Open Division 11 stats
Leading all time run scorer (2011-2019) - Ali Hashmi (Lucan) - 1815 runs @ 38.62
Most runs in a Division 11 season - Ali Hashmi (Lucan) - 553 runs (2014)
Highest score - Tariq Islam - 239* - Laois 3 vs Bagenalstown 2 - Togher - 15 May 2011
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2019) - Manjinder Singh (Lucan) - 63 wkts @ 17.97
Most wickets in a Division 11 season - Simon Rice (Greystones) - 34 wkts (2013)
Best bowling - Simba Mujeni - 8-6 - Knockharley 2 vs Bagenalstown 2 - McGrath Park - 4 Jun 2011
Most matches - Shafqat Ayub (Clontarf) (2012-18) & Jason Magee (The Hills) (2012-18) - 61Highest team score - 409-1 - Laois 3 vs Bagenalstown 2 - Togher - 15 May 2011
Lowest team score - 20 all out - North County 5 vs The Hills 4 - The Vineyard - 29 Jul 2012
Team of the Year
Batsmen: Atul Khurana (Lucan), Shahrukh Nawaz (Balbriggan), Finn Mcgee (Rush), Vipul Kashyap (AIB), Aakash Kutty (Castleknock)
Wicketkeeper: Balbir Singh (Castleknock) (Div 13 (2014))
Bowlers: Yash Balasubramanium (YMCA), Harshit Harshit (AIB) (Div 14 (2017), Div 16 (2016)), Lijo Joy (Bagenalstown), Shahbaz Ahmed (Castleknock) (Div 11 (2017)), Dakshin Eashwar (Balbriggan)
Review
In Open Division 11, 51 games were played, two walkovers were given and three other games were not played for various reasons (including rain)
Runs per wicket for all teams - 19.99 Runs per over for all teams - 4.77 - Division Competitiveness 88%
Lucan 1 - Champions - (Pos in league - 80 (2018 - 80)) - Batting Rating 118 - Bowling Rating 109 - RpO for 5.52 - RpO against 4.83 - Youth %age (by appearances) 0% - Average age of team 34.4
Lucan 1 matched their 2018 league position of 80th, but with the massive bonus of this 80th place also bringing the 2019 Division 11 title. In this tightest of leagues, after five months of titanic struggle, the margin over Castleknock 2 was only one point. Obviously that one point could have been anywhere across the season, but the pressure in the last game of the season - against Balbriggan on September 21 was immense. Lucan needed to take maximum points from this last game - either 9 or 10 wicket victory or by 41 runs or more. Immediately, Lucan struggled to 14-3, but runs from Anudeep Yalamuru (21), Amit Kharb (58*) and Sandip Kumar (48) saw Lucan to a decent 149-5. That meant that they had to keep Balbriggan to below 109 to win the league, and after slipping to 7-2 straight away, Balbriggan didn't look like getting close - eventually being dismissed for 58. Atul Khurana became the 6th Lucan player to be named on the Division 11 Team of the Year over the years, but his performances over the season were a massive surprise. Since making his debut for Lucan 1 in 2014, he had batted 40 times, scoring 506 runs at 13.32. Bt what ever has been holding him back disappeared this season, with a brilliant 342 runs at 48.86. There was a sense of a changing of the guard with the team - none of the top 8 all time run scorers got past 100 runs, so it was left to others to take over. Khurana was one, with the only other player to get passed 200 runs being Amit Kharb, who scored 231 at 28.88. The bowling was actually not rated as being as strong, but if any team has five bowlers who take at least ten wickets, then they are going to do ok. Jatinder Kumar led the way with 18 wickets at 16.11, Arun Verma took 16 at 14.63, followed by Rajesh Malik (14 at 20.86), Abdul Ashraf (13 at 13.54) and Shaikh Jawaduddin (10 at 13.20). Lucan finish as the 37th best 1st team, with Dundalk and Slieve Bloom ahead of them if they want to progress up the ladder.
