NEWS

This year's edition of the Wood Plate was won by a schoolboy for the first time (that anybody can remember). Current CLS fives captain Jivan Navani carried Jonny Powell to victory in a pulsating final over Alex Nice and Dan Rose.

But there was much more to the day, at the courts in Highgate, than that - it featured
* a former Public Schools champion, Paul Hawkes, returning to the courts for the first time in some 40 years, albeit for a brief knock;
* an equally brief comeback by Public Schools U14 and U16 finalist Lance Conway, after an almost equally lengthy layoff;
* 14 Old Citizens and one current Citizen playing fives;
* An age range from 17 to mid-70s;
* A participant, Wood Plate debutant Martin East, all the way from Germany.

Half the entry were seeded and then the random draw, made by Paul Hawkes, paired Roman Heindorff with Dan Floyd, Stephen Kelly with Saeed Hattea, Stephen Mullin with Martin East, Alex Nice with Dan Rose, Jonny Powell with Jivan Navani, and Mark George Jacobs with David Cooper.

The two eventual finalist pairs were challenged by Kelly and former international fast bowler Hattea (an increasingly reluctant participant) and Mullin and East (who failed to make the final by a whisker).

The venerable Geoff Bates presented the trophy, donated back in the 1970s by Tom Wood.

Afterwards we had food and beer at The Bull.

Paul Hawkes took many fine photographs of the day and these can be seen by clicking on this URL.
http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=c428ff1263490aae&sid=0Acs2TZs3bOWbEEg