News and Views: 2023–4 Season, Week 14 – 12 March 2024

Results

Five of the six matches were won by the teams that went first in the Specialist questions. There was a great variety in the margins of victory. One match in the B League was won by 56 points, and one by 46, while one in the A League was won by 31 points; but one in the A League was settled by only two points and one in the B League by just a single point.

The comfortable winners were the Sutton Club and the Waters Green Nags in the B League, and the Nags Head 'B' in the A League. Those that won less convincingly were the Dolphin Hammers (by two points over the Queens of the Castle) and the Chester Road Tavern (one point over the Park Timers).

The only team to win by going second in the Specialist questions was the Poachers.

The Poachers found themselves eight points down to the Nags Head with four rounds to go, but they won those four rounds by 42 points to 22, to win the match by a margin of twelve points. There was a similar pattern at the Dolphin, where the Hammers led by 30 points after 16 of the 20 rounds. The Queens of the Castle pulled back 28 points in the last four (45–17), but fell short by just two points.

Tables

Waters Green Nags increased their lead at the top of the B League table to six points. With a healthy advantage in goal difference, and only three games to play, the Nags are now virtually assured of the B League title.

In the A League, the Nags Head 'B' and the Poachers opened the gap to the Dolphin (who didn't play) in third place to four points.

The only actual movement in either table was between third and fourth in the B League, where the Sutton Club swapped places with the Bate Hallers (who also didn't play).

Individual

The top scorers this week were Dave Barber, Alice Walker, Laurence Plant and Ian Musgrave, all with 48. This was at least an equal personal best for all of them except (you–know–who). The only other scores over 40 were for Greg Spiller (45) and Ian Grieve (42).

There was no movement at the business end of the Top Tens in either league, but at the top of the A League table, Alice Walker played the game she had in hand over Alan Hodgson and closed the gap to 15 points. This is still a useful lead however, as both have now played eleven games. In the B League, Paul Prior has played 11 games, while his team–mate Ian Musgrave has only played ten and will have a chance to reduce the 33–point gap, next time he plays.

There were eight personal bests – the same as last week – three in the A League and five in the B League. Seven of them were by people on the teams that started first. There were two personal bests in seats 1, 3 and 5, one each in seats 7 and 8 ... and none in any of seats 2, 4 or 6.

Five people failed to better their lowest scores of the season.

If your total accumulated score doesn't increase by as much as you expected next week, it's probably because you've played twelve games and only eleven of them will count.

Questions

Last season the Sutton Mutton's Specialist questions had an alcoholic theme throughout, and there were more than a few questions on the same theme in the General Knowledge. This went down well; the Specialists scored 6.21 for Entertainment, which – combined with strong scores for Difficulty and Balance – saw them in 9th place (out of 36) in the Question Setters' Trophy table come the end of the season.

This season, the Mutton clearly aimed to repeat that success. Round 1 was entitled The Fairer Sex, and the other seven Specialist rounds continued in that vein. About 60 of the 96 General Knowledge questions were also about women, and to my mind, about 40 of them could be said to be about female achievements and/or feminist issues.

This was a laudable effort no doubt, but it seems to have proved too much for most teams (including, I think it's fair to say, at least two of the three in which the sexes were equally represented). The questions scored only 3.75 and 3.67 for Entertainment, putting them 25th and 26th (out of 28) in the table of that measure.

It probably didn't help that the Specialist questions seemed to be heavily biased in favour of the teams that went first, and this was borne out by the fact that (as already reported) five of the six matches were won by those teams.

A League – Summary

Results

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

Table

Individual Top Ten

B League – Summary

Results

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

Table

Individual Top Ten

A League – Full Results

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

Poachers vs. Nags Head

Dolphin Hammers vs. Queens of the Castle

Nags Head 'B' vs. Waters Green Weavers

B League – Full Results

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

Sutton Club vs. Pack Horse Bowling club

Waters Green Nags vs. Park Taverners

Park Timers vs. Chester Road Tavern

Cars & Van 4U Question Setters' Trophy

As already mentioned, there was a female theme running through the Sutton Mutton's Specialist questions, and also to a slightly lesser extent in the General Knowledge. This proved too much for most teams (as the Forum bears out), and neither set went down well; in the Entertainment table they are 25th and 26th (out of 28). But they did each get one good mark: most teams scored well in the Specialists (giving a good mark for Difficulty), and according to the spreadsheet the General Knowledge were very well balanced – the teams that went first (second in the Specialists) scoring on average 96%, while their opponents scored 97%.

This also earned the General Knowledge questions a reasonable mark for Difficulty. But ... the Specialists scored zero for Balance. They appeared to be heavily biased in favour of the teams that went first – who scored on average 120% of their average scores, while those that went second scored only 91%. It's hard to avoid the conclusion that this was a major factor in five of the six games being won by the teams that started first (one by a single point, and one by only two).

For the full spreadsheet, please click here.

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