All to play for at least five of the eight (and possibly more) as we start Day 3 with a typically congested scoreboard.

Round 9
Burch found a new way to break down on a TP against Chapman, namely imagining the north boundary on Court 2 (which was in deep shade) to be further away than it really was. Paddy then did a neat TPO from hoop 3. Jamie under-approached 3 from the contact and lagged to 4 yard position. Paddy sent the near ball to C2 and Jamie ran the hoop but not by much and missed the 18 yarder at the ball near hoop 4. Paddy sent that to join partner neat C2, Jamie shot and missed not by much and Paddy finished +10tpo.

Fulford had a routine +17tp against Avery. Mulliner hit in turn 3 against Maugham who hit in turn 4 and went to 3-b. Mulliner did not progress off the contact but went to 1-b after Maugham missed his 25 yarder. The lift was missed into C4 and the sxp got underway only to stop at 5 and 3-b. Dave got two peels of a rather delayed QP by 2-b but, having rushed well to 3-b from near penult, mysteriously over-approached and failed. Stephen started his own QP from 6 (having been peeled as part of Dave's pick-up) and had a STP finish to win +8qp.

Game of the session for interactivity and length was between the hitherto error-free Pate and "PaceMaster" Trimmer who leads the last game to finish stats by an impressive margin. After almost 3 hours of fun, Pete finished +10tpo.
Scores now 6/9: Burch, Fulford, Patel, 5/9: Chapman; 4/9: Maugham, Mulliner, Trimmer; 1/9: Avery

Round 10
Chapman was first in against Patel and went to 4-b. After the contact, Samir went to 1-b but Paddy hit the lift and finished +20tp. Simples.

Avery, recent Northern Champion, has played much better than his sole victory to date would indicate. He hit down the east boundary in turn 3 against Mulliner's duffer tice and went smoothly to 4-b. Mulliner had to settle for a leave in C1 off the contact but Mark promptly hit the 27 yarder with his backward ball. The triple was initially delayed but was on track until Mark took off from partner at penult to a slightly misplaced 3-b pioneer and got on the wrong side. The approach was short and he had to abandon the turn. Stephen did the DPO and Mark failed a 4 yard 3-b off the contact. Mark chose to hide in C4 and Stephen started a winning break from hoop 2, +5.

Burch returned to winning ways by +11otp against Trimmer. Jamie failed hoop 1 off the contact but, after Pete joined up with partner, hit a 25 yarder to establish his own winning break.

Fulford joined Burch on 7/10 by beating Maugham +9tpo. Dave went round first to 4-b, Rob got going off the contact and stopped at 1-b. Dave missed the lift and Rob did the TPO with two balls pegged out. Dave had a spot of bad luck when he ran a good hoop 1 at pace with Rob in C2. Unfortunately, the SB hit hoop 2 and ended in a position where Dave could neither hit oppo or run the hoop. He had some later hit-ins but Rob kept his lead and won +9tpo.

Scores now: 7/10: Burch, Fulford; 6/10: Chapman, Patel; 5/10: Mulliner; 4/10: Maugham, Trimmer; 1/10: Avery

Round 11 featured a rapid 3rd turn ball to 4-b by Burch against Mulliner. Mulliner constructed a C2 cannon which gave him hoop 1 but he over-approached 2 and Burch hit in and laid. The last shot was missed and Burch completed a smooth standard +25tp to move to 8/11. Fulford blobbed 2-b having done two peels of a sxp and two peels of a TPO against Patel. Samir took an 8 yard lift with the backward ball in preference to a one yard lift with the forward ball, hit and finished +11. Maugham beat Chapman +10tp and Avery ended his sequence of seven losses with a +12 win against Trimmer.

Scores now: 8/11: Burch; 7/11: Fulford, Patel; 6/11: Chapman; 5/11: Maugham, Mulliner; 4/11: Trimmer; 2/11: Avery.

Round 12 contained three key games and one exhibition. Burch went smoothly to 3-b on turn 3, Fulford made a leave off the contact and Burch actually missed his 25 yarder. Rob now completed a QPO and went on to win +13tpo, Jamie failing to make progress off his contact. Chapman kept his hopes alive with a +12tpo win over Avery and Patel was treated with great generosity by Mulliner who had extracted a TPO but failed an angled jump at rover, leaving everything on a platter including a lift to position!

Lawn 2 saw Maugham attempt to win the perfect game - 2 ball break to the peg and a ball off in turn 2 and hit and win in turn 4. He made a good start, even overcoming only just running 3-b, and looked set to complete Part 1 of the masterplan until he missed a 5 yarder after running penult. Trimmer pondered how to maximise the benefit of his lift to position, took what seemed to be the more difficult option and got underway. He elected to lay for a sxp with a rush for B on Y on the west boundary and K in 1-b. Maugham hit this (perhaps faintly nicked would be nearer the mark) and then proceeded to give Pete a helping hand by completing the first sxpo in the President's Cup and the first 4th turn sxpo ever (?).

Scores are now: 8 wins: Burch, Fulford, Patel; 7 wins: Chapman; 6 wins: Maugham; 5 wins: Mulliner; 4 wins: Trimmer; 2 wins: Avery.
10 wins is the consensus winning score but Chapman can tie on 9 wins if the winner of the Round 13 Burch/Patel game loses his Round 14 game and Fulford drops at least one game.