News and Views: 2023–4 Season, Week 18 – 16 April 2024

Honours Board

A League Champions	Poachers
A League Runners–Up	Nags Head 'B'
B League Champions	Waters Green Nags
B League Runners–Up	Park Taverners

Cup Winners	TBA
Cup Runners–Up	TBA

The Cup Final will be between the Poachers and the Queens of the Castle (again), and will be played on Tuesday 30 April.

Plate Winners	TBA
Plate Runners–Up	TBA

The Plate Final will be between the Dolphin Hammers and the Nags Head (date to be advised).

A League Individual Champion	Alan Hodgson
A League Individual Runner–Up	Alice Walker
A League Individual Third Place	Ashton Davies

B League Individual Champion (tied)	Paul Prior Ian Musgrave
B League Individual Runner–Up	John Poyser
B League Individual Third Place	Graham Wallace

Cars & Vans 4U Question Setters Trophy: Winners	Park Taverners (Week 6, Specialist)
Cars & Vans 4U Question Setters Trophy: Runners–Up	Nags Head 'B' (Week 1, General Knowledge)

Special mention to the Chester Road Tavern and the Nags Head, each of whom had both sets in the Top Ten.

Results and Tables

Of the seven matches this week, four were decided by five points or fewer. Two of the teams that benefitted in these close finishes were the Poachers and the Waters Green Nags – both of whom were already assured of their respective League titles. Even so, we are pleased to offer formal congratulations to both teams.

For the Poachers this is a second consecutive A League title, and they are not going to be any easier to beat next season. The WG Nags finished as runners–up in the B League last season, and would have played in the A League this time if it hadn't been for changes elsewhere (namely the resignation of the Harrington Diamonds).

At the bottom of the A League, an under–strength Nags Head team couldn't get the win they needed at the Castle, so (subject to team registrations) they will be playing in the B League next season. The Park Taverners will be going the other way; despite being on the wrong end of another close finish (against the Bate Hallers), they finished as runners–up in the B League thanks to having accumulated a few more match points than the Sutton Club.

The Park Tavern will thus be staging A League matches next season for the first time ever. It will be losing a Derby, and so will the Nags Head, but the Waters Green Tavern will be hosting one for the first time since 2019–20; and it will be in the A League for the first time since 2015–16. On both of those previous occasions it was the Rams versus the Lemmings, but the new Waters Green Derby will be the Weavers against the Nags.

And finally ... the fourth team to enjoy (if that's the right word) a narrow victory this week was the Chester Road Tavern, who finished fifth in the B League – their highest ever final position.

Individual

Alice Walker improved her eleven–game total by twelve points, which was enough to put her level with Alan Hodgson's score of last week, but Alan improved his total by six, and so finishes as A League individual champion for the second consecutive season and the fourteenth time overall. Ashton Davies, who last week still had an outside chance of taking the title, finished in third place.

In the B League, Paul Prior and Ian Musgrave couldn't be separated last week, and neither of them could improve on their eleven–game totals this week, so they finished as joint champions. This is the third title in a row for Paul, but it's Ian's first appearance in the top three.

John Poyser was also unable to increase his total, but his score remained the second highest in the B League. Graham Wallace did improve his previous total, but not sufficiently to displace John.

The highest score this week was 48, by Alice Walker and Mark Watson. Haydn Thompson, Tim Massey and Dave Cooper all scored 42. The highest scorer in the B League was Anne Jeater with 33.

Dave Cooper's 42 was one of only four personal bests this week. Two of the personal bests were recorded in Seat 4, and two in Seat 7. Ten people failed to improve on their lowest scores of the season.

Apologies to Daves Cooper and Barber for the earlier confusion!

Questions

Most teams seem to have found the Waters Green Weavers' questions quite tough, especially those going second in the Specialists. Four of the seven matches were won by the teams that started first; two of the three that won by going second were the two League leaders, and they won by just three and five points respectively!

Comments on the Forum are generally quite favourable, although one or two ppeople have said that they found the questions rather tough. The questions scored well for Entertainment in the A League, although less well in the B League.

