2019 Open Division 12 review – North Kildare 3 prevail in winner takes all play-off

Open Division 12 stats

Leading all time run scorer (2011-2019) - Alan Maginnis (Phoenix) - 928 runs @ 27.29
Most runs in a Division 12 season - Junaid Ashfaq (Phoenix) - 533 runs (2017)
Highest score - Abdul Sattar - 200 - Leinster 5 vs Halverstown 1 - St Columba's College 2 - 11 Aug 2018
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2019) - Neville Case (Halverstown) - 73 wkts @ 16.22
Most wickets in a Division 12 season - Aamir Bafanda (Civil Service 3) - 31 wkts (2019)
Best bowling - Jatinder Kumar - 7-14 - Lucan 2 vs Bagenalstown 2 - McGrath Park - 7 May 2018
Most matches - Neville Case (Halverstown) - 49 (2013-2018)

Team of the Year

Review
In Open Division 12, 54 games were played, one walkover was given and one other game was not played for various reasons (including rain)
Runs per wicket for all teams - 20.96 Runs per over for all teams - 4.82 - Division Competitiveness 87%

North Kildare 3 - Champions - (Pos in league - 88 (2018 - 119)) - Batting Rating 104 - Bowling Rating 125 - RpO for 5.28 - RpO against 4.74 - Youth %age (by appearances) 11.3% - Average age of team 32.3

On September 21, the final match of the entire Cricket Leinster season, saw a Division 12 league shoot out between North Kildare 3 and Civil Service 3. North Kildare got to 183 in their 30 overs, mainly due to 44 from Usman Khalid, who provided impetus to the innings after coming in at 102-5. The Civil Service innings tumbled one way and the other. Two early wickets started the season defining innings, before a 55 ball from blitz Rana Muhammad Hasan Ur Rahman (scoring 87) saw Civil Service in an excellent position at 162-4. But the pressure of the scoreboard and the league situation told, and the wickets started tumbling. Eventually North Kildare prevailed, Civil Service finishing four runs short, with 8 balls remaining. As Civil Service collapsed, the last six wickets were shared by Matthew O'Meara and Rory McWade and it is only fair that they are the two North Kildare players who made our Team of the Year. McWade played eight matches for the team in his debut season, scoring 226 runs at 28.25 as well as 10 wickets at 10.80. O'Meara took 13 wickets at 10.69, and although the pair didn't play full seasons (playing 8 games each), the provided the extra oomph needed at crucial times to get North Kildare to the title. Those two were a great example of the cricket played by most of the squad. There was nothing that was record breaking - no one took more than Usman Khalid's 14 wickets (at 13.14 - he also scored 246 runs at 35.14) and no one scored more than Behzad Majeed's 314 runs at 26.17. But five players scored more than 200 league runs. Apart from the players already mentioned, Raman Bansal scored 249 at 31.13 and Abid Ali scored 216 at 21.6. It wasn't a domineering league title for North Kildare 3, losing three matches across the season. But all that matters is that you get more points than everyone else, and in a competitive league, they did enough. Only twice in the last nine seasons have North Kildare 3 finished higher in the league - in 2011 and 2017.

Civil Service 3 - 2nd - (Pos in league - 89 (2018 - 87)) - Batting Rating 115 - Bowling Rating 117 - RpO for 5.08 - RpO against 4.68 - Youth %age (by appearances) 0% - Average age of team 34.9

If North Kildare were solid but unspectacular, Civil Service 3 were the opposite. They were ranked as the best team in the division, there were some brilliant individual performances - but they lost four matches, and can't complain about second place. A reversal of one of those four defeats would have been enough to lift the title, but there wasn't really a loss that they would look back and kick themselves (apart from that season finale). Star of the show was undoubtedly Aamir Bafanda who broke John Threadgold's 2018 record for most wickets in a Division 12 season. Bafanda took 31 wickets at 9.48 in his debut season. He took 4-28 on his first bowl for Civil Service 1st team, and presumably won't get to play for the 3rd team again! Anubhav Dutta was the other Civil Service player on the Team of the Year, proving to be an exceptional foil for Bafanda, with 18 wickets at 12.56. Rana Muhammad Hasan Ur Rahman should count himself unlucky not to be on the TotY - neither his batting nor his bowling was quite strong enough, but together they made an exceptional allrounder with 353 runs at 32.09 (making him the leading run scorer) and 18 wickets at 19.11. Malkeet Singh scored 250 runs at 29.17 and Ahmad Khalid hit 210 at 21 to complete a decent batting line up. The bowling is completed by Rehan Ali (14 at 18.86), and Vishal Ranade (13 at 15.62). This is the 5th year in a row that the team has finished between 87th and 93rd, and perhaps 2020 will give the team an opportunity to get back to the levels they were at in 2012-2014.

