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News & Views
2023–4 Season
Week 4

On this page:

A League – Full Results
B League – Full Results
A League – Summary
B League – Summary
Cars & Vans 4U Trophy

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For a PDF version of this page, please click here.

News and Views: 2023–4 Season, Week 4 – 28 November 2023

Results

This week we had our first draw of the season, although four scorers (including the official one) in the match between the Waters Green Weavers and Harrington Academicals could only reach agreement after some recalculation. A case that tends to reinforce the suggestion made last season, that if all parties agreed the scores after each round, such issues might be avoided.

Of the other five matches, four were won by the teams that went first in the first half of the quiz. The spreadsheet suggests that those teams had the easier questions (mainly in the General Knowledge), and it is possible that one or two games (including the draw) may have been affected. The only team to win having gone second in the Specialists was the Sutton Club – and they only won by four points.

Tables

The Nags Head 'B' are now the only unbeaten team in the A League, following their victory over the Queens of the Castle, but the Dolphin, who've played one more game, hold on to top spot because of their higher points total. In the B League, where every team has played three games, two are unbeaten: Park Taverners and Bate Hallers. The Taverners moved up from third this week to top the table, while the Hallers also moved above the Waters Green Nags and the Chester Road Tavern, both of whom lost their unbeaten records in close games.

Individual

Top scorers this week were Alan Hodgson and Haydn Thompson, each with 51. Next best were Dave Partington and Alice Walker on 42, and Mark Watson scored 39. Top scorer in the B League was Graham Wallace with 36.

Alan Hodgson retained top spot in the A League Individual table, and his team mate Peter McBride is still in second place. Meanwhile another pair of team mates, Paul Prior and Ian Musgrave (in that order) replaced John Poyser at the top of the B League standings.

Questions

The Specialist questions proved to be easier than the General Knowledge, and scored better on all three counts (Difficulty, Balance, and Entertainment Value). There were some interesting rounds, including one about people (and one organisation) whose initials made up Roman numerals.

There were issues with a couple of questions, notably confusion over the number of Oscars that The Color Purple won (it didn ' t win any) and Ireland apparently being left out of the British Isles. The amount of politics (prime ministers, MPs etc.) in the General Knowledge was also an issue for some.

A League – Full Results

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

Dolphin Spec GK Total Nags Head Spec GK Total
Peter McBride 15 18 33 Neil Drummond 9 21 30
Derek Owen 6 6 12 Neil Johnson 9 9 18
John Brown 9 15 24 Ian Tams 6 9 15
Alan Hodgson 21 30 51 Steve Clare 6 9 15
Conferred 6 15 21 Conferred 12 14 26
Passed over 10 13 23 Passed over 4 6 10
Totals 67 97 164 Totals 46 68 114

 

Nags Head 'B' Spec GK Total Queens of the Castle Spec GK Total
Steve Carter 18 12 30 Alice Walker 15 27 42
Mark Watson 21 18 39 Haydn Thompson 21 30 51
Laurence Plant 9 21 30 Caroline Massey 12 3 15
Paul Morrissey 9 15 24 Tim Massey 6 6 12
Conferred 10 19 29 Conferred 10 15 25
Passed over 3 9 12 Passed over 1 6 7
Totals 70 94 164 Totals 65 87 152

 

Harrington Academicals Spec GK Total Waters Green Weavers Spec GK Total
Dave Partington 15 27 42 Alan Gilday 15 21 36
Rob Parkin 15 21 36 Graham Bailey 18 18 36
Steve Dale 9 9 18 Ian Grieve 15 21 36
Alan James 18 15 33 Lesley Davies 15 15 30
Conferred 10 17 27 Conferred 6 12 18
Passed over 4 5 7 Passed over 1 8 9
Totals 71 94 165 Totals 70 95 165

There was some confusion over the scores in this match. The question master had a narrow win for the Weavers; one of the Weavers' scorers agreed, but another (spectating) made it a draw, and the Accies thought they'd won by one point.

The score sheet was adjusted and a draw was agreed.

While some may not like the suggested procedure of agreeing the scores at the end of each round, it has to be said that it would probably have avoided this situation.

B League – Full Results

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

Park Taverners Spec GK Total Pack Horse Bowling Club Spec GK Total
Pete Dykstra 3 3 6 Reg Bloor 3 6 9
Shauna Barstow 6 27 33 Mary Bloor 9 6 15
Graham Wallace 12 24 36 Tim Bloor 15 6 21
Heather Wallace 12 18 30 Andrew Vickerstaff 9 9 18
Conferred 10 12 22 Conferred 10 11 21
Passed over 3 15 18 Passed over 3 10 13
Totals 46 99 145 Totals 49 48 97

 

Waters Green Nags Spec GK Total Sutton Club Spec GK Total
Ian Musgrave 9 24 33 Wendy Brown 9 15 24
Sunil Peck 6 9 15 John Green 12 15 27
Howard Sheard 0 3 3 Simon Rumsey 12 3 15
Paul Prior 12 18 30 Emma Griggs 3 15 18
Conferred 9 13 22 Conferred 9 14 23
Passed over 6 9 15 Passed over 8 7 15
Totals 42 76 118 Totals 53 69 122

 

