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News & Views
2017–18 Season
Week 9

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A League
B League
C League
Cars & Vans 4U Trophy

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News and Views: 2017–18 Season – Week 9 – 9 January 2018

By Haydn Thompson, with input from Mark Watson.

Results

It was Derby Day throughout the Leagues, with Derby matches at the Dolphin, the Harrington, the Ox–fford, the Park, the Sutton Club and the Waters Green Tavern.

Two of the Derbies were also top–of–the–table clashes. In the A League, the Ox–fford came out on top by a margin of 19 points; in the C League, the Sutton Mutton won by 9 points.

In the B League there were victories for the Harrington Academicals, the Waters Green Rams and the Plough Horntails. The Ox–fford 'C''s defeat in the A League means that the Rams are now the only undefeated team in all three Leagues.

The closest game of the week was the one between the Wharfies and the British Flag, which the Flag won by just one point.

Tables

As pointed out last week, the Ox–fford 'C''s three–point lead meant that they kept top spot in the A League despite losing to their stablemates. At the other end of the table, the British Flag moved off the bottom with their victory over the Wharfies. At the half–way stage of the season, there is now just one point separating the bottom four teams, with the bottom three all on four points and the Weaver just one point ahead.

In the B League, the Waters Green Rams' victory in the game in hand that they held over the Nags Head meant that they occupy the top spot at the half–way stage of the season. The top two now seem to be pulling away, while two teams are beginning to look stranded at the bottom; there are two four–point gaps, and the middle four are separated by just two points.

In the C League, the Sutton Mutton consolidated top spot with their victory over the Sutton Club, which also allowed the Park Taverners to move into second place by defeating the Timers.

Individual

In a week of modest scoring, the top individual score was 45 by Haydn Thompson and Mark Watson, sitting opposite each other in the Ox–fford Derby. Alan Hodgson scored 42, and these were the only three scores over 40 in all three leagues.

There were just two personal bests, also both in the A League: Tim Massey (27) and Derek Owen (15). Of the 72 people who played this week, no fewer than 42 registered their worst (or equal worst) scores of the season.

A League

Results

Wharfies 122 123 British Flag
Brian Bogie 33 27 Phil Davies
Dolphin 150 117 Dolphin Dragons
Alan Hodgson
Peter McBride
Jeff Corry
Derek Owen (pb)
42
33
21
15
36 Dave Cooper
Ox–fford 160 141 Ox–fford 'C'
Mark Watson 45 45
33
27
Haydn Thompson
Alice Walker
Tim Massey (pb)

Table

Played Won Drawn Lost Total Points
Ox–fford 'C' 7 6 0 1 1199 12
Ox–fford 7 5 1 1 1141 11
Dolphin 7 4 1 2 1080 9
Church House Bollington 7 3 1 3 1079 7
Weaver 7 2 1 4 1080 5
Dolphin Dragons 7 2 0 5 1009 4
British Flag 7 2 0 5 997 4
Wharfies 7 2 0 5 975 4

Individual Top Ten

Team Played Total Highest Lowest Week 9
Haydn Thompson Ox–fford 7 333 54 42 45
Alan Hodgson Dolphin 7 297 51 36 42
Alice Walker Ox–fford 7 297 48 33 33
Peter McBride Dolphin 7 285 51 33 33
Mark Watson Ox–fford 6 273 48 45 45
Graham Bailey Weaver 7 258 45 30  
Liz Horrocks Dolphin Dragons 7 246 45 21 30
Ashton Davies Church House Bollington 6 243 51 30  
Brian Bogie Wharfies 6 240 51 30 30
Alan Gilday Weaver 6 219 42 27  

B League

Results

Harrington 'B' 86 113 Harrington Academicals
Tom Aindow 18 33 Rob Parkin
Waters Green Rams 115 107 Waters Green Lemmings
Keith Pointon 36 18
18
Bob Langstaff
Nick Peck
Plough Horntails 115 108 Robin Hood
Malcolm Asquith 30 27 Jim Kennelly

Table

Played Won Drawn Lost Total Points
Waters Green Rams 7 7 0 0 1077 14
Nags Head 7 6 0 1 1055 12
Royal Oak 7 4 0 3 1060 8
Harrington Academicals 7 3 1 3 902 7
Plough Horntails 7 3 1 3 876 7
Waters Green Lemmings 7 3 0 4 906 6
Robin Hood 7 1 0 6 940 2
Harrington 'B' 7 0 0 7 798 0

Individual Top Ten

Team Played Total Highest Lowest Week 9
Keith Pointon Waters Green Rams 7 261 45 27 36
Alasdair Reid Nags Head 7 258 54 24  
Dave Partington Harrington Academicals 7 243 48 24 24
Alan James Royal Oak 7 228 39 27  
Andrew Wright Nags Head 7 222 36 27  
Jim Kennelly Robin Hood 7 216 42 21 27
Malcolm Asquith Plough Horntails 7 213 39 24 30
Rosalie James Royal Oak 7 207 45 21  
Jon Thompson Waters Green Lemmings 7 207 42 15 15
Anne Jeater Plough Horntails 7 186 39 21 21

