News and Views: 2019–20 Season – Week 11 – 14 January 2020

Results

Our last unbeaten record bit the dust this week, when the Nags Head 'B' were beaten by the Queens. This match was nip and tuck all the way; the Nags were five points ahead going into the last round, but the Queens won that by 11 points to 2 to win by just four points.

Apart from this one, four other games were decided by three points or fewer, and two of the other five by eleven and twelve points respectively. Closest of all was another A League game, in which the British Flag beat the Dolphin by a single point.

If this was was something of an upset, there was another in the B League, when the Waters Green Lemmings beat the Robin Hood. The Plough Horntails also ran the high–flying Waters Green Rams close, losing in the end by three points.

There was another surprising result in the C League, where the Pack Horse Bowling Club (previously 7th, with only three wins from nine games) beat the Sutton Club. This was only the latter's second defeat of the season, and it ended a run of eight consecutive wins.

Tables

The British Flag climbed out of the A League relegation zone with their victory, at the expense of Rushton Diamonds who lost to the Weaver. Meanwhile in the B League, the aforementioned victory for the Waters Green Lemmings lifted them from seventh to fifth. They were replaced in the relegation zone by the Plough Horntails, who didn't play this week.

There was no change at the top or bottom of the C League, except that the Sutton Club are now top only on goal difference over the Park Taverners – and by just ten match points at that.

Individual

There were 15 personal bests this week – nine of them in the A League, five in the B League and only one in the C League. Highest score was 51 for Mark Watson, and there were four scores in the 40s: Haydn Thompson with 48, Peter McBride and Jon Thompson each with 45, and Keith Pointon with 42. In the C League no one managed over 30, but three people – Graham Wallace, John Poyser and Andy Ridgway – scored exactly 30.

Thirteen people failed to better their lowest scores of the season – three in the A League, and five each in the B and C Leagues.

With Ashton Davies on question setting duty, Mark Watson went top of the A League individual table; Alice Walker and Alan Hodgson also went above Ashton into second and third place respectively. There was little change in either the B or C Leagues, Dave Partington and Andy Ridgway remaining in the respective pole positions.

A League

Results

Nags Head 'B'	167	171	Queens
Mark Watson (pb) Laurence Plant (pb)	51 39	48	Haydn Thompson (pb)
Weaver	170	137	Rushton Diamonds
Alan Gilday (pb)	39	33 30 27	Chris Bogie (pb) Brian Bogie Mike Hancock (pb)
British Flag	154	153	Dolphin
Phil Davies (pb) Neil Drummond (pb)	36 33	45	Peter McBride (pb)

Table

	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Total	Points
Nags Head 'B'	9	8	0	1	1524	16
Queens	9	6	0	3	1491	12
Church House Bollington	8	6	0	2	1270	12
Dolphin	9	5	0	4	1420	10
Weaver	8	4	0	4	1259	8
British Flag	9	2	0	7	1225	4
Rushton Diamonds	8	2	0	6	1158	4
Royal Oak	8	1	0	7	1223	2

Individual Top Ten

	Team	Played	Total	Highest	Lowest	Week 11
Mark Watson	Nags Head 'B'	9	414	51	42	51
Alice Walker	Queens	9	405	54	33	45
Alan Hodgson	Dolphin	9	399	57	39	39
Ashton Davies	Church House Bollington	8	384	54	42
Haydn Thompson	Queens	9	366	48	24	48
Peter McBride	Dolphin	9	336	45	27	45
Brian Bogie	Rushton Diamonds	8	288	42	21	30
Graham Bailey	Weaver	8	273	42	27	36
Alan Gilday	Weaver	8	267	39	24	39
Rosalie James	Royal Oak	8	264	48	18

B League

Results

Robin Hood	123	135	Waters Green Lemmings
Jim Kennelly	36	45	Jon Thompson (pb)
Harrington Academicals	142	144	Nags Head
Dave Partington	39	33	Dave Pennington (pb)
Waters Green Rams	134	131	Plough Horntails
Keith Pointon David Reynolds (pb) Adum Carr Keith Bebbington (pb)	42 30 18 15	30 27 24 24	Dave McGuinness Anne Jeater Pat Jeater (pb) Malcolm Asquith

Table

	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Total	Points
Waters Green Rams	9	8	0	1	1329	16
Nags Head	9	7	0	2	1311	14
Dolphin Dragons	8	5	0	3	1209	10
Robin Hood	9	4	0	5	1192	8
Waters Green Lemmings	8	4	0	4	1013	8
Harrington Academicals	9	3	0	6	1248	6
Plough Horntails	8	3	0	5	1047	6
Chester Road Tavern	8	0	0	8	796	0

Individual Top Ten

	Team	Played	Total	Highest	Lowest	Week 11
Dave Partington	Harrington Academicals	9	348	48	27	39
Keith Pointon	Waters Green Rams	9	327	45	27	42
Jim Kennelly	Robin Hood	9	303	48	21	36
Jon Thompson	Waters Green Lemmings	8	279	45	27	45
Liz Horrocks	Dolphin Dragons	8	270	42	21
Paul Prior	Nags Head	8	252	42	21	30
Alasdair Reid	Nags Head	8	246	42	21	30
Malcolm Asquith	Plough Horntails	8	240	36	21	24
Andy Johnson	Nags Head	8	228	39	18	18
Rob Parkin	Harrington Academicals	7	219	39	27	27