Bate Hallers Spec GK Total Chester Road Tavern Spec GK Total
Pat Jeater 15 6 21 Mitch Moores 6 21 27
Gill Dawson 6 9 15 Chris Moores 9 9 18
Anne Jeater 6 18 24 Tony Moores 12 9 21
Dave McGuinness 3 9 12 Ian Kenny 3 0 3
Conferred 8 20 28 Conferred 10 16 26
Passed over 4 9 13 Passed over 6 6 12
Totals 42 71 113 Totals 46 61 107

A League – Summary

Results

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

Nags Head 114 164 Dolphin
Neil Drummond 30 51 Alan Hodgson
Queens of the Castle 152 164 Nags Head 'B'
Haydn Thompson 51 39 Mark Watson
Waters Green Weavers 165 165 Harrington Academicals
Alan Gilday
Graham Bailey
Ian Grieve
36
36
36
42 Dave Partington

Table

  Played Won Drawn Lost Total Points
Dolphin 4 3 0 1 667 6
Nags Head 'B' 3 3 0 0 485 6
Queens of the Castle 3 2 0 1 552 4
Nags Head 3 1 0 2 433 2
Poachers 2 1 0 1 329 2
Dolphin Hammers 2 1 0 1 303 2
Harrington Academicals 4 0 1 3 643 1
Waters Green Weavers 3 0 1 2 469 1

Individual Top Ten

  Team Played Total Highest Lowest Week 4
Alan Hodgson Dolphin 4 198 54 42 51
Peter McBride Dolphin 4 162 51 33 33
Rob Parkin Harrington Academicals 4 156 48 33 36
Alice Walker Queens of the Castle 3 153 60 42 42
Haydn Thompson Queens of the Castle 3 150 57 42 51
Dave Partington Harrington Academicals 4 150 45 27 42
Alan James Harrington Academicals 4 135 36 33 33
Ian Grieve Waters Green Weavers 3 117 48 33 36
Neil Drummond Nags Head 3 105 48 27 30
Alan Gilday Waters Green Weavers 3 105 45 24 36

B League

Results

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

Pack Horse Bowling Club 97 145 Park Taverners
Tim Bloor 21 36 Graham Wallace
Sutton Club 122 118 Waters Green Nags
John Green 27 33 Ian Musgrave
Chester Road Tavern 107 113 Bate Hallers
Mitch Moores 27 24 Anne Jeater

Table

  Played Won Drawn Lost Total Points
Park Taverners 3 3 0 0 436 6
Bate Hallers 3 3 0 0 343 6
Waters Green Nags 3 2 0 1 449 4
Chester Road Tavern 3 2 0 1 413 4
Sutton Club 3 2 0 1 407 4
Sutton Mutton 3 0 0 3 370 0
Park Timers 3 0 0 3 360 0
Pack Horse Bowling Club 3 0 0 3 306 0

Individual Top Ten

  Team Played Total Highest Lowest Week 4
Paul Prior Waters Green Nags 3 111 42 30 30
Ian Musgrave Waters Green Nags 3 105 48 24 33
Tony Moores Chester Road Tavern 3 102 51 21  
Shauna Barstow Park Taverners 3 96 42 21 33
Graham Wallace Park Taverners 3 96 36 27 36
Anne Jeater Bate Hallers 3 93 39 24 24
John Poyser Park Timers 3 84 33 24  
Heather Wallace Park Taverners 2 81 51 30 30
Simon Rumsey Sutton Club 3 81 39 15 15
Wynne Keith–Davies Sutton Mutton 3 81 36 15  

Cars & Van 4U Question Setters' Trophy

  Week   Setters Difficulty Balance Ent'ment Total Last Yr
1 1 GK Nags Head 'B' 10.00 9.42 7.16 26.58 21.64
2 2 Spec Sutton Club 5.44 8.53 6.50 20.63 21.98
3 4 Spec Dolphin Hammers 4.48 8.39 6.17 19.04 11.27
4 3 Spec Queens of the Castle 3.45 9.08 5.50 18.03 16.72
5 2 GK Sutton Club 3.79 7.50 6.50 17.87 20.28
6 1 Spec Nags Head 'B' 9.29 0.00 7.25 16.54 19.80
7 3 GK Queens of the Castle 3.15 4.76 5.75 13.67 13.47
8 4 GK Dolphin Hammers 2.89 4.39 5.16 12.44 20.60

This week's questions seem to have been slightly easier than last week's: on average, teams scored 94% of their average scores since the start of last season, compared to 93% last week. The General Knowledge were harder than the Specialists, whose Difficulty mark was just below average.

According to the spreadsheet, the Specialists were also better balanced than the General Knowledge. The Specialist questions seem to have favoured the teams going second, who scored 96% of their average scores compared with 91% for those going first. But in the General Knowledge there was a bigger advantage the other way round – the teams going first (second in the Specialists) scored only 87%, while those going second (first in the Specialists) scored 101%. Overall, the teams that went first in the Specialists scored 97% of their average scores, while those going second scored 91%.

It's no surprise then that the Specialist questions went down better than the General Knowledge – a score of 6.17 putting them fifth (out of eight) in the table. The General knowledge scored 5.16, which is the lowest score so far this season and would have put them 28th (out of 36) last season.

Overall, the Dolphin Hammers' Specialist questions are in a creditable third place so far this season, but the General Knowledge have the lowest score so far.

For the full spreadsheet, please click here.

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