Macclesfield Quiz League |
News & Views |
2019–20 Season |
Week 14 |
A League |
B League |
C League |
Cars & Vans 4U Trophy |
For a PDF version of this page, please click here.
Nine of the eleven games this week were won by the teams that went "first first"; the exceptions were the two Nags Head teams. There were no really close games however, so it's debatable whether any losing team can be justified in blaming the questions!
With just four weeks to go, some issues are moving towards resolution. The Nags Head 'B' still have a good lead in the A League, but at the other end of the table the Royal Oak are very much "at risk". Meanwhile, two of the current top three in the B League will surely be moving in the opposite direction.
At the other end of the B League, the Chester Road Tavern seem all but sure to return to the C League next season.
It's much tighter at the top of the C League, where any two of the top four could still go up.
Top scorers this week were Mark Watson and Liz Horrocks, with 48 each. There were also 45s for Laurence Plant, Bob Langstaff and Malcolm Asquith. Top scorer in the C League was Wynne Keith-Davies with 36.
There were 20 personal bests this week – not bad for this stage of the season. Only nine people failed to beat their lowest scores of the season.
We are now at that stage of the season where some players have played the maximum number of games that count in the tables (11 in the A and B Leagues, 12 in the C League). This is where your season's total might not have increased as much as you expected it to; and it's also where games in hand become more crucial – until you've reached that stage yourself!
It's very tight at the top of the A League table, where none of the top three played, and this allowed Mark Watson to move back into first place. Best placed however is probably Ashton Davies, who is currently fourth but has a game in hand on the three people above him – and even his lowest score of the season could be more than enough to put him top.
In the B League, Dave Partington is in pole position and the people below him will have their work cut out to catch him despite having games in hand. In the C League, Andy Ridgway and the two Johns (Poyser and Green) have a useful lead, but Wendy Brown is perhaps best placed, in fourth place but with games in hand.
Church House Bollington | 158 | 144 | Royal Oak |
Ashton Davies Bob Gratton (pb) |
42 36 |
42 | Alan James (pb) |
Weaver | 162 | 123 | British Flag |
Graham Bailey Alan Gilday Lesley Davies (pb) |
36 30 27 |
36 | Neil Drummond (pb) |
Rushton Diamonds | 145 | 185 | Nags Head 'B' |
Brian Bogie | 36 | 48 45 |
Mark Watson Laurence Plant (pb) |
Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Total | Points | |
Nags Head 'B' | 11 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1872 | 20 |
Queens | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 1852 | 16 |
Church House Bollington | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 1594 | 14 |
Dolphin | 11 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 1749 | 12 |
Weaver | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1581 | 10 |
Rushton Diamonds | 11 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 1608 | 8 |
British Flag | 11 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 1476 | 4 |
Royal Oak | 11 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 1639 | 2 |
Team | Played | Total | Highest | Lowest | Week 14 | |
Mark Watson | Nags Head 'B' | 11 | 504 | 51 | 42 | 48 |
Alice Walker | Queens | 11 | 501 | 54 | 33 | |
Alan Hodgson | Dolphin | 11 | 489 | 57 | 39 | |
Ashton Davies | Church House Bollington | 10 | 474 | 54 | 42 | 42 |
Haydn Thompson | Queens | 11 | 459 | 51 | 24 | |
Peter McBride | Dolphin | 11 | 420 | 45 | 27 | |
Brian Bogie | Rushton Diamonds | 11 | 393 | 42 | 21 | 36 |
Graham Bailey | Weaver | 10 | 348 | 42 | 27 | 36 |
Alan James | Royal Oak | 11 | 348 | 42 | 15 | 42 |
Rosalie James | Royal Oak | 11 | 336 | 48 | 18 | 18 |
Dolphin Dragons | 163 | 140 | Harrington Academicals |
Liz Horrocks (pb) | 48 | 42 | Dave Partington |
Nags Head | 166 | 130 | Waters Green Lemmings |
Paul Prior (pb) Dave Pennington (pb) |
45 33 |
45 | Bob Langstaff (pb) |
Waters Green Rams | 192 | 91 | Chester Road Tavern |
