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News & Views
2018–19 Season
Week 16

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A League
B League
C League
Cars & Vans 4U Trophy

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News and Views: 2018–19 Season – Week 16 – 12 March 2019

By Haydn Thompson, with input from Mark Watson.

Cancelled Games

In Week 11 (29 January), two games were called off due to concerns about the weather:

Rushton Diamonds v. Waters Green Lemmings
Cock Inn v. Robin Hood

Neither the Lemmings nor the Cock felt it was safe to travel (the second game was due to be played at the Robin Hood). The League points were therefore awarded to the Diamonds and the Robin Hood.

In the B League, the Diamonds are pushing for promotion, while the Lemmings are in some danger of relegation; and there is a chance that either or both of these issues may be affected by the number of match points scored by the teams involved.

In the C League, the Robin Hood are already confirmed as champions and the Cock Inn's League position is unlikely to be affected in any meaningful way. Even so, in order to be strictly fair to all parties, the Committee has decided that the teams at whose request the matches were called off should be awarded the average scores for losing teams on that night in their respective divisions, and the other two teams should be awarded the average scores for the winning teams.

Match scores were not high in Week 11. The points awarded are as follows: Rushton Diamonds 129, Robin Hood 103, Waters Green Lemmings 114, Cock Inn 98. These points have been included in the League tables published below.

Results

The League's only unbeaten record is no more, after the Chester Road Tavern's victory over the Robin Hood. Sympathy is due to the Robin, but this result must be all the sweeter for the CRT after they lost to the same opposition in the Plate competition back in January.

Also in the C League, the Brewers Arms were denied a fourth consecutive victory (against the Harrington 'B') by just four points. This was particularly unfortunate for the Brewers, as they were only able to field three players this week.

It was in Week 7 that the A and B Leagues' last unbeaten records came to an end, and both of those results were repeated in the reverse fixtures this time around: the Dolphin losing to the Waters Green Rams and the Harrington Academicals to the British Flag.

Like the Brewers, the Dolphin are perhaps entitled to consider themselves a tad unfortunate, as both of the Rams' victories were by just a single point.

Tables

The Dolphin's defeat means that they are unable to catch the Ox–fford, so the A League trophy will reside at the 73 and Pizza for the next twelve months. At the other end of the table, the Royal Oak's defeat has in all likelihood done little to improve the Dolphin Dragons' chances of A League survival.

The B League title is still up for grabbing by either the British Flag, Rushton Diamonds or Harrington Academicals, but the Nags Head have only a slim hope of taking the second promotion spot (especially as the Diamonds and Academicals play each other this week). A quick glance at the table might suggest that the Nags are not mathematically clear of relegation yet, but the fixture list means that they are in fact safe whatever happens.

In the C League, any one of the Park Timers, Chester Road Tavern or Sutton Club can still join the Robin Hood in promotion. There are also three candidates for the wooden spoon, and there's every chance that it might come down to the match between the Cock Inn and the Brewers Arms in Week 18.

Individual

Top scorer this week was Scott Dawson with 54. This was only Scott's fourth game of the season, and he has a very healthy average of 48 points.

Batting second in the team that went "first first", Scott got a full house in the General Knowledge questions; the two he didn't get were in Specialist rounds 5 and 7 (Two Wheels and Science: the Triumph motorbike named after the American speed test place, and the fabric obtained from the Angora goat.)

Special mention should also be made of Jim Moores's 45, which helped the Chester Road Tavern to become the first team to beat the Robin Hood this season (in the League). This equals Jim's All Time Personal Best (ATPB), which he last scored in the 2006-7 season.

In the A League there were two 48s (Mark Watson and Alan Hodgson), and three 45s (Graham Bailey, Ashton Davies and Peter McBride). Top scorer in the B League was Alasdair Reid with 42.

There were eleven personal bests this week, and fourteen people failed to better their lowest scores of the season.

