News and Views: 2017–18 Season – Week 8 – 12 December 2017

Results

There were ten games again this week; this time it was the turn of the A League to stage four games.

One of those four matches ended in a draw: the one between the Weaver and the Ox–fford. Elsewhere there were some convincing victories, the biggest margin being in the B League match between the Harrington Academicals and the Waters Green Rams, which the Rams won by 164 points to 98.

Tables

The only changes this week were in the C League, where the Sutton Mutton gained top spot with victory over the Park Timers, while their stablemates the Sutton Club had a week off. The winners of the Derby match at the Club on 9 January will take top spot at the half–way stage of the season.

The Mutton's victory over the Timers meant that the Cock Inn moved into fourth place with victory over the Prince of Wales. Apart from the draw in the A League, this was the closest game of the week in all three leagues: 108 points to 100.

In the A League, the Ox–fford 'C' stretched their lead at the top to three points as the Ox–fford were held to a draw. The top two play each other in another table–topping Derby match on 9 January, but the 'C' team are now assured of top spot at the half–way stage of the season.

In the B League the top three teams all won, and the Waters Green Rams will snatch the top spot from the Nags Head if they avoid defeat against the Harrington Academicals in their final game of the first half – or indeed if they score more than 93 points.

Individual

The top scorers this week were both in the A League: Alan Hodgson and Haydn Thompson, both with 51. They were both sat in second place in their respective teams, but on opposite sides: Alan went third in the Specialist rounds, and Haydn went fourth.

Alan's score moved him up from seventh to fourth in the A League rankings. Also in the A League, Alice Walker moved into second place above Graham Bailey.

In the B League, Keith Pointon made an even bigger advance – from seventh to third. Keith is now just one question behind Alan James in second place, and he may well challenge Alasdair Reid for top spot at the half-way stage as he's the only one of the current top four that can play on 9 January. Dave Partington, who is in fifth place but only two questions behind Keith, is also in with a chance.

In the C League, Shauna Barstow regained the top spot and is now two questions ahead of Jackie Hulme, Wynne Keith-Davies and Peter Wilcox. There are also two players tied in fifth place, and three in tenth.

Alan Hodgson's score was one of only seven personal bests this week. The others were Scott Dawson (39), Mike Proctor (36), Nick Crowdy (33), Tony Browne (30), Martin Biss and Pete Dykstra (both 21).

A League

Results

Wharfies	109	170	Church House Bollington
Art Higham	33	36 36	Ed Baron Ashton Davies
Ox–fford 'C'	179	127	Dolphin Dragons
Haydn Thompson	51	30	Dave Cooper
Weaver	156	156	Ox–fford
Alan Gilday	36	45	Mark Watson
Dolphin	171	145	British Flag
Alan Hodgson (pb)	51	30 30 30	Tony Browne (pb) Neil Drummond Phil Davies

Table

	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Total	Points
Ox–fford 'C'	6	6	0	0	1058	12
Ox–fford	6	4	1	1	981	9
Church House Bollington	7	3	1	3	1097	7
Dolphin	6	3	1	2	930	7
Weaver	7	2	1	4	1080	5
Dolphin Dragons	6	2	0	4	892	4
Wharfies	6	2	0	4	853	4
British Flag	6	1	0	5	874	2

Individual Top Ten

	Team	Played	Total	Highest	Lowest	Week 8
Haydn Thompson	Ox–fford 'C'	6	288	54	42	51
Alice Walker	Ox–fford 'C'	6	264	48	36	42
Graham Bailey	Weaver	7	258	45	30	33
Alan Hodgson	Dolphin	6	255	51	36	51
Peter McBride	Dolphin	6	252	51	33	45
Ashton Davies	Church House Bollington	6	243	51	30	36
Mark Watson	Ox–fford	5	228	48	45	45
Alan Gilday	Weaver	6	219	42	27	36
Liz Horrocks	Dolphin Dragons	6	216	45	21	21
Brian Bogie	Wharfies	5	210	51	30

B League

Results

Harrington Academicals	98	164	Waters Green Rams
Dave Partington	33	39 39	Scott Dawson (pb) Keith Pointon
Nags Head	159	121	Plough Horntails
Alasdair Reid	39	30	Malcolm Asquith
Royal Oak	141	118	Harrington 'B'
Rosalie James Alan James	30 30	24 21 21	Geoff Parkin Martin Biss (pb) John Green

Table

	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Total	Points
Nags Head	7	6	0	1	1055	12
Waters Green Rams	6	6	0	0	962	12
Royal Oak	7	4	0	3	1060	8
Waters Green Lemmings	6	3	0	3	799	6
Harrington Academicals	6	2	1	3	789	5
Plough Horntails	6	2	1	3	761	5
Robin Hood	6	1	0	5	832	2
Harrington 'B'	6	0	0	6	712	0

Individual Top Ten

	Team	Played	Total	Highest	Lowest	Week 8
Alasdair Reid	Nags Head	7	258	54	24	39
Alan James	Royal Oak	7	228	39	27	30
Keith Pointon	Waters Green Rams	6	225	45	27	39
Andrew Wright	Nags Head	7	222	36	27	33
Dave Partington	Harrington Academicals	6	219	48	30	33
Rosalie James	Royal Oak	7	207	45	21	30
Jon Thompson	Waters Green Lemmings	6	192	42	24
Jim Kennelly	Robin Hood	6	189	42	21
Malcolm Asquith	Plough Horntails	6	183	39	24	30
Andy Johnson	Nags Head	7	183	36	18	24