A League – Summary

Results

Note: in this section, the home teams are on the left and the away teams are on the right.

Queens of the Castle	190	115	Nags Head
Alice Walker	48	24 24 24	Phil Davies Geoff Shaw Tony Browne
Nags Head 'B'	167	144	Dolphin
Mark Watson	48	45	Alan Hodgson
Dolphin Hammers	152	155	Poachers
Dave Cooper (pb)	42	42 36 27 15	Ashton Davies Greg Spiller Ed Baron Kevin Fieldstead (pb)

Table

	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Total	Points
Poachers	14	13	0	1	2448	26
Nags Head 'B'	14	11	0	3	2317	22
Queens of the Castle	14	9	0	5	2394	18
Dolphin	14	7	0	7	2205	14
Dolphin Hammers	14	7	0	7	2127	14
Waters Green Weavers	14	3	1	10	2107	7
Nags Head	14	3	0	11	1975	6
Harrington Academicals	14	2	1	11	2083	5

Individual Top Ten

	Team	Played	Total	Highest	Lowest	Week 18
Alan Hodgson	Dolphin	14	525	54	42	45
Alice Walker	Queens of the Castle	14	519	60	39	48
Ashton Davies	Poachers	11	513	60	39	42
Mark Watson	Nags Head 'B'	12	510	54	39	48
Ian Grieve	Waters Green Weavers	14	498	54	36
Haydn Thompson	Queens of the Castle	14	495	57	36	42
Greg Spiller	Poachers	13	492	51	36	36
Peter McBride	Dolphin	14	444	51	36	30
Dave Barber	Dolphin Hammers	13	444	48	36	36
Dave Partington	Harrington Academicals	14	429	48	33
Ed Baron	Poachers	14	390	48	27	27

B League – Summary

Results

Note: in this section, the home teams are on the left and the away teams are on the right.

Chester Road Tavern	107	104	Pack Horse Bowling Club
Mitch Moores Bill Moores	24 24	24	Reg Bloor
Bate Hallers	118	115	Park Taverners
Anne Jeater	33	33 27	Graham Wallace Nick Crowdy (pb)
Park Timers	103	131	Sutton Club
John Poyser	27	27 27	Simon Rumsey Wendy Brown
Sutton Mutton	113	118	Waters Green Nags
Wynne Keith–Davies Mick Graves Gill Dyson (pb)	21 21 15	30	Ian Musgrave

Table

	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Total	Points
Waters Green Nags	14	13	0	1	2101	26
Park Taverners	14	9	0	5	1921	18
Sutton Club	14	9	0	5	1909	18
Bate Hallers	14	8	1	5	1821	17
Chester Road Tavern	14	6	0	8	1733	12
Sutton Mutton	14	5	0	9	1731	10
Park Timers	14	4	0	10	1744	8
Pack Horse Bowling Club	14	1	1	12	1558	3

Individual Top Ten

	Team	Played	Total	Highest	Lowest	Week 18
Paul Prior	Waters Green Nags	14	441	57	27	27
Ian Musgrave	Waters Green Nags	13	441	48	30	30
John Poyser	Park Timers	14	372	42	27	27
Graham Wallace	Park Taverners	13	369	39	27	33
Wynne Keith–Davies	Sutton Mutton	14	357	48	21	21
Anne Jeater	Bate Hallers	14	345	39	21	33
Heather Wallace	Park Taverners	13	333	52	12	9
Wendy Brown	Sutton Club	12	333	42	18	27
Shauna Barstow	Park Taverners	11	327	42	12
Simon Rumsey	Sutton Club	13	312	39	18	27
Andrew Fenton	Park Timers	14	303	39	21	18
Mike Proctor	Sutton Mutton	12	291	39	12	12

A League – Full Results

Note: in this section, the teams that went "first first" (first in the Specialist questions) are on the left in the tables. In the headings, the home teams are given first.

