Macclesfield Quiz League
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Macclesfield Quiz League |
| News & Views |
| 2022–3 Season |
| Week 1 |
| A League |
| B League |
| Cars & Vans 4U Trophy |
For a PDF version of this page, please click here.
This was a high–scoring week, even for questions set by the Nags Head 'B' (formerly the Ox–fford). There were three team scores of 190 or over, the highest of which came in the B League: take a bow, the Waters Green Nags. In their debut match, the team formed by the merger of the Waters Green Lemmings and the (old) Nags Head scored 199, which (we believe) is the highest ever in the B League, and the fourth highest overall.
The two highest scores in the A League came in Week 1 of the 2013–14 season, when the Ox–fford 'C' scored 210 and the Dolphin 203 – on another set of the Ox–fford's questions. The highest score in the C League was 201, by the Church House Bollington in Week 5 of the 2014–15 season, when the questions were set by the Ox–fford 'C'.
The two next highest scores this week were 191 by the Harrington Academicals and 190 by the Poachers (both in the A League). I trust no one will be offended if I describe the Accies' victory over the Queens as a major shock; this was their highest score on record, and it was the Queens' first defeat since Week 7 of the 2019–20 season.
This being Week 1, the team scores on the night are all–important. This puts the Harrington Academicals on top of the A League, closely followed by the Poachers; in the B League, the Waters Green Nags are in first place with the Sutton Club a rather distant second. But all this could change next week!
Top scorer was Alice Walker with 57. The one she got wrong was the one about the Rover badge.
Top scorer in the B League was John Green with 51. This equals John's highest ever score, which he previously achieved in the 2008–9 season when playing for the Harrington 'B'.
Alan Hodgson and Ashton Davies both scored 54. There were four scores of 48 (two each in the A and B Leagues), five of 45 (three in the A League and two in the B) and four of 42 (three in the A and one in the B). That's a total of four scores over 50 and 17 over 40.
It would be wrong to read too much into the scores this week, as we only have last season to compare them with and there have been some significant team changes. But the Nags Head 'B''s questions went down very well; the signs are that they were the easiest we've had for some time (easier than any last season). The spreadsheet did suggest one potential issue however: the Specialist questions seemed to be much easier for the teams that went 'second first' than for those that went first.
More of this in the Cars & Vans 4U Question Setters' Trophy section.
| Waters Green Weavers | 187 | 153 | Harrington Diamonds |
| Ian Grieve | 45 | 36 | Chris Bogie |
| Harrington Academicals | 191 | 175 | Queens |
| Dave Partington | 45 | 57 | Alice Walker |
| Dolphin | 165 | 190 | Poachers |
| Alan Hodgson | 54 | 54 | Ashton Davies |
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Total | Points | |
| Harrington Academicals | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 191 | 2 |
| Poachers | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 190 | 2 |
| Waters Green Weavers | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 187 | 2 |
| Queens | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 175 | 0 |
| Dolphin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 165 | 0 |
| Harrington Diamonds | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 153 | 0 |
| Nags Head | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nags Head 'B' | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | Played | Total | Highest | Lowest | Wk 1 | |
| Alice Walker | Queens | 1 | 57 | 57 | 57 | 57 |
| Alan Hodgson | Dolphin | 1 | 54 | 54 | 54 | 54 |
| Ashton Davies | Poachers | 1 | 54 | 54 | 54 | 54 |
| Ed Baron | Poachers | 1 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 |
| Haydn Thompson | Queens | 1 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 |
| Bob Gratton | Poachers | 1 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
| Dave Partington | Harrington Academicals | 1 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
| Ian Grieve | Waters Green Weavers | 1 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
| Graham Bailey | Waters Green Weavers | 1 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 42 |
| Peter McBride | Dolphin | 1 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 42 |
| Rob Parkin | Harrington Academicals | 1 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 42 |
| Park Taverners | 166 | 155 | Plough Horntails |
| Graham Wallace | 45 | 45 | Julian Amey |
| Sutton Mutton | 161 | 171 | Dolphin Hammers |
| Wynne Keith-Davies | 42 | 36 36 |
Liz Horrocks Dave Barber |
| Pack Horse Bowling Club | 136 | 179 | Sutton Club |
| Reg Bloor | 39 | 51 | John Green |
| Chester Road Tavern | 133 | 199 | Waters Green Nags |
| Tony Moores | 36 | 48 48 |
Paul Prior Ian Musgrave |
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Total | Points | |
| Waters Green Nags | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 199 | 2 |
| Sutton Club | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 179 | 2 |
| Dolphin Hammers | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 171 | 2 |
| Park Taverners | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 166 | 2 |
| Sutton Mutton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 161 | 0 |
| Plough Horntails | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 155 | 0 |
| Pack Horse Bowling Club | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 136 | 0 |
| Chester Road Tavern | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 133 | 0 |
| Park Timers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | Played | Total | Highest | Lowest | Wk 1 | |
| John Green | Sutton Club | 1 | 51 | 51 | 51 | 51 |
| Ian Musgrave | Waters Green Nags | 1 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 |
| Paul Prior | Waters Green Nags | 1 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 |
| Graham Wallace | Park Taverners | 1 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
| Julian Amey | Plough Horntails | 1 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
| Wynne Keith–Davies | Sutton Mutton | 1 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 42 |
| Mick Graves | Sutton Mutton | 1 | 39 | 39 | 39 | 39 |
| Reg Bloor | Pack Horse Bowling Club | 1 | 39 | 39 | 39 | 39 |
| Shauna Barstow | Park Taverners | 1 | 39 | 39 | 39 | 39 |
| Chris Butler | Sutton Club | 1 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| Dave Barber | Dolphin Hammers | 1 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| Liz Horrocks | Dolphin Hammers | 1 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| Mike Proctor | Sutton Mutton | 1 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| Simon Rumsey | Sutton Club | 1 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| Tony Moores | Chester Road Tavern | 1 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| Week | Setters | Difficulty | Balance | Ent'ment | Total | Last Yr | ||
| 1 | 1 | GK | Nags Head 'B' | 10.00 | 9.27 | 8.16 | 27.43 | 21.64 |
| 2 | 1 | Spec | Nags Head 'B' | 10.00 | 0.00 | 8.16 | 18.16 | 19.80 |
Excellent scoring by the Nags Head 'B', in all respects but one. As mentioned in the introduction, these were (according to the spreadsheet) the easiest questions we've had for some time. They scored well for Entertainment; and the General Knowledge were about as well balanced as you can hope for. But there did seem to be an issue with the Balance in the Specialists.
The teams that went "first first" did well enough, scoring on average 105% of their average Specialist scores for last season; but those that went "second first" did much better, with 128%.
Overall, the teams that went "first first" scored 115% of their average scores from last season, while those that went "second first" scored 125%. On an average team score of 143, this may have made a difference of 10 or 12 points. It is possible that one or two results may have been affected.
But as also mentioned above, it would be wrong to read too much into these scores. It's only the first week of the season; there have been some significant changes in the League structure, and in at least one team (the Waters Green Nags being formed by a merger of two teams with somwhat contrasting fortunes last season). And I know that one other team was missing two of its regular players this week.
The marks for the WG Nags have been calculated using the average of the scores achieved last season by the Nags Head and the Waters Green Lemmings. It's far from clear how reliable this is.
This will only be an issue while we're using last season's scores for comparison. As usual, once we're half way through this season we will only be comparing the scores for 2022–3. Until then, we should probably take all of this with a large pinch of salt!
For the full spreadsheet, please click here.
© Macclesfield Quiz League 2022