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News & Views
2017–18 Season
Week 17

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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 17 – 20 March 2018

By Haydn Thompson, with input from Mark Watson.

Results

There were ten games again this week, as all the A League teams played. Six games were won by the teams that went "second first", and four went the other way.

In the A League, the top four teams all won; similarly, the top three in the B League also won. In the C League, the Park Timers became only the third team this season to beat the Sutton Mutton, and there were also victories for the Park Taverners and the Prince of Wales.

Tables

Congratulations to the Royal Oak and the Waters Green Rams, who both clinched promotion this week. They are currently level on points, but the Oak have played all their games; consequently the Rams need only one point from their final game to finish as champions. In fact they will be champions even if they lose, provided they score 139 match points or more.

The Oak have not been beaten in the second half of the season; their last defeat in the League was in Week 7, on 5 December. They have lost three games this season - two of them by just one point, and even in the third the margin was only six points!

Congratulations also to the Park Taverners, who are now confirmed as C League champions. Promotion was already in the bag for them after last week, and also for the Sutton Mutton.

Defeats for the Wharfies and the British Flag confirmed that barring unforseen circumstances, both of these teams will play in the B League next season. They will battle to avoid the wooden spoon in Week 18. The A League title race however has gone right to the wire: the winners of the Ox–fford derby will be champions. Meanwhile, all there is to play for in the Dolphin derby is one league place for the Dragons.

Individual

Top score this week was 51, by Bob Thompson and Mark Watson. Bob and Mark each had the same set of questions - second on the team that went "second first". This continues a remarkable run for Bob, who has now played four times this season and scored 51 each time!

There were five scores in the 40s: Alice Walker with 48, Alan Hodgson with 45, and 42s from Brian Bogie, Alan Gilday, and Dave Partington on his return from a holiday in the sun.

The best score in the C League was 36 by Glyn Bradley, who also had the same questions as Bob Thompson and Mark Watson.

There were seven personal bests this week, and 21 personal worsts (or equal worsts). Apart from the aforementioned Bob Thompson, Alice Walker and Glyn Bradley, the four other personal bests were for Bob Astles (39), Ian Grieve (30), Martin Biss (27), and Pat Jeater (24).

In the A League individual table, Mark Watson finally overtook Haydn Thompson (who also had the same set of questions, but is less familiar with the respective oeuvres of The Smiths and John Cooper Clarke). Haydn must now score at least 48 in Week 18, and one more correct answer than Mark, to claim the title for the first time ever.

In the B League, the only people in the current top six who can play next week are Keith Pointon and Dave Partington. Either of them can snatch the title from Alasdair Reid; to do so, Keith needs to score 36 but Dave needs only 33. It's any one of those three really ...

In the C League, any one of the current top four can still win it. Wynne Keith–Davies must score at least 27 to be in with a chance, Glyn Bradley 36, and Shauna Barstow 45. But if Graham Wallace scores more than 24, this will raise the stakes even higher!

A League

Results

Church House Bollington 151 138 Wharfies
Ashton Davies 39 42 Brian Bogie
Dolphin Dragons 135 167 Ox–fford 'C'
Liz Horrocks 33 48 Alice Walker (pb)
Ox–fford 158 154 Weaver
Mark Watson 51 42
30
30
Alan Gilday
Ian Grieve (pb)
Graham Bailey
British Flag 119 157 Dolphin
Phil Davies 27 45 Alan Hodgson

Table

Played Won Drawn Lost Total Points
Ox–fford 'C' 13 11 0 2 2218 22
Ox–fford 13 10 1 2 2103 21
Dolphin 13 8 1 4 2037 17
Church House Bollington 14 6 1 7 2052 13
Weaver 14 5 1 8 2117 11
Dolphin Dragons 13 5 0 8 1833 10
Wharfies 13 3 0 10 1798 6
British Flag 13 3 0 10 1783 6