Queens of the Castle vs. Nags Head

Queens of the Castle	Spec	GK	Total	Nags Head	Spec	GK	Total
Alice Walker	21	27	48	Phil Davies	12	12	24
Haydn Thompson	18	24	42	Geoff Shaw	9	15	24
Caroline Massey	15	9	24	Tony Browne	9	15	24
Tim Massey	18	24	42	Claire Tinsley	6	6	12
Conferred	3	11	14	Conferred	8	17	25
Passed over	6	14	20	Passed over	2	4	6
Totals	81	109	190	Totals	46	69	115

Nags Head 'B' vs. Dolphin

Nags Head 'B'	Spec	GK	Total	Dolphin	Spec	GK	Total
Mark Shaw	3	15	18	Peter McBride	12	18	30
Mark Watson	18	30	48	Alan Hodgson	18	27	45
Laurence Plant	9	15	24	Rossi Albanese	9	12	21
Steve Carter	15	18	33	John Brown	6	12	18
Conferred	11	19	30	Conferred	7	17	24
Passed over	8	6	14	Passed over	5	1	6
Totals	64	103	167	Totals	57	87	144

Dolphin Hammers vs. Poachers

Dolphin Hammers	Spec	GK	Total	Poachers	Spec	GK	Total
Liz Horrocks	12	12	24	Ed Baron	12	15	27
Pete Sayers	3	18	21	Kevin Fieldstead (pb)	9	6	15
Dave Barber	15	21	36	Ashton Davies	9	33	42
Dave Cooper (pb)	21	21	42	Greg Spiller	6	30	36
Conferred	7	12	19	Conferred	7	15	22
Passed over	7	3	10	Passed over	6	7	13
Totals	65	87	152	Totals	49	106	155

B League – Full Results

Note: in this section, the teams that went "first first" (first in the Specialist questions) are on the left in the tables. In the headings, the home teams are given first.

Chester Road Tavern vs. Pack Horse Bowling Club

Pack Horse Bowling Club	Spec	GK	Total	Chester Road Tavern	Spec	GK	Total
Reg Bloor	3	21	24	Mitch Moores	6	18	24
Martin Williams	6	12	18	Bill Moores	9	15	24
Tim Bloor	6	9	15	Jim Moores	9	9	18
Andrew Vickerstaff	6	12	18	Ian Kenny	0	3	3
Conferred	11	9	20	Conferred	7	15	22
Passed over	7	2	9	Passed over	7	9	16
Totals	39	65	104	Totals	38	69	107

Bate Hallers vs. Park Taverners

Bate Hallers	Spec	GK	Total	Park Taverners	Spec	GK	Total
(No player)				Heather Wallace	0	9	9
Malcolm Asquith	9	12	21	Nick Crowdy (pb)	9	18	27
Anne Jeater	12	21	33	Pete Dykstra	12	3	15
Pat Jeater	15	9	24	Graham Wallace	12	21	33
Conferred	7	15	22	Conferred	5	11	16
Passed over	5	13	18	Passed over	5	10	15
Totals	48	70	118	Totals	43	72	115

Park Timers vs. Sutton Club

Sutton Club	Spec	GK	Total	Park Timers	Spec	GK	Total
Chris Butler	9	15	24	Andrew Fenton	3	15	18
John Green	9	9	18	John Poyser	15	12	27
Simon Rumsey	9	18	27	Adrian Webster	6	0	6
Wendy Brown	9	18	27	Tim Brewin	12	6	18
Conferred	8	11	19	Conferred	4	17	21
Passed over	3	13	16	Passed over	3	10	13
Totals	47	84	131	Totals	43	60	103

Sutton Mutton vs. Waters Green Nags

Sutton Mutton	Spec	GK	Total	Waters Green Nags	Spec	GK	Total
Wynne Keith–Davies	6	15	21	Ian Musgrave	18	12	30
Mike Proctor	3	9	12	Sunil Peck	3	12	15
Mick Graves	9	12	21	Vic Uske	0	12	12
Gill Dyson (p)	6	9	15	Paul Prior	15	12	27
Conferred	9	14	23	Conferred	9	11	20
Passed over	4	17	21	Passed over	6	8	14
Totals	37	76	113	Totals	51	67	118

