News and Views: 2021–2 Season – Week 7 – 1 February

This week's matches took us to the half–way point of the season. Full individual tables have been posted – see the 2021–2 menu at the top of this page (and every other page on the site).

Results 

There was one very close game this week – Park Taverners beating the Nags Head by just three points – but the other six were all decided by large margins.

Four were won by the teams that went "first first", and the spreadsheet does suggest that there was a significant bias towards those teams. But let's not forget that a bias of 10% towards one team or the other is most unlikely to make a difference of more than about 20 points.

Congratulations to the Waters Green Weavers, who took full advantage of the Dolphin being a man down to take their first victory of the season, against the apparent run of the questions.

Tables

In the B League, Park Taverners were level on points with the Nags Head last week, and behind them on goal difference. Their narrow victory (see above) means that they go above the Nags, but it was Harrington Academicals, who were also level on points last week and sandwiched between the latter two on goal difference, who went top with a victory over the Plough Horntails.

Park Timers, who won the only game in the C League this week, move above the Sutton Club into second place.

Waters Green Weavers moved off the bottom of the A League table on goal difference thanks to their first victory of the season.

The Queens' victory over the Poachers means that they are now the only team with a 100% record. The Sutton Mutton (who didn't play this week) are also unbeaten, but have drawn one game.

Individual

Top scorers this week were Haydn Thompson, Alice Walker and Mark Watson, each with 51 points. Ashton Davies and Alan Hodgson each scored 42. Top scorer in the B League was Rob Parkin with 39, and in the C League John Poyser takes the honours with a new personal best (for the season) of 33.

Overall there were ten personal bests this week: four each in the A and B Leagues, and two in the C League. But a total of 21 people – eight, ten and three respectively – failed to beat their lowest scores of the season so far.

There was little change in the A and B League Top Tens, except that a few people who've missed a game or two made re–entries. And in the C League, where only one game was played this week, two Park Timers – Andrew Fenton and John Poyser – moved into the top two places (from third and eighth respectively), and three Pack Horse Bowlers came back into the Top Ten.

A League

Results

Table

Individual Top Ten

B League

Results

Table

Individual Top Ten

C League

Results

Table

Individual Top Ten

Cars & Van 4U Question Setters' Trophy

The Queen Bs' questions did not score well. The teams that went "first first" found them generally of average difficulty, but those that went "second first" didn't do so well. This meant that the Difficulty scores were on the low side. For Balance, the Specialist questions scored better than the General Knowledge – mainly because in the period covered by the spreadsheet, the balance has tended to be better in the General Knowledge than in the Specialists. In other words, this week's General Knowledge questions are being judged against a better–balanced set of previous questions than the Specialists.

Overall, the teams that went "first first" scored 99% of their average scores, while those that went "second first" scored only 90%. On an average match score of 135, this means that any team that went "second first" and lost by fewer than about 12 points may have grounds for feeling hard done by. There is only one match that falls into this category.

The Entertainment scores were also quite low. For the Specialists the scores were fairly consistent across the three Leagues, but it was a different story for the General Knowledge. The latter got a better score than the Specialists from the A League (7.00 compared with 6.33) and exactly the same in the B League (both 5.50); but they were not liked by the C League, who only scored them 3.5 out of 10.

There was only one match in the C League this week, which (of course) means only two teams. I think we can safely say that at least one of those teams had serious issues with the General Knowledge questions. What was the problem, people? Let us know on the Forum – that's what it's there for!

You can check the Entertainment marks for the three individual Leagues, as well as all other details, in the full spreadsheet; please click here.

© Macclesfield Quiz League 2022