C League

Results

Park Taverners 106 91 Park Timers
Graham Wallace 24 24 Glyn Bradley
Sutton Mutton 103 94 Sutton Club
Mike Proctor 27 21 Simon Rumsey
Pack Horse Bowling Club 113 74 Chester Road Tavern
Reg Bloor
Michael Murphy
21
21
12
12
Tony Moores
Chris Moores

Table

Played Won Drawn Lost Total Points
Sutton Mutton 7 6 0 1 854 12
Park Taverners 7 5 0 2 870 10
Sutton Club 7 4 1 2 828 9
Cock Inn 7 3 1 3 833 7
Park Timers 7 3 0 4 836 6
Pack Horse Bowling Club 7 3 0 4 819 6
Prince of Wales 7 2 0 5 777 4
Chester Road Tavern 7 1 0 6 753 2

Individual Top Ten

Team Played Total Highest Lowest Week 9
Shauna Barstow Park Taverners 7 186 51 12 12
Wynne Keith-Davies Sutton Mutton 7 183 39 15 15
John Poyser Park Timers 7 183 36 18 18
Glyn Bradley Park Timers 7 180 36 15 24
Mike Proctor Sutton Mutton 7 174 36 18 27
Peter Wilcox Cock Inn 6 168 33 21  
Jackie Hulme Cock Inn 7 168 33 9  
Andy Ridgway Prince of Wales 7 165 39 12  
Peter Bullivent Cock Inn 7 144 30 12  
Graham Wallace Park Taverners 5 138 30 24 24

Cars & Vans 4U Question Setters' Trophy

As we have now reached the half-way stage of the season, last season's scores are no longer taken into account. This will mean slight changes in the scores in the table below, and it means that the Ox–fford (Specialist) have swapped places with the British Flag (also Specialist) at the top of the table. There are other movements elsewhere in the table.

Wk Difficulty Balance Ent'mnt Total Last Year
1 1 Spec Ox–fford 10.00 7.75 7.22 24.97 19.98
2 3 Spec British Flag 7.54 9.77 7.11 24.42 24.69
3 6 GK Sutton Club 10.00 7.55 5.79 23.34 22.17
4 4 GK Waters Green Rams 7.08 7.02 6.22 20.33 18.84
5 5 GK Ox–fford 'C' 6.42 8.14 5.37 19.93 17.41
6 2 GK Royal Oak 5.85 6.87 5.72 18.44 8.20
7 7 Spec Wharfies 4.34 8.04 5.44 17.82 14.58
8 8 GK Chester Road Tavern 6.86 3.88 5.67 16.41 (20.47)
9 1 GK Ox–fford 9.41 0.00 6.50 15.91 17.22
10 7 GK Wharfies 5.36 6.28 3.33 14.96 22.03
11 3 GK British Flag 3.42 5.36 5.67 14.45 (24.69)
12 8 Spec Waters Green Lemmings 1.89 8.23 4.32 14.44 22.21
13 4 Spec Pack Horse Bowling Club 2.65 6.16 4.40 13.21 (13.95)
14 2 Spec Sutton Mutton 3.95 4.34 3.44 11.73 (11.50)
15 9 Spec Prince of Wales 0.00 7.54 3.83 11.37  
16 6 Spec Sutton Club 4.55 1.00 5.22 10.77 (19.98)
17 5 Spec Ox–fford 'C' 3.71 0.00 5.79 9.50 19.47
18 9 GK Nags Head 0.00 1.11 5.11 6.22 (14.19)

For the full spreadsheet, please click here.

These were the hardest questions so far this season – both sets scoring zero for difficulty. The average team score was 113, which is also lower than anything we saw last season.

The Prince of Wales's Specialist questions were quite well balanced, with a slight bias in favour of the teams that went second (teams going second scored on average 85% of their average scores, while those going first averaged 82%). The General Knowledge questions, set by the Nags Head, were quite heavily biased in favour of the teams going second (first in the Specialists) – 91% to 79%. Overall, there was a significant bias (87% to 81%) in favour of the teams that went first in the Specialist questions.

Overall, teams scored 84% of their average scores on the Specialist questions and 85% on the General Knowledge.

Five matches were won by the teams that went first in the Specialist questions, and four by the teams that went second. The four teams that won against the perceived bias (going "first second") were the British Flag, the Dolphin, the Waters Green Rams and the Plough Horntails.

The A League gave the Specialist questions their lowest Entertainment score of the season (3.33). The B League gave them marginally more, and only their equal lowest (3.50), while the C League gave them 4.67 – ranking them 10th out of the 18 sets so far this season. This is only the second set of questions this season that have been more popular in the C League than in the A or B – the other being the General Knowledge questions set by the Sutton Club in Week 6.

The General Knowledge questions were more popular in the A and B Leagues (5.83 and 5.00 respectively) but the C League ranked them joint 11th out of 18, with a score of 4.00.

© Macclesfield Quiz League 2018