News and Views: 2017–18 Season – Week 16 – 13 March 2018

By Haydn Thompson, with input from Mark Watson.

Results

There were some very close games this week, and a couple of very one–sided ones. Of the nine games, five were won and lost by 8 points or fewer, while one ended with a margin of 51 points and one with 45 points.

Six games were won by the teams going "first first", and three went the other way. The three teams that won by going "second first" were the Dolphin Dragons, the Sutton Mutton and the Chester Road Tavern.

One of the less extreme margins of victory was the Weaver's victory over the Dolphin by 160 points to 137. Also in the A League, the Ox–fford 'C' lost for only the second time this season, to the Church House Bollington.

The two biggest victories came in the B League, where the Royal Oak beat the Nags Head by 171 to 120 and the Waters Green Lemmings beat the Plough Horntails by 167 to 122.

In the C League, the Chester Road Tavern achieved only their second victory of the season, over the Cock Inn.

Tables

Congratulations to the Sutton Mutton, who secured promotion with victory over the Prince of Wales. If they win their last two games, the Mutton might just snatch the C League title from the Park Taverners – but one win will almost certainly do it for the Taverners.

In the A League, victories for the Weaver, the Church House Bollington and the Dolphin Dragons secured the top flight places of the first two, while the Dragons need just one point from their last two matches to guarantee their safety. This leaves both the British Flag and the Wharfies in the Last Chance saloon; but as they play each other in the final game, a victory for either of them in Week 17 would mean that the Dragons might well need that point.

The B League relegation issues were finalised last week, and now only three teams can be promoted. As the Nags Head are third and have only one game left to play (and are a bit short on match points), the Royal Oak and the Waters Green Rams are looking like hot favourites.

Individual

Top scorer this week was Ashton Davies with 48. The only other score of over 40 was by Graham Bailey. There were 11 personal bests and 16 personal worsts (or equal worsts). Eight of the personal worsts, and only two of the personal bests, came in the A League.

In the individual tables, movements are unpredictable now as nearly everyone has played at least eleven games. The most significant change this week was that Alasdair Reid drew level on total points with Keith Pointon (in the B League), and went above him by virtue of a better top score. After next week, Keith will know exactly what he needs to do in the final game as the Nags Head don't play in Week 18.

In the C League, Wynne Keith–Davies is in a fairly strong position but could still be caught by either Graham Wallace or Shauna Barstow. Meanwhile in the A League, Mark Watson is looking stronger every week as he attempts to haul back Haydn Thompson's lead.

A League

Results

Table

Individual Top Ten

B League

Results

Table

Individual Top Ten

C League

Results

Table

Individual Top Ten

Cars & Vans 4U Question Setters' Trophy

For the full spreadsheet, please click here.

Both sets of questions sit solidly in the middle of the Entertainment table, and both scored fairly well for Difficulty. The difference between them was in their Balance scores.

According to the spreadsheet, the Specialist questions (set by the Harrington Academicals) showed a slight bias towards the teams that went first – 102% to 97%. In the General Knowledge (set by the Park Taverners), the bias was towards the same teams and a lot more pronounced: 107% to 93%. Overall there was a significant bias in favour of the teams that went "first first": 105% to 95%. This means that teams going "first first" scored on average 105% of their average scores over the season, while those going "second first" scored 95%. On an average team score of 149, this makes an overall difference of 15 points – potentially quite significant in view of the number of close games this week.

Last week I said that "Assuming [the Ox–fford's Specialist questions and the Park Timers' General Knowledge set] remain in close competition until the end of the season, maybe we should declare it a draw, and each team should keep the trophy for six months!" Of course we should not assume any such thing; although these two sets will no doubt remain in close competition with each other, we still have four sets to go this season and there is still time for one or more other contenders to take pole position in the race for the Cars&Vans 4U Trophy.

© Macclesfield Quiz League 2018