Lucan 2 - 3rd - (Pos in league - 90 (2018 - 91)) - Batting Rating 105 - Bowling Rating 125 - RpO for 5.24 - RpO against 4.30 - Youth %age (by appearances) 0% - Average age of team 31.8

At the end of Lucan 2nd's second season in league cricket, the team stands out as being unique in Cricket Leinster. With Lucan's first string playing in Division 11, how can Lucan 2 be such a strong team only one level below? Based on their 1sts being the 37th best 1st team in the province, we'd expect Lucan 2 to be in Division 17. Based on the 2nds being the 25th best 2nd team, we'd expect their 1sts to be somewhere around Division 7. So are the 1sts over achieving, or are the 2nds over achieving? Critics would possibly assume that there are lots of players playing for both teams, but this simply isn't the case. Only eleven players played for both teams, but only four of those played anything more than a minor part. Shaikh Jawaduddin took 15 wickets at 16.67 for the 2nds, and 10 at 13.2 for the 1sts; Sandip Kumar scored 297 runs at 27 for the 2nds and 183 at 36 for the 1sts, Gurdeep Singh played eight games for each without making a major contribution, and whilst Anudeep Yalamuru was the 2nd's leading run scorer with 363 at 25.93, he only scored 96 at 24 for the 1sts. So perhaps there were a couple of players more playing for both teams than you'd expect, and that is coupled with the club having a large number of players who are are of a Division 11/12 standard. The team had some big, big victories, beating Adamstown by 100 runs and 8 wickets, Phoenix by 197 runs and Sandyford by 108 runs. Those impressive stats meant that we rank Lucan as the second best team of the division, with the joint best bowling attack. On top of Shaikh Jawaduddin's wickts above, Akshay Beniwal took 17 at 14.88, Mit Mody took 17 at 15.06, Gurjeet Singh had 14 at 21.21 and Sourabh Chauhan 12 at 19.75. No player made Team of the Year, but with six players totalling 200 runs, there were always going to be some big innings. Gurjeet Singh scored 258 at 25.8, Akshay Beniwal 237 at 23.7, Amardeep Dhiman 203 at 18.45 and Gaurav Kumar 200 at 200.

The Hills 4 - 4th - (Pos in league - 91 (2018 - 86)) - Batting Rating 131 - Bowling Rating 89 - RpO for 5.48 - RpO against 5.46 - Youth %age (by appearances) 40.3% - Average age of team 31.4

Division 12 had four performance teams (with no youth players), a couple who played one or two youth players per game (North Kildare and Adamstown) and Phoenix and The Hills who use the teams as youth development teams. It's much easier to look after the future when you're a club with multiple adult teams, and it is important that these reviews don't just criticise the clubs with one or two teams in their youth development. The analysis of the higher teams of these clubs comes later! The Hills 4 had more youth appearances than all the other teams in the division, and with that in mind, 4th place was a strong finish. A word of warning though - this was their joint lowest league position ever (alongside 2014), and based on the last three seasons, they really should have won the league. And although lots of youth players played, only two (Conor O'Brien and Lorcan Woodhouse) batted more than four times, as opposed to seven adults. The bowling was better - of the nine who bowled at least 20 overs, five were youth players (Ashad Farooqi, Conor O'Brien, Samuel Smyth, Matthew Weldon and Lorcan Woodhouse). Two players made the Team of the Year, and with the team dominated by their batting prowess, it is no surprise that that they are both batsmen. Matthew Richards makes his first TotY in his fifth season in Leinster cricket with 501 runs at 41.75. He was only the second player to pass 500 runs in a Division 12 season, after Phoenix's Junaid Ashfaq with 533 in 2017. Asad Khan was a vital part of the team machine, scoring 242 runs at 40.33 as well as 12 wickets at 17.08. After being on the Division 16 TotY last year, he was promoted, and took it well. To complete the 200+ run set, Joe Clinton scored 274 at 45.67 . The bowling was less prolific. Jason Magee was the leading wicket taker with 15 at 18.67 and Conor O'Brien took 10 at 28.40.