Castleknock 2 - 2nd - (Pos in league - 81 (2018 - 78)) - Batting Rating 112 - Bowling Rating 113 - RpO for 5.05 - RpO against 4.45 - Youth %age (by appearances) 6.3% - Average age of team 37.3
As we detailed above, it was a heartbreaking finish to the season for Castleknock 2, who ended up a couple of points away from being champions. There's not much point going through the entire season trying to search for two points. After a great start to the season (in which they won their first seven matches), four mid-season losses caused the problems, before a strong finish nearly saw them home. Shahbaz Ahmed made his second Division 11 Team of the Year in three seasons, but this was his first for Castleknock, after moving from one side of Luttrellstown Castle to the other in a Lucan to Castleknock move. He scored 274 runs at 34.25, one of three players to pass 200 runs as well as taking a useful 10 wickets at 12.4. Aakash Kutty was next with 254 at 36.29 also making TotY. Zahid Imran was another key allrounder with 242 runs at 34.57 and 11 wickets at 17. A strong bowling unit was much like Lucan's - five strong bowlers without there being an out and out star. Samran Patel was leading wicket taker with 16 at 14.13, followed by Yasir Mir (13 at 15.38), Suman Dey (12 at 16.33) and the players already mentioned. Balbir Singh grabbed his second Team of the Year as the wicketkeeper with most dismissals. The team's main problem is possibly stagnation. Only once in the last six seasons have they finished outside the 78-82 region, and with an average age of 37, they aren't getting any younger.
AIB 1 - 3rd - (Pos in league - 82 (2018 - 89)) - Batting Rating 112 - Bowling Rating 107 - RpO for 5.13 - RpO against 4.60 - Youth %age (by appearances) 0% - Average age of team 34.6
Another strong season for AIB who move another seven places up the league ladder. For any team to improve, there is a need to keep existing players, at the same time as attracting new talent into the team. Harshit Harshit was the existing talent, being named on his third Team of the Year with fine performances with bat and ball. He scored 293 runs at 32.56 and 16 wickets at 11.69. Harshit became the 5th AIB player to pass 1000 runs for the club, with 1089 now scored at 29.43. Equally important was debutant Vipul Kashyap, who completely dominated, leading the run scorer and wicket taking charts. He hit three 50s (with a highest of 85 against Mullingar 2) to total 487 at 37.46, alongside 16 wickets at 19.25. Sana Ullah remains the leading wicket taker for the club (he is the only one to have passed 100 wickets with 146 at 11.26). His contribution to the team this year was 18 wickets at 15. Other players to perform were Kaushik Annaeddy (201 runs at 22.33 and 16 wickets at 14.63), Vivekanand Swami (212 runs at 26.5 and 10 wickets at 28.10) and Dharmanna Kori (13 wickets at 26.54).
Balbriggan 3 - 4th - (Pos in league - 83 (2018 - 79)) - Batting Rating 102 - Bowling Rating 110 - RpO for 5.36 - RpO against 4.77 - Youth %age (by appearances) 18.2% - Average age of team 26.4
2019 will go down as a pretty decent few months for Balbriggan 3. A young team started the season well, winning six of their first seven, before the second half of the season saw a but of an implosion with only two more wins. That meant a drop of four places on 2018, but it was also the second highest the team has ever finished in the league. Performances were a little thin on the ground, although a couple of players shone through. Shahrukh Nawaz made the Team of the Year with 242 runs at 40.33 although that was slightly skewed by his 131 against Rush in May. That was highest score for Balbriggan 3 since Colm Reilly hit 159* in June 2013, and the highest score in Division 11 this year. Two others made 200 runs - ex Clontarf player, Rohit Dhamane who scored 222 at 31.71 and Tayyeb Hassan who scored 202 at 18.36. Dakshin Eashwar only played seven games across the season for the third team, but took 11 wickets at 12.45 to make our Team of the Year. Leading wicket taker was Akkshai Chand with 15 wickets at 14.60. With Balbriggan 1 being the 11th best 1st team in the province the 3rd team are under-performing a bit at 13th, but with DLR County 3 being the next 3rd team, and 11 places higher, it will be a couple of seasons at least before Balbriggan 3 can move up.
YMCA 4 - 5th - (Pos in league - 84 (2018 - 84)) - Batting Rating 119 - Bowling Rating 138 - RpO for 4.97 - RpO against 3.38 - Youth %age (by appearances) 44.6% - Average age of team 26.6
Enough tales, theories and intrigue in YMCA's season to keep this column mildly entertaining for a little bit more. If we're looking for the best team in the division, then on paper there is no contest. YMCA 4 walked this particular contest, with us ranking as them having the best bowling attack (by far) and the best batting. They were second to Rush in terms of promoting youth (so the club is looking strong for the future), but there was just the right amount of experience there to see the side through tricky situations. There was a brilliant win over AIB, and...........Well that is where most of the good news ends. The stats are skewed by the massive 239 run win against Mullingar, and in reality, the team was wildly inconsistent. They were only bowled out twice - but two of those were under 100. Three times they bowled teams out for less than 120 - and they took nine wickets a further four times. But yet that wasn't always converted to wins. And they only played ten games on the field, giving a walkover once, and not being able to get results in games against Rush, Balbriggan and Mullingar - the only three games that weren't played in the entire league. Sadiq Safi was the only player to get to 200 runs with 209 at 34.83 (although that included 106 in the final game against Mullingar). The bowling was a different story though, and was led by the brilliant 14 year old spinner Yash Balasubramanium who took 17 wickets at 8.59 to take his place on the Team of the Year. Sonny Rosha took 10 wickets at 16.50, and there were plenty of other youth performances with 79 for Henry Thompson, 3-16 fro Jack Davy, 3-27 from Jack Flanagan and 3-11 from Srihan Karpe.