A League

Results

Ox–fford 171 156 Royal Oak
Mark Watson 48 36 Rosalie James
Weaver 159 170 Church House Bollington
Graham Bailey 45 45
33
33
Ashton Davies
John Hargreaves (pb
Bob Gratton
Dolphin 167 168 Waters Green Rams
Alan Hodgson
Peter McBride
Derek Owen (pb)
48
45
24
54
33
33
Scott Dawson (pb)
David Reynolds (pb)
Keith Pointon

Table

Played Won Drawn Lost Total Points
Ox–fford 13 9 1 3 2073 19
Ox–fford 'C' 12 8 1 3 2018 17
Church House Bollington 13 7 0 6 2085 14
Dolphin 12 7 0 5 1904 14
Weaver 13 6 0 7 2120 12
Royal Oak 13 6 0 7 1990 12
Dolphin Dragons 12 4 0 8 1743 8
Waters Green Rams 12 2 0 10 1708 4

Individual Top Ten

Team Played Total Highest Lowest Week 16
Mark Watson Ox–fford 11 546 57 36 48
Alice Walker Ox–fford 'C' 12 498 54 33  
Ashton Davies Church House Bollington 13 495 57 39 45
Alan Hodgson Dolphin 11 486 51 36 48
Haydn Thompson Ox–fford 'C' 12 468 51 33  
Peter McBride Dolphin 12 468 48 33 45
Graham Bailey Weaver 12 423 48 30 45
Alan Gilday Weaver 13 411 48 30 27
Ed Baron Church House Bollington 12 402 45 30 30
Keith Pointon Waters Green Rams 12 393 45 27 33

B League

Results

Waters Green Lemmings 141 107 Sutton Mutton
Bob Langstaff
Nick Peck
Jon Thompson
24
24
24
24 Mike Proctor
Nags Head 148 156 Park Taverners
Alasdair Reid (pb) 42 33
33
30
Graham Wallace
Nick Crowdy
Pete Dykstra (pb)
Rushton Diamonds 165 135 Plough Horntails
Brian Bogie
Neil Scott (pb)
39
36
30
30
Dave McGuinness
Malcolm Asquith
British Flag 155 135 Harrington Academicals
Geoff Shaw (pb)
Neil Drummond
36
36
36 Rob Parkin

Table

Played Won Drawn Lost Total Points
British Flag 13 9 0 4 1943 18
Rushton Diamonds 13 9 0 4 1882 18
Harrington Academicals 12 8 0 4 1790 16
Nags Head 12 7 0 5 1845 14
Plough Horntails 13 6 0 7 1762 12
Park Taverners 13 5 0 8 1758 10
Waters Green Lemmings 12 5 0 7 1584 10
Sutton Mutton 12 1 0 11 1440 2

Individual Top Ten

Team Played Total Highest Lowest Week 16
Dave Partington Harrington Academicals 11 390 45 18 30
Rob Parkin Harrington Academicals 11 384 42 27 36
Graham Wallace Park Taverners 12 372 45 27 33
Wynne Keith–Davies Sutton Mutton 12 372 45 21 21
Brian Bogie Rushton Diamonds 10 366 45 24 39
Phil Davies British Flag 11 354 48 15 27
Art Higham Rushton Diamonds 11 354 45 24 33
Andrew Wright Nags Head 10 339 48 27 27
Malcolm Asquith Plough Horntails 12 336 39 27 30
Anne Jeater Plough Horntails 13 336 39 24 24

C League

Results

Harrington 'B' 128 124 Brewers Arms
Tom Aindow (pb)
Martin Biss
John Green
24
24
24
33 Andy Ridgway
Robin Hood 137 146 Chester Road Tavern
Jim Kennelly 36 45
27
Jim Moores (pb)
Chris Moores (pb)
Sutton Club 147 92 Cock Inn
Wendy Brown 30 30 Jackie Hulme

Table

Played Won Drawn Lost Total Points
Robin Hood 12 11 0 1 1680 22
Park Timers 13 7 1 5 1588 15
Chester Road Tavern 13 7 0 6 1611 14
Sutton Club 12 7 0 5 1514 14
Harrington 'B' 13 6 0 7 1551 12
Pack Horse Bowling Club 13 4 1 8 1521 9
Cock Inn 12 4 0 8 1386 8
Brewers Arms 12 3 0 9 1438 6

Individual Top Ten

Team Played Total Highest Lowest Week 16
John Green Harrington 'B' 11 321 39 18 24
Jim Kennelly Robin Hood 8 309 48 33 36
John Poyser Park Timers 12 291 36 18  
Wendy Brown Sutton Club 11 285 33 6 30
Andrew Fenton Park Timers 13 279 36 18  
Trisha Ridgway Brewers Arms 11 279 36 15 30
Andy Ridgway Brewers Arms 10 270 45 18 33
Jackie Hulme Cock Inn 11 267 42 9 30
Chris Butler Sutton Club 11 267 30 18 27
Mitch Moores Chester Road Tavern 12 252 30 12 24

Cars & Vans 4U Question Setters' Trophy

For the full spreadsheet, please click here.

