Women's Final:  UWIC bt Loughborough  5-0
Women's Shield Final:  Exeter bt York 3-2
Men's Shield Final:  Loughborough II bt Birmingham II  3-2

Birmingham win dramatic final
Jethro Binns reports from Birmingham

First matches on were Rhodri and Adam (aka wilderbeast) who went on against Jaymie Haycocks and Chris Truswell.

Rhodri put in a good performance and rallied well and showing the occasional moment of brilliance but Jaymie was more consistent and the one who finished off the rallies with some devastating short balls and came out the ultimate winner in three.

Wilderbeast went one love up against Chris, playing some great shots, however it was Chris' superior fitness and consistent length that proved too much for Adam as he recovered and won 3-1 after Adam's blood injury break at the beginning of the fourth to put Birmingham into a 2-0 lead.

We fancied our chances at 1 and 4, Chris Ryder came through a very tight 3-0 against Jonny Harford. Chris floated the ball around with great accuracy and showed retrieving ability beyond belief and kept his nerve to take the match 10-9 9-6 10-8. On the other court the no fours were involved in a match that was a must win for Loughborough to keep the tie alive.

Will (Boner) won the first in a long attritional game, but lost the second. We suspected Phil had the superior fitness so told Will to attack more, it worked, he did not miss anything in the third and ran away with it 9-1. He then went 3-0 up in the fourth and looked on course for a comfortable victory. However a collision occurred and will came out worse with blood pouring from a cut just to the left of his eye. He had a to have time off the court where he was patched up by the Busa first aiders.

He came back on court looking like he had been in a boxing match with five butterfly stitches around his eye. However this was not to be his undoing and kept his focus to run out a 9-4 winner in the fourth.

So then it came came down to my match with Steve the Zulu warrior for the Busa title in front of a hugely animated crowd. I got off to a terrible start losing the first 9-3. The second saw Steve race to a 6-0 lead, my brain then clicked in to gear and the match really began. I came back to 6-6 then 8-8 but a tin at the 9-8 saw me go 2-0 down. The court was so hot, with around 70 spectators the rallies were brutal.

In the next two games I stepped up the court and attacked short, a break in the fourth again for another injury where I dived and landed heavily on my hip gave us both a chance for a breather. I managed to take the fourth to tie the match at 2-2 and 2-2.

The atmosphere was not so dissimilar from that at the Wales Ireland match on Saturday which I was lucky enough to see. However it did not turn out with the same happy ending with my legs turning to jelly at 4-3 in the fifth and Steve running out a worthy winner and earning himself the man of the match award and Birmingham the third title in 3 years.

Thanks to everyone involved in the tournament and see you next year.

Jethro Binns
   

APPEAL

We would love to receive more info, reports, photos from Birmingham (plus our original spy couldn't be there for the finals!), so we'd be delighted to hear from you ...

Thanks to Alison Cubbins, Jethro Binns and Zena Wooldridge ...