Title retained at the Schools Winchester Fives Doubles

Winchester College
Sunday, 16th November 2025

St. Paul’s 1st pair, Ferro & Hammond Giles, retained their title at the expense of the Winchester College 1st pair, winning the final 15-2, 15-4.

A healthy 13 pairs from 5 different schools contested this year’s Schools Winchester Fives Doubles Championship on the new courts at Winchester College. The initial group stage consisted of two large round robins, giving pairs 6 and 5 matches respectively to establish 4 leading pairs, who then contested the semi-finals while the remaining 9 pairs fought out the Plate.

The semi-finals unfortunately saw St Paul’s playing St Paul’s and Winchester playing Winchester, with all too predictable results. And the final, too, was never likely to produce a surprise, with the formidable pairing of Ferro & Hammond Giles defending their title with comparative ease.

The 9-pair Plate proved to be much more exciting, with 4 pairs — Alleyn’s I and Alleyn’s II, Stamford I and Winchester III — winning 6 of their 8 matches, and the winner of the trophy having to be decided by just one point on head-to-head performances. By the time they won, Stamford had played fourteen 11-point games, scoring 110 points.

Thanks as ever to Winchester College for hosting and to Jamie McManus and Giles Munn for their running of this special event.

Group stage

Group A : 1st St Paul’s I 66 pts W6; 2nd Winchester II 58 pts W5; 3rd Alleyn’s II 47 pts W4; 4th Stamford I 48 pts W3; 5th St Paul’s III 47 pts W2; 6th Alleyn’s III 21 pts W1; 7th Radley II 14 pts W0

Group B: 1st Winchester I 55 pts W5; 2nd St Paul’s II 51 pts W4; 3rd Alleyn’s I 41 pts W2; 4th Stamford II 31 pts W2; 5th Winchester III 26 pts W1; 6th Radley I 25 pts W1

Semi-finals: St Paul’s I bt St Paul’s II 11-3, 11-0; Winchester I bt Winchester II 11-4, 11-1
Final: St. Paul’s I (J.Ferro & F. Hammond Giles) bt Winchester I (Z.Goulding & A.James-Duff) 15-2, 15-4

Plate

1st Stamford I (C.McNaughton & C. Sharpe) W6 +29; 2nd Alleyn’s I W6 +28; 3rd Alleyn’s II W6 +27; 4th Winchester III W6 +26