Scott Dawson Dave Smith (pb) Keith Pointon David Reynolds (pb) |
42 39 33 30 |
27 | Tony Moores |
Plough Horntails | 152 | 138 | Robin Hood |
Malcolm Asquith (pb) Anne Jeater (pb) |
45 42 |
30 30 |
Lorraine Hilton Jim Kennelly |
Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Total | Points | |
Waters Green Rams | 11 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1667 | 20 |
Nags Head | 12 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 1755 | 18 |
Dolphin Dragons | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 1500 | 14 |
Harrington Academicals | 12 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 1666 | 10 |
Plough Horntails | 11 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 1487 | 10 |
Robin Hood | 11 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 1455 | 8 |
Waters Green Lemmings | 11 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 1359 | 8 |
Chester Road Tavern | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 995 | 0 |
Team | Played | Total | Highest | Lowest | Week 14 | |
Dave Partington | Harrington Academicals | 12 | 441 | 48 | 30 | 42 |
Keith Pointon | Waters Green Rams | 11 | 390 | 45 | 27 | 33 |
Liz Horrocks | Dolphin Dragons | 10 | 351 | 48 | 21 | 48 |
Malcolm Asquith | Plough Horntails | 11 | 351 | 45 | 21 | 45 |
Jim Kennelly | Robin Hood | 10 | 333 | 48 | 21 | 30 |
Jon Thompson | Waters Green Lemmings | 10 | 330 | 45 | 24 | 27 |
Paul Prior | Nags Head | 10 | 315 | 45 | 18 | 45 |
Alasdair Reid | Nags Head | 10 | 309 | 42 | 21 | |
Andy Johnson | Nags Head | 10 | 294 | 39 | 18 | 27 |
Anne Jeater | Plough Horntails | 11 | 279 | 42 | 18 | 42 |
Rob Parkin | Harrington Academicals | 9 | 279 | 39 | 24 | 36 |
Brewers Arms | 95 | 146 | Park Taverners |
Andy Ridgway | 21 | 33 33 |
Heather Wallace (pb) Shauna Barstow |
Park Timers | 112 | 127 | Pack Horse Bowling Club |
Andrew Fenton (pb) | 30 | 27 24 |
Andrew Vickerstaff (pb) Mike Vickerstaff (pb) |
Harrington 'B' | 115 | 146 | Broken Cross Club |
John Green | 30 | 33 30 27 |
Peter Wilcox (pb) Jackie Hulme Peter Bullivent (pb) |
King's Gambit | 110 | 141 | Sutton Mutton |
Susan Taylor (pb) Michael Taylor |
24 24 |
36 | Wynne Keith–Davies |
Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Total | Points | |
Park Taverners | 13 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 1665 | 20 |
Sutton Club | 12 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 1519 | 16 |
Sutton Mutton | 12 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 1482 | 16 |
Park Timers | 12 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 1434 | 14 |
Brewers Arms | 13 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 1427 | 12 |
Harrington 'B' | 12 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 1422 | 11 |
Broken Cross Club | 13 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 1365 | 11 |
Pack Horse Bowling Club | 12 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 1392 | 10 |
King's Gambit | 13 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 1097 | 2 |
Team | Played | Total | Highest | Lowest | Week 14 | |
Andy Ridgway | Brewers Arms | 13 | 336 | 36 | 18 | 21 |
John Poyser | Park Timers | 12 | 333 | 39 | 12 | 27 |
John Green | Harrington 'B' | 12 | 330 | 39 | 15 | 30 |
Wendy Brown | Sutton Club | 10 | 306 | 45 | 18 | |
Shauna Barstow | Park Taverners | 12 | 306 | 36 | 15 | 33 |
Graham Wallace | Park Taverners | 11 | 297 | 33 | 18 | 27 |
Wynne Keith–Davies | Sutton Mutton | 9 | 285 | 45 | 24 | 36 |
Geoff Parkin | Harrington 'B' | 11 | 270 | 33 | 9 | 27 |
Mike Proctor | Sutton Mutton | 11 | 267 | 33 | 12 | 30 |
Jackie Hulme | Broken Cross Club | 11 | 264 | 33 | 6 | 30 |
Week | Setters | Difficulty | Balance | Ent'ment | Total | Last Yr | ||
1 | 12 | Spec | Chester Road Tavern | 9.95 | 9.67 | 7.03 | 26.65 | (15.29) |
2 | 4 | GK | Waters Green Rams | 7.16 | 9.77 | 6.20 | 23.13 | 18.84 |
3 | 7 | Spec | Royal Oak | 9.37 | 8.21 | 5.15 | 22.73 | 8.43 |
4 | 1 | Spec | Rushton Diamonds | 8.15 | 7.03 | 6.67 | 21.85 | |
5 | 4 | Spec | Park Timers | 10.00 | 4.34 | 6.47 | 20.81 | 18.44 |
6 | 14 | Spec | Dolphin | 7.80 | 6.28 | 6.39 | 20.47 | 7.84 |
7 | 6 | Spec | Queens | 5.63 | 8.45 | 6.03 | 20.11 | 15.92 |
8 | 9 | GK | Broken Cross Club | 6.26 | 9.17 | 4.43 | 19.86 | 18.23 |