  Week   Setters Difficulty Balance Ent'ment Total Last Yr
1 1 GK Ox–fford 9.89 8.11 7.22 25.22 17.22
2 1 Spec Ox–fford 10.00 5.80 7.17 22.97 24.69
3 16 Spec Pack Horse Bowling Club 7.48 7.67 6.51 21.66 14.96
4 2 GK Dolphin Dragons 6.40 9.01 6.22 21.63 17.65
5 5 GK Sutton Club 7.92 6.97 6.33 21.22 19.98
6 14 GK Dolphin 5.79 9.16 5.78 20.73 13.17
7 7 GK Ox–fford 'C' 10.00 4.30 6.26 20.56 19.10
8 8 Spec Park Taverners 7.11 6.57 6.72 20.40 (11.45)
9 3 GK Plough Horntails 6.34 7.71 5.51 19.56 8.76
10 9 GK Rushton Diamonds 5.78 7.65 5.39 18.82 14.14
11 9 Spec Park Timers 9.92 1.44 7.00 18.36 (23.61)
12 2 Spec Dolphin Dragons 5.66 6.24 6.22 18.12 20.42
13 13 GK Cock Inn 7.60 4.93 5.56 18.09 7.42
14 3 Spec Plough Horntails 2.35 9.87 5.76 17.98
15 4 Spec Waters Green Rams 3.17 9.36 5.39 17.92
16 15 GK Waters Green Lemmings 4.13 7.89 4.57 16.59 12.70
17 13 Spec Harrington Academicals 7.32 3.01 5.83 16.16 18.04
18 7 Spec Ox–fford 'C' 2.10 7.95 5.87 15.91 12.56
19 10 GK Robin Hood 4.71 7.28 3.89 15.88 (14.01)
20 10 Spec Nags Head 1.39 8.13 5.50 15.02 (7.83)
21 4 GK Waters Green Rams 7.88 1.83 5.22 14.93 18.84
22 5 Spec British Flag 5.47 2.58 6.72 14.77 24.61
23 8 GK Chester Road Tavern 6.01 2.86 5.67 14.54 13.96
24 6 GK Harrington 'B' 5.05 3.22 5.32 13.59 (16.23)
25 6 Spec Waters Green Lemmings 2.86 4.89 4.97 12.72 14.47
26 16 GK Pack Horse Bowling Club 5.92 0.00 5.96 11.88
27 12 Spec Church House Bollington 0.33 6.38 5.10 11.81 17.13
28 12 GK Church House Bollington 1.94 4.86 4.82 11.62 14.74
29 15 Spec Harrington 'B' 3.08 1.21 5.50 9.79 16.23
30 11 Spec Sutton Mutton 0.00 5.90 3.17 9.07 11.5
31 11 GK Brewers Arms 0.00 3.85 3.89 7.74 (11.16)
32 14 Spec Dolphin 2.36 0.00 5.22 7.58 7.84

Not for the first time this season, it was a game of two halves for this week's questions – all of which were set by the Pack Horse Bowling Club.

Both sets scored well enough for Entertainment – the Specialists being in sixth place (out of 32) and the General Knowledge in twelfth. For Difficulty, the Specialists scored well (teams scoring on average 109% of their average scores) and the General Knowledge are in mid–table with an average score of exactly 100%.

It was on Balance that the two sets diverged. The Specialists were quite well balanced, according to the spreadsheet, but with a slight bias in favour of the teams that went first, who averaged 111% of their average scores while those going second averaged 107%. This gave the Pack Horse's Specialist questions an excellent total score of 21.66, putting them third in the current table – behind only the Ox–fford's two sets.

Unfortunately the spreadsheet detected a heavy bias in the General Knowledge questions, towards the teams that went first (second in the Specialists). The teams that went "second first" scored on average 108% of their average scores, while those going "first first" averaged only 91%.

Overall, according to the spreadsheet, there was a distinct bias towards the teams that went "second first": 108% to 99%. On an average team score of 140, this would have made a difference of 12 or 13 points. This may potentially have affected the results of one game in each division.

© Macclesfield Quiz League 2019