News and Views: 2022–3 Season – Week 6 – 3 January 2023

Results

Six of the seven games this week were won by the home teams; and probably more pertinently, six of the seven were won by the teams that went "first first". The only team to win "against the odds" were the Dolphin, who came out victors over the Nags Head.

All four results in the B League were quite close – none being decided by more than 13 points. Closest of all was the Sutton Club's victory over the Plough Horntails, by 129 points to 127.

One of the three remaining unbeaten records was dashed this week, as the Queens scored a narrow victory over the Poachers. This leaves the Nags Head 'B' as the only team in the A League with a 100% record, while the only unbeaten team in the B League – Dolphin Hammers – didn't play.

The Chester Road Tavern enjoyed their first win of the season, over the Pack Horse Bowling Club.

Tables

The Poachers now lead the Nags Head 'B' only on goal difference, and the Nags have a game in hand. The Queens swapped places with the Harrington Academicals, who also didn't play, and the Dolphin moved ahead of the Waters Green Weavers with a victory over the Nags Head.

The Dolphin Hammers remain on top of the B League despite not playing this week, but their lead was cut to two points by victories for the Waters Green Nags and the Sutton Club. The narrow victory for the latter over the Plough Horntails (see above) saw the Horntails slip from second to fifth.

Individual

Top scorer this week was Haydn Thompson with 48. There were two scores of 45 in the B League, for Paul Prior and Nick Crowdy, and in the A League, Ashton Davies, Mark Watson and Alan Hodgson all scored 42.

Nick Crowdy's 45 deserves a special mention; Nick has been a regular reserve for the Taverners for quite a few years now, but according to our records his highest previous score was 36.

The top three places in the A League table are unchanged from last week. Mark Watson returns to the Top Ten in seventh place (with a game in hand on most of those above him), while Ian Tams makes a first appearance of the season.

In the B League, Paul Prior moved above Shauna Barstow into first place, and Ian Musgrave moved up from fifth to second (above Shauna only by virtue of his higher highest score).

Questions

The Dolphin Hammers' questions scored quite well – particularly the General Knowledge, which are in second place in the Cars & Vans 4U Trophy table. The Entertainment marks suggest that there weren't too many problems; there are however a few comments on the Forum, suggesting issues with a couple of individual questions.

A League

Results

Table

Individual Top Ten

B League

Results

Table

Individual Top Ten

Cars & Van 4U Question Setters' Trophy

The Dolphin Hammers' questions were of pretty much average difficulty (according to the spreadsheet), and both sets received a decent score for Entertainment. The General Knowledge set was quite well balanced, and the only real criticism this week is that the Specialists showed a significant bias towards the teams that went "first first".

Those teams scored 110% of their average Specialist totals, compared to their opponents' 97%. This was counterbalanced somewhat by the General Knowledge, where the teams that went "second first" scored 103% while their opponents' scores were exactly average (100%).

It was mainly the Balance score that put the General Knowledge questions in second place – albeit some distance behind the General Knowledge set from Week 1. Conversely, it was the Balance score that let down this week's Specialist questions, which are placed in "lower mid–table".

On an average team score of 142, the overall balance of 105% to the teams going "first first" and 101 to "second first" may have made a difference of five or six points. There were a couple of games in the B League that may have been affected, but as ever we should emphasise that this is not an exact science.

For the full spreadsheet, please click here.

© Macclesfield Quiz League 2023