C League

Results

Broken Cross Club	98	139	Park Taverners
Jackie Hulme	24	30	Graham Wallace
Park Timers	116	113	Harrington 'B'
John Poyser	30	27	John Green
Pack Horse Bowling Club	116	105	Sutton Club
Andrew Vickerstaff (pb)	27	24	Simon Rumsey
King's Gambit	89	126	Brewers Arms
Michael Taylor Sam Baker	18 18	30	Andy Ridgway

Table

	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Total	Points
Sutton Club	10	8	0	2	1282	16
Park Taverners	10	8	0	2	1272	16
Park Timers	10	6	0	4	1176	12
Brewers Arms	10	6	0	4	1139	12
Sutton Mutton	9	5	0	4	1080	10
Pack Horse Bowling Club	10	4	0	6	1169	8
Harrington 'B'	9	3	1	5	1068	7
Broken Cross Club	10	2	1	7	982	5
King's Gambit	10	1	0	9	795	2

Individual Top Ten

	Team	Played	Total	Highest	Lowest	Week 11
Andy Ridgway	Brewers Arms	10	279	36	18	30
John Poyser	Park Timers	10	276	39	12	30
John Green	Harrington 'B'	9	255	39	21	27
Wendy Brown	Sutton Club	8	243	45	18
Shauna Barstow	Park Taverners	9	219	36	15	27
Kenny Davenport-Slater	Brewers Arms	10	219	30	15	27
Graham Wallace	Park Taverners	8	216	33	18	30
Tim Brewin	Park Timers	10	210	27	12	21
Simon Rumsey	Sutton Club	9	198	27	12	24
Tim Bloor	Pack Horse Bowling Club	9	195	36	9	9
Andrew Vickerstaff	Pack Horse Bowling Club	9	195	27	12	27

The Questions

Cars & Van 4U Question Setters' Trophy

	Week		Setters	Difficulty	Balance	Ent'ment	Total	Last Yr
1	1	GK	Rushton Diamonds	10.00	7.21	6.28	23.49	18.63
2	7	Spec	Royal Oak	9.49	8.73	5.15	23.37	8.43
3	4	GK	Waters Green Rams	7.54	8.37	6.20	22.10	18.84
4	4	Spec	Park Timers	10.00	5.46	6.47	21.93	18.44
5	1	Spec	Rushton Diamonds	8.16	6.35	6.67	21.18
6	2	GK	Dolphin Dragons	6.36	8.60	5.65	20.61	17.65
7	6	Spec	Queens	5.58	8.35	6.03	19.97	15.92
8	11	GK	Church House Bollington	5.94	7.32	6.09	19.35	11.71
9	7	GK	Royal Oak	4.31	8.56	5.98	18.85	17.10
10	3	Spec	British Flag	2.80	9.60	6.03	18.43	14.50
11	9	GK	Broken Cross Club	6.22	7.05	4.43	17.69	18.23
12	2	Spec	Sutton Mutton	6.37	6.06	4.11	16.54	8.61
13	6	GK	Queens	6.45	3.49	5.86	15.81	21.09
14	11	Spec	Church House Bollington	4.70	4.02	6.67	15.38	11.85
15	3	GK	British Flag	3.85	5.24	5.04	14.13
16	8	Spec	Brewers Arms	0.00	9.80	3.86	13.66	(8.05)
17	5	GK	Sutton Club	7.14	0.00	6.11	13.25	21.28
18	9	Spec	Robin Hood	1.62	6.90	4.37	12.90	(15.73)
19	8	GK	Nags Head	1.89	4.69	4.08	10.66	(15.49)
20	5	Spec	Sutton Club	3.44	0.00	6.19	9.63
21	10	GK	Harrington 'B'	0.00	2.24	5.28	7.52	13.84
22	10	Spec	Plough Horntails	0.28	2.16	4.19	6.63	(19.31)

Specialist Rounds

Entertainment marks:

A League

7.67

B League

6.83

C League

5.50

Overall

6.67

Last year

5.10

Average team score going "first first":

58

Average team score going "second first":

51

Season's average:

54

On average, teams going "first first" scored	105%	of their average for the season
On average, teams going "second first" scored	95%	of their average for the season
On average, the teams going "first first" did	11%	better than their opponents

General Knowledge Rounds

Entertainment marks:

A League

6.83

B League

6.83

C League

4.62

Overall

6.09

Last year

4.82

Average team score going "first first":

78

Average team score going "second first":

79

Season's average:

79

On average, teams going "first first" scored	97%	of their average for the season
On average, teams going "second first" scored	102%	of their average for the season
On average, the teams going "second first" did	5%	better than their opponents

Overall

Average team score going "first first":

137

Average team score going "second first":

130

Season's average:

134

On average, teams going "first first" scored	100%	of their average for the season
On average, teams going "second first" scored	99%	of their average for the season
On average, the teams going "first first" did	1%	better than their opponents

For the full spreadsheet, please click here.

After three weeks of testing questions, most teams found the Church House Bollington's set somewhat more approachable; both sets were of pretty much average difficulty.

The overall balance was pretty good (according to the spreadsheet); even though both sets favoured one side or the other, each team had the advantage in one half and so the biases tended to cancel each other out. In the Specialist rounds the spreadsheet detected a marked bias in favour of the teams that went first, but in the General Knowledge the apparent bias worked the other way. Overall, the teams that went "first first" had a very slight advantage. There were actually several close games this week, but statistics being what they are, the slight bias detected by the spreadsheet cannot in all fairness be blamed for any results.

Both sets did well in the Entertainment stakes; the Specialists are top of the table, while the General Knowledge are eighth out of 22.

Interestingly (if you like this kind of thing!) in the A League all the winning teams went "second first", while in the B and C Leagues they all went "first first".

© Macclesfield Quiz League 2020