Cars & Van 4U Question Setters' Trophy

	Wk		Setters	Difficulty	Balance	Ent'ment	Total	Last Yr
1	6	Spec	Park Taverners	10.00	9.35	6.83	26.18	26.00
2	1	GK	Nags Head 'B'	10.00	8.47	7.16	25.63	21.64
3	12	GK	Chester Road Tavern	7.32	9.93	6.83	24.08	12.39
4	5	GK	Harrington Academicals	8.21	9.65	5.83	23.69	12.37
5	9	Spec	Waters Green Weavers	6.63	9.72	6.93	23.28	24.51
6	12	Spec	Chester Road Tavern	7.42	7.89	6.75	22.07	19.64
7	13	Spec	Park Timers	7.01	8.48	6.33	21.83	25.21
8	17	Spec	Waters Green Nags	7.11	7.25	6.98	21.34	10.58
9	7	Spec	Nags Head	5.00	8.65	6.75	20.90	10.58
10	7	GK	Nags Head	5.51	8.24	6.25	20.50	15.55
11	8	Spec	Waters Green Nags	4.66	8.97	6.16	19.79	15.55
12	2	Spec	Sutton Club	4.72	8.11	6.66	19.49	21.98
13	4	Spec	Dolphin Hammers	3.92	9.35	6.17	19.44	11.27
14	6	GK	Park Taverners	4.54	8.82	5.67	19.03	19.10
15	9	GK	Waters Green Weavers	5.98	5.86	6.46	18.30	18.08
16	11	GK	Poachers	5.25	6.62	6.41	18.28	18.62
17	17	GK	Waters Green Nags	3.85	8.08	5.84	17.77	8.08
18	1	Spec	Nags Head 'B'	9.41	0.37	7.25	17.02	19.80
19	14	GK	Sutton Mutton	4.38	8.80	3.75	16.92	13.50
20	2	GK	Sutton Club	4.21	6.09	6.58	16.89	20.28
21	11	Spec	Poachers	5.64	3.83	6.41	15.87	21.07
22	3	Spec	Queens of the Castle	2.55	7.69	5.50	15.74	16.72
23	5	Spec	Harrington Academicals	4.94	4.28	5.67	14.89	23.24
24	3	GK	Queens of the Castle	3.54	5.33	5.75	14.62	13.47
25	15	Spec	Dolphin	4.46	4.45	5.42	14.34	19.51
26	13	GK	Park Timers	6.35	1.54	6.16	14.05	25.93
27	10	GK	Bate Hallers	1.62	8.12	3.50	13.24	8.82
28	18	Spec	Waters Green Weavers	1.72	6.06	4.58	12.36	18.08
29	15	GK	Dolphin	3.15	3.85	5.33	12.32	18.76
30	14	Spec	Sutton Mutton	7.10	0.56	3.67	11.34	21.09
31	18	GK	Waters Green Weavers	3.63	1.89	5.81	11.33	24.51
32	4	GK	Dolphin Hammers	3.36	2.35	5.16	10.87	20.60
33	16	GK	Pack Horse Bowling Club	5.04	0.00	5.41	10.45	18.91
34	8	GK	Waters Green Nags	0.00	7.38	2.93	10.31	8.08
35	10	Spec	Bate Hallers	0.00	5.14	3.75	8.89	8.11
36	16	Spec	Pack Horse Bowling Club	1.70	0.00	4.25	5.95	22.08

The Waters Green Weavers' second set of questions this season seem to have been OK for the teams that went "first first", but those that started second found them almost as tough as any we've had this season. The teams that went first in the Specialist questions scored on average 98% of their average scores, compared with 85% for the teams that started second.

The pattern was similar in both sets, but the Specialist questions were a lot harder than the General Knowledge (according to the spreadsheet). In the Specialist set, the teams that went first scored 92% and those that went second managed only 81%; in the General Knowledge the figures were 102% (for those that went first in the Specialists) and 87%.

The Entertainment marks were on the low side – especially for the Specialists. They were better in the A League than in the B League.

On the Forum, one or two people have commented that they found the questions rather tough, but no specific issues are mentioned. In fact we might say that comments about the questions are on the whole quite favourable.

For the full spreadsheet, please click here.

© Macclesfield Quiz League 2024