News and Views: 2023–4 Season, Week 9 – 30 January 2024

Results and Tables

Scores this week were slightly above average, with the Poachers and the Queens of the Castle just failing to reach the elusive double century. Their respective scores of 199 and 198 were the highest since the opening week of the season, when the Queens scored 222.

Second played third in the B League, and the Park Taverners got the better of the Bate Hallers, who slipped to fourth on goal difference as the Sutton Club beat the Park Timers by 143 points to 134. There was no change in the bottom four places; the Sutton Mutton put up a good showing against the Waters Green Nags, but not good enough to beat the leaders, and the Chester Road Tavern recorded their first victory since Week 2.

There was no movement at all in the A League, where the bottom two teams weren't playing and the top three all won against those in mid–table.

Individual

Alice Walker just failed to notch an unprecedented second full house (of the season) this week, scoring 57. The one she didn't get was the King George VI Chase (Kempton Park). Alan Hodgson scored 51, and there were four people on 48. In total, ten people (out of 24) in the A League scored over 40.

Top scorer in the B League was Shauna Barstow with 39, while Anne Jeater and Ian Musgrave each got 36. Nine people (out of 32) in the B League scored 30 or over.

There were 15 personal bests this week – seven in the A League and eight in the B League – and only four people failed to beat their lowest scores of the season so far.

Five of the personal bests (as well as Alice's 57) were registered by people in Seat 2 – first on the side that went "second first". Three were in Seat 3, two in Seat 5, one in Seat 6 (well done Dave Cooper), and two each in Seats 7 and 8. There were no personal bests in Seats 1 or 4.

Questions

... were set by the Waters Green Weavers. They seem to have been well received, with no issues mentioned on the Forum. The vetters (Harrington Academicals) apparently found the final draft "hard but fair", so the Weavers' captain (Ian Grieve) did some reworking to produce a set that most teams found to be friendly enough.

The spreadsheet also judged them to be slightly easier than average, and the overall balance was good – the teams that started second doing just slightly better than their opponents (compared to average scores).

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

For the full list of A League individual half–way scores, please click here.

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

For the full list of B League individual half–way scores, please click here.

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.

Nags Head vs. Queens of the Castle

Dolphin vs. Nags Head 'B'

Poachers vs. Dolphin Hammers

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.

Pack Horse Bowling Club vs. Chester Road Tavern

Park Taverners vs. Bate Hallers

Sutton Club vs. Park Timers

Waters Green Nags vs. Sutton Mutton

Cars & Van 4U Question Setters' Trophy

We are now half way through the 2023–4 season, and this is the stage at which we forget about last season's scores and just take this season into account. This often brings about some significant changes in the rankings, and this season it has meant a change at the top: the Park Taverners' Specialist questions have gone above the Nags Head 'B''s General Knowledge. It may or may not be some consolation to the Nags 'B' to know that their Specialist set has gone above the two that were previously above it – the Sutton Club's General Knowledge and the Queens of the Castle's Specialists. Otherwise there are only a couple of slight readjustments.

This week's questions, set by the Waters Green Weavers, have come in at a very creditable fourth and ninth place (Specialist and General Knowledge respectively). Both sets were just slightly easier than average and got good marks for Entertainment; the difference (according to the spreadsheet) was in the Balance, where the Specialists were very good but the General Knowledge only average.

In the Specialist questions the teams that went first scored on average 104% of their averages, while those that went second scored 102%. In the General Knowledge, the teams that went first (second in the Specialists) did better – scoring 108% compared with 101%. Overall, the teams that went first in the Specialists scored 102% and those that went second scored 106%.

On an average team score of 151, this could have made a difference of about six points. But only three of the seven games were won by the teams that started second, and the smallest winning margin in those three games was 35. It's therefore most unlikely that any results were affected by the apparent slight imbalance in the questions.

For the full spreadsheet, please click here.

© Macclesfield Quiz League 2024