Individual Top Ten

Team Played Total Highest Lowest Week 17
Mark Watson Ox–fford 12 525 54 45 51
Haydn Thompson Ox–fford 'C' 13 516 54 39 39
Alan Hodgson Dolphin 13 480 51 39 45
Alice Walker Ox–fford 'C' 13 477 48 36 48
Peter McBride Dolphin 13 444 51 30 27
Brian Bogie Wharfies 12 435 51 30 42
Graham Bailey Weaver 14 417 45 30 30
Alan Gilday Weaver 13 408 48 27 42
Ashton Davies Church House Bollington 10 405 51 30 39
Liz Horrocks Dolphin Dragons 13 381 45 27 33

B League

Results

Waters Green Rams 174 140 Harrington Academicals
Bob Thompson (pb)
Bob Astles (pb)
51
39
42 Dave Partington
Plough Horntails 122 140 Nags Head
Anne Jeater
Pat Jeater (pb)
30
24
30
30
Andrew Wright
Alasdair Reid
Harrington 'B' 124 152 Royal Oak
John Green
Martin Biss (pb)
33
27
30
30
Alan James
Bill Cawley

Table

Played Won Drawn Lost Total Points
Royal Oak 14 11 0 3 2132 22
Waters Green Rams 13 11 0 2 1994 22
Nags Head 14 10 0 4 2000 20
Waters Green Lemmings 13 7 1 5 1723 15
Harrington Academicals 13 5 1 7 1708 11
Plough Horntails 13 5 1 7 1813 11
Robin Hood 13 2 1 10 1743 5
Harrington 'B' 13 0 0 13 1505 0

Individual Top Ten

Team Played Total Highest Lowest Week 17
Alasdair Reid Nags Head 14 405 54 30 30
Keith Pointon Waters Green Rams 13 405 45 33 33
Dave Partington Harrington Academicals 11 399 48 24 42
Andrew Wright Nags Head 14 375 51 27 30
Alan James Royal Oak 14 372 42 27 30
Bill Cawley Royal Oak 13 357 42 21 30
Rob Parkin Harrington Academicals 10 348 48 24 33
Rosalie James Royal Oak 14 348 45 27 27
Jon Thompson Waters Green Lemmings 13 342 42 24  
Jim Kennelly Robin Hood 11 339 42 21  

C League

Results

Pack Horse Bowling Club 117 126 Park Taverners
Andrew Vickerstaff 21 30 Heather Wallace
Cock Inn 99 114 Prince of Wales
Peter Wilcox
Peter Bullivant
18
18
27 Andy Ridgway
Park Timers 130 110 Sutton Mutton
Glyn Bradley (pb) 36 27 Wynne Keith–Davies

Table

Played Won Drawn Lost Total Points
Park Taverners 13 11 0 2 1699 22
Sutton Mutton 13 9 0 4 1583 18
Sutton Club 13 7 1 5 1574 15
Park Timers 13 7 0 6 1577 14
Cock Inn 14 6 1 7 1589 13
Prince of Wales 14 5 0 9 1589 10
Pack Horse Bowling Club 13 5 0 8 1524 10
Chester Road Tavern 13 2 0 11 1389 4

Individual Top Ten

Team Played Total Highest Lowest Week 17
Graham Wallace Park Taverners 11 333 42 24 27
Wynne Keith–Davies Sutton Mutton 13 327 42 21 27
Glyn Bradley Park Timers 12 318 36 18 36
Shauna Barstow Park Taverners 13 306 51 18 18
Peter Wilcox Cock Inn 13 291 33 18 18
John Poyser Park Timers 13 285 36 18 33
Mike Proctor Sutton Mutton 12 282 39 15 15
Andy Ridgway Prince of Wales 14 276 39 15 27
Jackie Hulme Cock Inn 12 273 36 15 15
Chris Butler Sutton Club 11 261 39 12  

