Posted by Sunday, April 27th
Cobbetts Open Doubles 2025
A glorious sunny spring day at Burridge on Sunday, April 27th and a full house of 38 teams for the 2025 Cobbetts Open Doubles.
It was great to see the usual contingent travelling down from Bath and also, for the first time, 3 players from along the coast at Brighton. Hope to see you all again next time.
There were leagues in the morning with the nine league winners and the next best 7 teams progressing to the main competition. Top team with 3 wins +31 were Dave Plumhoff & Jack Blows closely followed by Steve Daykin & Jay Willcocks on +28. Also safely through to the main competition were defending champions Dave Kilshaw & Graham Blake on +26 and another team from the home club, Dave Stubbs & Rich Greeves, on +24. Other teams on 3 wins were Callum & Steve Lombard +22, Peter Williams & Elaine Murphy from Brighton +19 and Jackie Gair and Mary Cane from Bordon on +19. The other two league winners were Julie & Don Power on 2 wins +14 and Claire Rickman & Csaba Molnar on 2 wins +10.
There were 3 teams on 2 wins +5 competing for the 16th place in the main competition. Ali Stubbs & Dave Lucas just came out top on points for, ahead of David Franco-Cruz & Axel Franco Llado and Nigel Sibbring & Martin Gordon. The prize being the poisoned chalice of playing top seeds Dave P & Jack!
There were few surprises in the first round with most of the top seeds winning through to the quarter-finals. The exception being Dave & Rich losing out to newish clubmates Chris Ralls and daughter (and junior) Caitlin. Dave S & Rich dropped just 6 points in the next 3 games to go on to win the Main Consolage while Chris & Caitlin put up a good fight before losing to Callum & Steve L in the quarters.
There was a similar story in the quarter-finals with all the remaining top seeds winning through to the semi-finals. In two hard fought matches Dave P & Jack beat Callum & Steve L while Steve D & Jay ended Dave K & Graham’s hopes of retaining the trophy. The final saw Dave P & Jack overcome Steve D & Jay to win the competition with a great display of shooting.
Marc Franco-Llado & Abi Coles won the Plate competition beating Leo Black & James Ellis in the final. The Plate Consolage was won by the Portchester team of Ian Harper & Mark Cleave who defeated home team Terri Cox & John Barker in the final.
The format for the Wooden Spoon competition was a 6-team league playing 3 rounds. The winners, and only team to win all 3 games, were Carolyn Greenhalgh & Frankie Bennett. Runners-up on 2 wins +12 were Jim Bardell & Steve Brickell.
A huge thank you to Chris Barron for his morning bacon rolls and lunchtime soup and chilli. Also a big thank you to all the other helpers with the food and the raffle, the providers of cake and raffle prizes and those who helped with the general organisation of the day.
| Main | Winners | Dave Plumhoff (Kent) and Jack Blows (Chiltern) |
| Runners-up | Steve Daykin and Jay Willcocks (Cobbetts) | |
| Semi-finals | Graham Blake and Dave Kilshaw (Cobbetts) | |
| Steve Lombard and Callum Lombard (River Hamble) | ||
| Quarter-finals | Chris Ralls and Caitlin Ralls (Cobbetts) | |
| Claire Rickman (Muscliff) and Csaba Molnar (Brighton) | ||
| Peter Williams and Elaine Murphy (Brighton) | ||
| Kevin Williams and Erica Dixon-Gough (Parley) | ||
| Main Consolage | Winners | Dave Stubbs and Richard Greeves (Cobbetts) |
| Runners-up | Carrie Litchfield (Cobbetts) and Dan Murphy (Bath) | |
| Semi-Finals | Hilary Dalmasso and Phil Cross (Southampton City) | |
| Julie Power and Don Power (Cobbetts) | ||
| Plate | Winners | Marc Franco Llado and Abi Coles (River Hamble) |
| Runners-up | James Ellis (Bordon) and Leo Black (Independent) | |
| Semi-finalists | Paul Myers and Etsil Boukhobza (Arundel) | |
| Bill Mackrell and Stefan Wilczek (Handcross) | ||
| Plate Consolage | Winners | Mark Cleave and Ian Harper (Portchester) |
| Runners-up | Terri Cox and John Barker (Cobbetts) | |
| Wooden Spoon | Winners | Carolyn Greenhalgh (Crondall) and Frankie Bennett (Shedfield) |
| Runners-up | Jim Bardell and Steve Brickell (Cobbetts) |