News and Views: 2022–3 Season – Week 2 – 15 November 2022

Results

After all the high–scoring fun of last week, the scores returned to somewhere near normal this week, with the highest team scores in the 170s.

In the A League the Poachers recorded their second victory, while the Nags Head 'B' (who didn't play last week) came out top in a close game against the Dolphin. The highest team score in the B League was 161 for the Dolphin Hammers, also recording their second victory – as were last week's high scorers, the Waters Green Nags.

Tables

The Poachers top the A League table as the only team that's played two matches and won them both. In the B League there are three teams with similar records; the Waters Green Nags lead the Dolphin Hammers on goal difference, by 335 points to 332 (that's just one question!), with the Park Taverners just a bit further behind.

Individual

The three top individual scores this week all came in the same game (Nags Head 'B' vs. the Dolphin), where Mark Watson, Alan Hodgson and Peter McBride each scored 48. Top scorer in the B League was Graham Wallace with 45.

Alan Hodgson is the early pace setter in the A League Individual table, with a highly creditable 102 from his first two games; Ashton Davies and Alice Walker are close behind with 99 each.

In the B League, Graham Wallace is top on 90 points, with Paul Prior one question behind on 87.

Questions

The Sutton Club's questions would have struggled to equal the scoring of last week's offering, but they did score reasonably well all round. The spreadsheet suggests that they were just slightly more difficult than the average going back to the start of last season, with pretty good balance – just a slight bias towards the teams that went first in the Specialists. They also scored quite well for Entertainment – 6.46 for the Specialists and 5.68 for the General Knowledge.

A League

Results

Table

Individual Top Ten

B League

Results

Table

Individual Top Ten

Cars & Van 4U Question Setters' Trophy

The Sutton Club were runners–up to the Nags Head 'B' in the Question Setters' Trophy (sponsored by Cars & Vans 4U) table last season, so it would be no surprise to see them challenging the leaders again this time round.

According to the spreadsheet, the questions were just slightly more difficult than the combined averages of last season and last week. But they were closer to the lowest scores of last season than the high standard set last week, which means that they scored slightly on the low side for Difficulty. The Balance was pretty good, with just a slight bias in both sets towards the teams that went first in the Specialists. Overall, those teams scored 101% of their averages, while those that went second scored 97%. On an average team score of 143 this may have made a difference of six or seven points, which means that the closest game this week (Pack Horse Bowling Club vs. Sutton Mutton) could have been even closer.

The Entertainment scores were not bad; 6.46 would have put the Specialist questions in the top ten last season, while the General Knowledge, with 5.68, would have been solidly in mid–table.

For the full spreadsheet, please click here.

© Macclesfield Quiz League 2022