Cars & Vans 4U Question Setters' Trophy

Wk Difficulty Balance Ent'mnt Total Last Yr
1 1 Spec Ox–fford 10.00 8.32 7.22 25.54 24.69
2 12 GK Park Timers 10.00 8.13 7.07 25.20 23.61
3 3 Spec British Flag 7.58 9.92 7.11 24.61 22.17
4 6 GK Sutton Club 7.33 8.68 5.79 21.80 19.98
5 17 Spec Chester Road Tavern 6.74 7.81 6.05 20.59 20.47
6 15 Spec Dolphin Dragons 8.33 5.24 6.97 20.54 22.04
7 5 GK Ox–fford 'C' 4.81 8.70 5.37 18.88 17.41
8 7 Spec Wharfies 4.62 8.78 5.44 18.85 14.58
9 16 Spec Harrington Academicals 4.39 8.08 5.61 18.09 (21.53)
10 15 GK Dolphin Dragons 5.75 6.05 6.26 18.06 22.12
11 4 GK Waters Green Rams 5.44 6.16 6.22 17.82 18.84
12 2 GK Royal Oak 4.68 6.90 5.72 17.30 8.20
13 13 Spec Church House Bollington 4.46 6.26 6.22 16.94 20.49
14 12 Spec Harrington 'B' 4.91 5.46 6.28 16.65 (10.27)
15 2 Spec Sutton Mutton 4.09 8.43 3.44 15.96 (11.50)
16 4 Spec Pack Horse Bowling Club 2.61 8.15 4.40 15.17 (13.95)
17 13 GK Church House Bollington 2.72 7.11 5.22 15.05 15.79
18 3 GK British Flag 2.96 6.41 5.67 15.04 (22.17)
19 6 Spec Sutton Club 4.71 5.05 5.22 14.98 (19.98)
20 8 Spec Waters Green Lemmings 2.09 8.12 4.32 14.53 22.21
21 8 GK Chester Road Tavern 5.40 3.41 5.67 14.48 (20.47)
22 7 GK Wharfies 4.36 6.37 3.33 14.07 22.03
23 1 GK Ox–fford 6.89 0.00 6.50 13.39 17.22
24 5 Spec Ox–fford 'C' 3.82 3.52 5.79 13.13 19.47
25 11 GK Dolphin 3.70 5.10 4.33 13.12 14.05
26 17 GK Waters Green Lemmings 2.71 5.73 4.25 12.70 (22.21)
27 9 Spec Prince of Wales 0.00 8.67 3.83 12.50 (11.16)
28 16 GK Park Taverners 4.56 1.61 5.67 11.85 (20.43)
29 14 Spec Robin Hood 3.67 2.62 5.06 11.36 14.01
30 10 GK Plough Horntails 3.61 0.94 5.11 9.66 (16.35)
31 14 GK Robin Hood 0.00 4.12 4.45 8.57 14.12
32 9 GK Nags Head 0.74 2.61 5.11 8.46 (14.19)
33 10 Spec Cock Inn 2.82 1.68 3.83 8.33 (14.69)
34 11 Spec Dolphin 3.21 0.00 4.67 7.88 20.37

For the full spreadsheet, please click here.

The Chester Road Tavern's Specialist questions scored well all round. They are currently 10th in the "entertainment only" table, and 5th overall. The General Knowledge questions, set by the Waters Green Lemmings, were less popular and are 30th out of 34 for Entertainment. They were least popular in the C League, where they were given the second lowest score of the season so far for a GK set.

The Specialist questions were easier than average; teams scored on average 108% of their average scores. The General Knowledge were a little on the hard side, and the "average average" was 93%.

Both sets were reasonably well balanced, and the bias was towards the teams that went first in each case. This meant that the bias cancelled itself out, and overall the questions were very well balanced.

Not only that, but because one set was slightly easier than average and the other was slightly harder, the total scores were very close to the average. Teams that went "first first" scored on average 99% of their average scores, while those that went "second first" scored on average exactly 100% of their averages. In fact, four of the ten teams going "second first" scored exactly that: the Wharfies (138), the Royal Oak (152), the Pack Horse Bowling Club (117) and the Prince of Wales (114).

© Macclesfield Quiz League 2018