Bagenalstown 2- 6th - (Pos in league - 85 (2018 - 90)) - Batting Rating 80 - Bowling Rating 82 - RpO for 3.99 - RpO against 5.11 - Youth %age (by appearances) 17.7% - Average age of team 32.6
Sometimes the big stories get lost amidst the organised chaos of a busy summer. On the surface, you could look at Bagenalstown 2 and think they had a poor season, narrowly avoiding relegation. But look deeper and a much more positive story emerges. After finishing in 85th place in 2011, the team entered the doldrums and quickly slipped down the leagues. By 2015, they were nearly three divisions lower than where they were four years previously. But at that same time, the club started a third team, and has been working hard on developing the club ever since. Every season since 2015 has seen an improvement in league position to see them back in 85th place at the end of 2019. In that same 2015-2019 period they have moved from being the 27th to the 23rd best second team. Since 2011 the team has completely changed (perhaps not surprisingly), with the only players who took part in both years being Nigel Fennell, Sean Farrell and Shane O Neill. Despite all that positivity, 2019 wasn't the most successful on the pitch with Rush (twice), Balbriggan and Mullingar being the only victories. Lijo Joy was the only member of the Team of the Year, taking 11 wickets at 11.73 - which included 7-15 against Rush - the best bowling in Division 11 this year. Imam Ul haq was the leading wicket taker with 12 wickets at 19.58, Pardeep Hooda took 10 at 26.10 and a special mention for 16 year old Oskar Shorthose who took 6-36 against Balbriggan. With the bat, Ashan Wijesinghe scored 205 at 22.78 and Robbie O Neill scored 203 at 29.
Mullingar 2- 7th - (Pos in league - 86 (2018 - 77)) - Batting Rating 86 - Bowling Rating 87 - RpO for 4.24 - RpO against 5.30 - Youth %age (by appearances) 3.5% - Average age of team 27.2
A worrying slip for Mullingar 2, who finished eight places lower than their previous worst finishing position - 78th in 2016. A stunning 4 wicket win at home to champions Lucan was undoubtedly the highlight of the season. Lucan were bowled out thanks to 4-41 from Tristan Couper, and the chase of 187 was in doubt until Leon Maimba came to the crease at 101-4. When he was dismissed for 53, only four more runs were required, and the match was all but over. Availability looks to have been a problem for the team, with 36 players used in total, and only five players playing in more than eight of the thirteen games. Conor Mount was the only player not to miss a match, and he was the leading wicket taker with 18 wickets at 19.39. Tristan Couper was next with 17 at 17.35, followed by PJ Mount (16 at 18.25), and Bilal Alam (11 at 12.55). In all cricket PJ Mount had his nest season with the ball since 2013, taking 34 wickets at 23.12. The batting seems to have been where the team really struggled though. The highest score of the season was the 188/6 in the win over Lucan, and eight times they were bowled out, five times under 140. Because of that, runs were thin on the ground, and no one managed more than Tristan Couper's 169 at 24.14.
Rush 3 - 8th - (Pos in league - 87 (2018 - 83)) - Batting Rating 90 - Bowling Rating 75 - RpO for 4.34 - RpO against 5.68 - Youth %age (by appearances) 58.4% - Average age of team 26.2
Either the lowest position Rush 3 have finished in the league over the last nine seasons, of the ninth season in a row when they have finished between 79th and 87th. Take your pick. What can not be denied is that this is yet another league when the team that did most to develop its future, finished bottom. A massive 58% of all appearances were by youth players, and plenty of them delivered. Finn Mcgee completed the amazing feat of making the Team of the Year from a team that finished bottom. The 14 year old scored 276 runs at 39.43, with 50s against Bagenalstown and Castleknock. They weren't the only 50s by youth players though - Andrew Doheny scored 53* against Castleknock, and Brandon Morris scored 56 against Balbriggan. The bowling duties were shared between the experience of Adam Ellison (13 at 17.46) and Amir Iqbal (14 at 20.36), alongside Andrew Doheny's 15 wickets at 20.73.
The full Division 11 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here