C League

Results

Park Taverners	123	114	Pack Horse Bowling Club
Nick Crowdy (pb) Shauna Barstow Pete Dykstra (pb)	33 27 21	24	Michael Murphy
Prince of Wales	100	108	Cock Inn
Andy Ridgway	21	27	Peter Wilcox
Sutton Mutton	127	115	Park Timers
Mike Proctor (pb)	36	30	Glyn Bradley

Table

	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Total	Points
Sutton Mutton	6	5	0	1	751	10
Sutton Club	6	4	1	1	734	9
Park Taverners	6	4	0	2	764	8
Cock Inn	7	3	1	3	833	7
Park Timers	6	3	0	3	745	6
Prince of Wales	7	2	0	5	777	4
Pack Horse Bowling Club	6	2	0	4	706	4
Chester Road Tavern	6	1	0	5	679	2

Individual Top Ten

	Team	Played	Total	Highest	Lowest	Week 8
Shauna Barstow	Park Taverners	6	174	51	15	27
Wynne Keith-Davies	Sutton Mutton	6	168	39	21	24
Peter Wilcox	Cock Inn	6	168	33	21	27
Jackie Hulme	Cock Inn	7	168	33	9	9
Andy Ridgway	Prince of Wales	7	165	39	12	21
John Poyser	Park Timers	6	165	36	18	24
Glyn Bradley	Park Timers	6	156	36	15	30
Mike Proctor	Sutton Mutton	6	147	36	18	36
Peter Bullivent	Cock Inn	7	144	30	12	24
Graham Wallace	Park Taverners	4	114	30	27
Tony Moores	Chester Road Tavern	5	114	30	15
Tim Hayes	Prince of Wales	7	114	24	12	15

Cars & Vans 4U Question Setters' Trophy

	Wk			Difficulty	Balance	Ent'mnt	Total	Last year
1	3	Spec	British Flag	8.50	8.82	7.11	24.43	24.69
2	1	Spec	Ox–fford	10.00	7.01	7.22	24.23	19.98
3	6	GK	Sutton Club	8.59	9.52	5.79	23.90	22.17
4	4	GK	Waters Green Rams	5.90	7.63	6.22	19.75	18.84
5	2	GK	Royal Oak	5.09	8.30	5.72	19.11	8.20
6	5	GK	Ox–fford 'C'	5.50	8.22	5.37	19.09	17.41
7	1	GK	Ox–fford	8.10	4.19	6.50	18.80	17.22
8	7	Spec	Wharfies	5.64	7.59	5.44	18.67	14.58
9	3	GK	British Flag	3.56	7.79	5.67	17.02
10	2	Spec	Sutton Mutton	5.12	8.28	3.44	16.84	(11.50)
11	4	Spec	Pack Horse Bowling Club	3.95	8.29	4.40	16.64	(13.95)
12	7	GK	Wharfies	4.90	7.47	3.33	15.70	22.03
13	6	Spec	Sutton Club	5.72	4.50	5.22	15.44
14	8	GK	Chester Road Tavern	6.26	3.03	5.67	14.96	(20.47)
15	8	Spec	Waters Green Lemmings	3.49	6.83	4.32	14.64	22.21
16	5	Spec	Ox–fford 'C'	5.01	3.31	5.79	14.11	19.47

For the full spreadsheet, please click here.

Two more teams that set relatively successful questions last season have come down to earth with a bump this year. Last season, the Waters Green Lemmings finished third with their General Knowledge questions and fourth with their specialist; the Chester Road Tavern finished 11th (out of 36) with their Specialist set.

This year, the Lemmings were let down by their Difficulty and Entertainment scores, the Tavern by Balance.

Both sets of questions seemed to be significantly biased in favour of the teams that went first in the Specialists: 95% to 88% in the Specialists, and 111% to 95% in the General Knowledge. Overall the bias was 105% to 92%. Only two teams won by going "second first": the Ox–fford 'C' and the Park Taverners. There was also one draw, where the Ox–fford had what appear to have been the harder questions.

As the above figures show, the Specialist questions were quite hard and the General Knowledge were quite easy (for the teams going "first first").

The C League gave the General Knowledge questions their 6th highest Entertainment mark of the season so far (out of 16). The A League ranked them equal 9th and the B League 12th. The Specialist questions were not popular in the C League however; they gave them barely half of the mark they received from the B League, which was itself lower than that from the A League. Although the actual marks from the A and B Leagues were fairly respectable, the A League ranked them only 12th out of the 16 sets we've heard so far this season and the B League 13th. The C League ranked them 15th.

Week 7: Postscript

Brian Bogie has responded to criticism of the questions set by the Wharfies for Week 7. He writes:

"Sorry that people did not like [our questions].

"Our questions are set by all seven people who play for us, and we aim to do two things.

1. Set questions that are not just variations on a previously set theme.
2. Eliminate the luck involved in going first or second.

We also get them vetted, and take notice of the comments."

I still haven't heard from any of the people who were critical of the questions. It's not too late ...

© Macclesfield Quiz League 2017