Adamstown 4 - 5th - (Pos in league - 92 (2018 - 98)) - Batting Rating 92 - Bowling Rating 83 - RpO for 4.57 - RpO against 4.87 - Youth %age (by appearances) 12.1% - Average age of team 32.1

Swords 2 - 6th - (Pos in league - 93 (2018 - 92)) - Batting Rating 105 - Bowling Rating 98 - RpO for 4.45 - RpO against 4.36 - Youth %age (by appearances) 1.4% - Average age of team 36.0

Only once before have Swords 2 finished in a higher league position (91st last year), so although a higher place would have been nice, 6th in Division 12 was no disgrace. Analysis of the season's stats is "interesting"! The player who probably contributed most to the batting was Bilson Kuruvilla. Every side needs a dependable player who plays every week and will always score a few runs, and Kuruvilla filled the role for Swords 2 with 279 runs at 21.46, playing in all 13 matches. But the star of the batting show only played in five matches, but made a fairly big impression. Ebin Paiva made the Division 8 Team of the Year in 2018, so probably didn't deserve to be dropped to the 2nds and not surprisingly, dominated. In five knocks, he scored 45, 26, 70, 102* and 89* for 332 runs at 110.67. Over the last six years, he has played 13 times for Swords 2 in Division 12, scoring 657 runs at 65.7. It must be said, that of those five games, Swords won three and lost two, so they didn't get too much of an advantage. Jimson Joseph was the second of three Swords TotY players, but was a much more orthodox selection, just bowling really well all season to take 16 wickets at 10.88. Kiran Sakaria Velimparambil Pappachan was the keeper with most dismissals in the division, with 6 catches and 1 stumping, and so takes his place on the divisional selection.

Sandyford 2- 7th - (Pos in league - 94 (2018 - 85)) - Batting Rating 93 - Bowling Rating 110 - RpO for 4.75 - RpO against 4.56 - Youth %age (by appearances) 0% - Average age of team 32.3

Atif Khan debuted for Sandyford in the back end of the 2018 season, and had a fairly quiet time of it, playing seven matches, scoring 94 runs and taking one wicket. Little in the statistical archives hinted at the season he would have in 2019. He played in twelve of Sandyford's thirteen matches, scoring 445 runs at 40.45, including two 50s and 125* against Civil Service. On its own that was pretty impressive (it is the second highest total in a league season for Sandyford 2, after Srikanth Boddu's 509 in 2014). But he was also the side's leading wicket taker, with 23 at 15.13, which was the most wickets taken in a league season for Sandyford 2, beating Stephen Langton's 19 in 2011. That is a decent season in anyone's books. Not surprisingly, the rest of the squad were a supporting cast. Ihsan Ullah scored 228 at 20.73 and Nakul Kansara hit 216 at 27. With the ball Narasimha Dixit took 13 at 15.92 and Amandeep Sahota took 11 at 15.91. It must be said that for all Atif's brilliance, the side only won four matches all season, twice against Phoenix, against Adamstown, and in the performance of the season - North Kildare. All that wasn't enough to prevent Sandyford 2 from their joint worst league finish, matching 94th in 2016.

Phoenix 5 - 8th - (Pos in league - 95 (2018 - 97)) - Batting Rating 69 - Bowling Rating 61 - RpO for 3.82 - RpO against 5.85 - Youth %age (by appearances) 39.22% - Average age of team 29.1

You know what you get with Phoenix 5. Every year going back to 2011 they have finished between 92nd and 99th in the league. So this year's 95th is exactly what you'd expect. It also happened to be bottom of Division 12 this year, but next year they'll be back in the top half of Division 13, and life goes on. The season started well with a win over Swords, but that was as good as it got, with 13 straight losses on the field. Don't forget how far the team have come - in 2015 they were the ninth best 5th team in the province - now they are the third best. Prolific seasons were few and far between. Leading run scorer was Bijesh Bhaskaran with 268 runs at 33.5, but there was plenty of interest in Phoenix's crop of youth players. 13 year old Christopher Scully was the side's leading wicket taker with 9 at 31.89, 15 year old Conor Cooney took 3-28 against Adamstown, 15 year old Georgina Dempsey took 3-64 against Sandyford, 13 year old Sam Morris hit 50* against The Hills and Brian Delaney scored a brilliant 106* against The Hills. Delaney was the 34th youngest player to hit a century in Cricket Leinster Open Competitions since 2011, and the youngest for Phoenix, beating Thomas Stevens' 105* as a 16 year old in 2015.

The full Division 12 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here