nurse niggling injuries, while Marcus Cloke Browne was likewise playing it safe with the Varsity Match looming just next week. Consequently the Present were privileged in the second half of the doubles to have the loan of Charlie Brooks.

In the Women’s match it was good to see how well the Present coped with playing against experienced players like Juliana Murphy, India Blaksley, Cameron Roker, Harriet Fearon and Holly Nugent, testament to the coaching work Ed Hyde has provided for Catherine Abercrombie’s squad.

The Ted Isaacs Trophy for Mixed Doubles produced as good a match as we have ever seen at the PvP: a three-gamer in which Savanna Leboff & Ed Hyde came from behind in the third to win the trophy against Helena Tunks & George Crawley.

The Dinner in the Old Library in Pembroke College was a wonderful occasion marked by the largest attendance yet from ladies past and present, and by the funniest “few words” from a CU captain, Jack Pyman, in many a year. The food was superb as ever and the number of photos posed for was probably a record. Sadly the President, Gareth Quarry, was prevented from attending by joyful family commitments, leaving his deputy, Ian Jackson, to run an immaculately timed day of Fives and to preside with gravitas over the evening’s proceedings.

Tom Chase took home the Trapnell Tankard for the Men’s match, Holly Nugent the Bob Dolby Quaich for the Ladies contest, and Ed Hyde the Ted Isaacs Trophy.