9 | 2 | GK | Dolphin Dragons | 5.09 | 8.42 | 5.65 | 19.15 | 17.65 |
10 | 3 | Spec | British Flag | 2.74 | 9.86 | 6.03 | 18.63 | 14.50 |
11 | 6 | GK | Queens | 6.01 | 6.07 | 5.86 | 17.95 | 21.09 |
12 | 11 | GK | Church House Bollington | 4.74 | 6.96 | 6.09 | 17.79 | 11.71 |
13 | 13 | Spec | Weaver | 3.26 | 7.95 | 6.00 | 17.21 | 14.14 |
14 | 2 | Spec | Sutton Mutton | 6.23 | 6.03 | 4.11 | 16.37 | 8.61 |
15 | 1 | GK | Rushton Diamonds | 10.00 | 0.06 | 6.28 | 16.34 | 18.63 |
16 | 5 | GK | Sutton Club | 6.66 | 2.10 | 6.11 | 14.87 | 21.28 |
17 | 11 | Spec | Church House Bollington | 4.63 | 3.18 | 6.67 | 14.49 | 11.85 |
18 | 7 | GK | Royal Oak | 4.09 | 3.72 | 5.98 | 13.79 | 17.10 |
19 | 14 | GK | Dolphin | 6.19 | 1.65 | 5.56 | 13.40 | 20.20 |
20 | 8 | Spec | Brewers Arms | 0.00 | 9.27 | 3.86 | 13.13 | (8.05) |
21 | 12 | GK | Pack Horse Bowling Club | 6.19 | 0.87 | 5.97 | 13.03 | (21.93) |
22 | 8 | GK | Nags Head | 1.61 | 6.77 | 4.08 | 12.46 | (15.49) |
23 | 9 | Spec | Robin Hood | 1.61 | 6.08 | 4.37 | 12.06 | (15.73) |
24 | 5 | Spec | Sutton Club | 3.35 | 0.00 | 6.19 | 9.54 | |
25 | 10 | GK | Harrington 'B' | 0.00 | 3.62 | 5.28 | 8.90 | 13.84 |
26 | 3 | GK | British Flag | 3.62 | 0.00 | 5.04 | 8.66 | |
27 | 13 | GK | Weaver | 0.40 | 2.62 | 4.72 | 7.74 | 18.07 |
28 | 10 | Spec | Plough Horntails | 0.28 | 2.56 | 4.19 | 7.03 | (19.31) |
For the full spreadsheet, please click here.
Entertainment marks: | A League | 6.33 | B League | 6.50 | C League | 6.33 | Overall | 6.39 | Last year | 5.22 |
Average team score going "first first": | 63 | Average team score going "second first": | 54 | Season's average: | 55 |
On average, teams going "first first" scored | 111% | of their average for the season |
On average, teams going "second first" scored | 104% | of their average for the season |
On average, the teams going "first first" did | 7% | better than their opponents |
Entertainment marks: | A League | 6.17 | B League | 6.00 | C League | 4.50 | Overall | 5.56 | Last year | 5.78 |
Average team score going "first first": | 88 | Average team score going "second first": | 75 | Season's average: | 79 |
On average, teams going "first first" scored | 111% | of their average for the season |
On average, teams going "second first" scored | 98% | of their average for the season |
On average, the teams going "first first" did | 13% | better than their opponents |
Average team score going "first first": | 151 | Average team score going "second first": | 129 | Season's average: | 134 |
On average, teams going "first first" scored | 111% | of their average for the season |
On average, teams going "second first" scored | 101% | of their average for the season |
On average, the teams going "first first" did | 10% | better than their opponents |
To summarise the above tables: most teams found the Dolphin's questions easier than average, with 14 of the 22 teams registering higher–than–average scores. They were however (according to the spreadsheet) easier for the teams that went "first first", who scored on average 111% of their average scores while those that went "second first" scored only 101%. This apparent bias was more pronounced in the General Knowledge questions, and this is perhaps reflected in the Entertainment marks. On this criterion the Specialist questions are currently 5th (out of 28) but the General Knowledge only 18th.
The bias detected by the spreadsheet is borne out in the match results, where only two teams won by going "second first". These were the two Nags Head teams.
The General Knowledge questions went down least well in the C League; in the A and B Leagues the difference in the marks for the two sets was noticeably less.
In the overall Cars & Vans 4U Ltd Trophy table, the Specialist questions are ranked 6th and the General Knowledge 19th.
On an average team score of 140, the 10% bias in favour of the teams that went "first first" may have made a difference of 14 points. There were three games that might have been affected by this – one in each League. The winning margins in these games were however 14, 14 and 15 points, so (as suggested at the top of this page) it's debatable whether either losing team can be fully justified in blaming the questions!
© Macclesfield Quiz League 2020