THE KRAKEN WAKES

THE KRAKEN WAKES

The Macmillan Quiz lumbered back into life in the last few days,

with a Cup final postponed from May

and World Matchplay Darts,

similar enough in format to replace fairly the cancelled October darts question.

Quiz HQ has been lucky enough to tempt back two of our favourite writers,

Nigel Anderton, the Blackburn Cardus and Neil Southwood, Cub Reporter.

Three events have been decided since the last was published back in April.

Chris Ellis has surged into the lead,

bringing joy back to Nottingham after a Forest stumble before the play-offs

and County missing out on a return to the League.

To find the full table and your mini leagues,

you will need to visit Webmaster Henry’s pride and joy

www.snedsquiz.net

And who knows about the future of the 2020 quiz

in a world that may see a coup in the United States in November.

I’m fairly certain of the European football,

snooker is on after the first day crowd had been kicked out

and the US Open tennis is still on despite the absence of many stars.

Hope you are all safe and feeling like Boris on one of his more chipper days

(shaking hands, squashing the sombrero, whacking the mole, over by Christmas,

be like my mate Dom and follow your instincts.)

NIGEL ANDERTON WRITES ” As in 2017, Arsenal overcame their London rivals Chelsea 2-1 to win the FA Cup for a record 14^th time. The match, played at an empty, eerie Wembley Stadium was always interesting though marred by injuries to Chelsea players.

Mr Taylor the referee confirmed why English referees are no longer invited to take part in World Cup Tournaments; it’s because they are so often very poor.(Insert your own epithet after a season of VAR horror.) Most notable was Mr Taylor’s decision to send off Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic, deceived by the theatrics of Granit Xhaka.

An Arsenal victory looked unlikely in the first twenty minutes. Chelsea were in control with high pressing repeatedly winning them the ball and their clever passing movements creating chances. Pulisic’s excellent goal confirmed their dominance and you feared for Arsenal. After the first drinks break however, Arsenal began to come back into the match and when Aubameyang went down under Azpilicueta’s challenge he made no mistake from the resulting penalty.

Chelsea had lost their initial fluency and Arsenal grew in confidence. With Azpilicueta and then Pulisic leaving the field injured, Arsenal began to seize the initiative and took the lead with an outstanding finish from Aubameyang who twisted past Zouma before deceiving Caballero with a deft chip into goal, a vital THIRD goal of the match for the many quizzers who predicted this.

Despite Lampard’s substitutions, Chelsea now looked a tired side and Arsenal saw out the match quite comfortably to give Mikel Arteta a deserved first managerial trophy.

NEIL SOUTHWOOD WRITES “Darts has emerged relatively unscathed from the global pandemic so far, with many of its big tournaments already scheduled for the autumn and hopeful of still taking place at the moment. Many players even took part in special lockdown tournaments during April and May, battling against each other on live streams in bedrooms, studies and kitchens across the country to keep fans going during the sporting drought. However, the Champions League of Darts shown on the BBC was one of the tournaments to be cancelled this year so Quiz HQ switched the question to the World Matchplay competition instead, widely considered to be the second most prestigious prize in the darting calendar.

Normally held in the glamorous Blackpool Winter Gardens, this year it was of course behind closed doors in not-quite-so-glamorous Milton Keynes. Instead of being greeted by thousands of beer-drinkers singing along to the likes of Sweet Caroline and YMCA, the players emerged from darkened back-stage corridors to video clips of past walk-ons and the artificial crowd noise we’ve now got accustomed to at Premier League grounds and Test cricket. Some might say this was no bad thing; even big fans of the oche can grow weary at the 100th rendition of ‘Don’t Take Me Home’ and it didn’t detract at all from the quality of the sport on display. Others wondered if it might play into British hands, as some players travelled for the first time in months to compete, but it was a new NON-BRITISH star in the making who lit up the week.

The tournament saw the top 32 players compete, instead of the 8 who normally comprise the Champions League. Michael Van Gerwen, as always, started as favourite and would have been many quizzers’ banker for a non-British triumph, but he was soon eliminated in style 11-4 by Aussie Simon Whitlock. This gave the chance for many home players to make their mark and emerge from MVG’s shadow which can sometimes dominate the sport. The likes of ex-World champion Adrian Lewis enjoyed a welcome return to form to reach the quarter-finals for instance. It also provided the opportunity for talent from around the world to win a major for the first time – Whitlock was joined in the latter stages by the upcoming Pole Krzysztof Ratajski, Dutchman Vincent Van der Voort and young Belgian Dimitri Van den Bergh. The first three all fell at the quarter-finals to Brits but Van den Bergh’s run continued gloriously, as he finally found the consistency to match the undoubted talent he has given glimpses of for several years. Up to now, he has been more known for a frustratingly poor record in low-key events, unable to climb up the rankings much at all before showing promise in the World Championships each Christmas, usually ending his run around the quarter-finals. This marked a transformation. From eliminating the much-fancied Nathan Aspinall in round one to the dogged ex-BDO champ Glen Durrant in a marathon semi-final, Van den Bergh showed resolve and character as the underdog throughout the competition to reach his first televised final.

There he would meet the Scot Gary Anderson, former World Champion, multi-major winner and almost always involved in the latter stages of the big tournaments. A step too far for Dimitri? No chance. The early exchanges were closely fought before the Belgian reeled off five legs in a row to open up a commanding 15-8 lead, featuring several ton-plus bullseye finishes and a glorious 170 checkout as the highlight. This was turning into a dream final for the ‘Dream Maker’ who continued to perform his trademark dance moves all week to Pharrell’s ‘Happy’, even with no crowd in attendance. Any doubts that he would falter close to the finish line were soon cast aside, confidently hitting the winning double-16 first time to clinch a convincing 18-10 victory. This not only gave the likeable 100-1 outsider victory in his debut at the tournament but also took him into the world top 16 for the first time, bringing him huge possibilities as a force to be reckoned with for the future.”