Watching the detectives - Sussex take the lead
Another interesting, and very testing, quiz set challenged the President’s Cup teams this week. It seems the Ormskirk league are very fond of television police series…and their questions felt like murder to some of the contestants.
For the second successive round, it was Sussex who achieved the best score of the day and their victory takes them to the top of the league. They led from the start against a three-man Oxford team who had only the tiny consolation of winning the last round.
Scores were low in the other matches. A venue switch did not help Cambridge against London. Cambridge scored more two-point answers but the champions had more answers in general and stretched their lead in the closing stages.
The Mastermind Club left it late in their match against Beds & Herts. After six rounds the two counties led by a point but an impressive 14 point haul from the last two rounds (round seven was generally found to be the kindest this week) brought the home team the spoils.
Sussex now have a two point lead in the league table with no less than four teams on level pegging behind them. The last set of matches before the Christmas break will take place on Sunday November 29th.
| Pos | Pre | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | Avg | 2s | Pts | Form |
| 1 | 2 (+1) | Sussex | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 158 | 117 | 41 | 39.50 | 39 | 6 | LWWW |
| 2 | 4 (+2) | Mastermind Club | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 150 | 148 | 2 | 37.50 | 48 | 4 | WLLW |
| 3 | 1 (-2) | Beds & Herts | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 136 | 137 | -1 | 34.00 | 38 | 4 | WLWL |
| 4 | 5 (+1) | London | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 140 | 128 | 12 | 35.00 | 35 | 4 | LWLW |
| 5 | 6 (+1) | Cambridge | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 108 | 154 | -46 | 27.00 | 30 | 2 | LLWL |
| Cambridge | 24 - 32 | London |
| Mick Lancaster 10 Robert Willer 10 |
| Mastermind Club | 35 - 29 | Beds & Herts |
| Gavin Fuller 14 Mark Grant 11 | Fred Filby 19 |
| Sussex | 43 - 21 | Oxford |
| Olav Bjortomt 15 Paul Sinha 13 | Mike Billson 11 |
| Pos | Table | P | W | D | L | Avg | B | Pts |
| 1 | West London | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 47.50 | 5 | 33 |
| 2 | North London | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 46.13 | 1 | 21 |
| 3 | Outer London | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 41.25 | 2 | 18 |
| 4 | Central London | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 44.13 | 3 | 17 |
| 5 | South London | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 36.50 | 0 | 10 |
| 6 | East London | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 37.00 | 0 | 8 |
| Pos | Division 1 | P | W | D | L | Avg | B | Pts |
| 1 | Broken Hearts (C) | 20 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 52.90 | 14 | 84 |
| 2 | Pericardium | 20 | 16 | 2 | 2 | 50.95 | 9 | 77 |
| 3 | Nomads | 20 | 14 | 2 | 4 | 50.15 | 12 | 72 |
| 4 | Atletico | 20 | 13 | 1 | 6 | 47.85 | 8 | 62 |
| 5 | Allsorts | 20 | 12 | 1 | 7 | 47.35 | 4 | 54 |
| 6 | Old Itonians | 20 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 45.55 | 9 | 53 |
| 7 | Telstars | 20 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 42.00 | 5 | 37 |
| 8 | Barb | 20 | 5 | 1 | 14 | 38.70 | 5 | 27 |
| 9 | Pineapple | 20 | 4 | 1 | 15 | 37.65 | 4 | 22 |
| 10 | Waterloo Sunset | 20 | 3 | 0 | 17 | 37.40 | 1 | 13 |
| 11 | Five Bells | 20 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 38.10 | 1 | 11 |
| Pos | Division 2 | P | W | D | L | Avg | B | Pts |
| 1 | Gray Monks (W) | 20 | 17 | 0 | 3 | 48.75 | 9 | 77 |
| 2 | Banana Splits | 20 | 15 | 2 | 3 | 43.65 | 3 | 67 |
| 3 | Rosslyn Park | 20 | 13 | 0 | 7 | 39.85 | 5 | 57 |
| 4 | Eclectics | 20 | 12 | 1 | 7 | 40.80 | 4 | 54 |
| 5 | Accies | 20 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 38.25 | 3 | 51 |
| 6 | Sons of the Dessert | 20 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 39.40 | 6 | 48 |
| 7 | Mealy Bugs | 20 | 9 | 0 | 11 | 39.10 | 4 | 40 |
| 8 | Ovalytes | 20 | 8 | 1 | 11 | 38.20 | 4 | 38 |
| 9 | Outcasts | 20 | 5 | 1 | 14 | 34.05 | 7 | 29 |
| 10 | Wharfside | 20 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 29.70 | 2 | 14 |
| 11 | London Scottish | 20 | 3 | 0 | 17 | 29.90 | 1 | 13 |
| Pos | Table | P | W | D | L | 2s | Pts |
| 1 | Sussex | 10 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 117 | 16 |
| 2 | Mastermind Club | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 122 | 11 |
| 3 | Oxford | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 81 | 11 |
| 4 | London | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 103 | 8 |
| 5 | Beds & Herts | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 94 | 8 |
| 6 | Cambridge | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 89 | 6 |