2019 Open Division 8 review – North Kildare 2 handed league on a plate

Open Division 8 stats

Leading all time run scorer (2011-2019) - Nicky Fusco (Wicklow County) - 2292 runs @ 32.28
Most runs in a Division 8 season - Nadun Jasinghe (Bagenalstown) - 582 runs (2014)
Highest score - Anthony Coates - 185 - Ringcommons 1 vs Wicklow County 1 - Ringcommons - 3 Aug 2019
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2019) - Sohail Qaisar (Knockharley) - 77 wkts @ 16.09
Most wickets in a Division 8 season - Ali Qasim (Balbriggan) - 29 wkts (2011)
Best bowling - Chris Siddell - 7-11 - Malahide 4 4 vs Dundalk 1 - Malahide 1 - 27 Apr 2014
Most matches - Nicky Fusco (Wicklow County) (2011-19) - 76
Highest team score - 354-8 - Knockharley 2 vs The Hills 3 - Margaretstown - 15 Sept 2018
Lowest team score - 32 all out - Dublin University 2 vs Knockharley 2 - Kentstown - 30 May 2015

Team of the Year Batsmen: Anthony Coates (Ringcommons) (Div 9 (2011), Div 10 (2013, 2015), Div 11 (2016), Div 13 (2012)), Saquib Nagra (Carlow) (Div 9 (2017)), Declan Moore (Ringcommons) (Div 8 (2017), Div 10 (2015)), Manpreet Monty Singh (North Kildare) (Div 7 (2017)), Nicky Fusco (Wicklow County) (Div 8 (2013, 2018))
Wicketkeeper: Trevor Koen (Wicklow County) (Div 9 (2017), Div 14 (2015, 2016))
Bowlers: Jobin Thomas (Ashbourne) (Div 8 (2018), Div 11 (2017), Div 13 (2016)), Andrew Moore (Ringcommons) (Div 7 (2017)), Naveen Malipatil (Dublin University) (Div 14 (2019)), Munir Khan (Clondalkin) (Div 10 (2017), Div 14 (2014), Div 15 (2015)), Ajayveer Malhan (North Kildare) (Div 16 (2015))

Review
In Open Division 8, 46 games were played, two matches were walkovers, and one other game was not played for various reasons (including rain)
Runs per wicket for all teams - 20.29 Runs per over for all teams - 4.81 - Division Competitiveness 98%

North Kildare 2 - Champions - (Pos in league - 56 (2018 - 88)) - Batting Rating 104 - Bowling Rating 112 - RpO for 4.89 - RpO against 4.39 - Youth %age (by appearances) 5.5% - Average age of team 35.0

Moving from Division 9 to Division 8 feels as if a watershed has been crossed. To the right the water runs away into the Lake of Development and clubs starting out on a road to the future. But step to the left and everything runs away to the Sea of Excellence, where it is all about winning. In addition to that, and as can be seen from our Team of the Year, Division 8 is very much about revisiting the exploits of old friends, rather than discovering new ones. And so we move from that intro to hearty congratulations to North Kildare 2, who comprise part III of the North Kildare quartet of league titles in 2019. A dreadful start to the season saw the first four matches being lost, before a run of seven wins in eight matches left North Kildare with a solid runners up spot, but with no chance of winning the title. Wicklow County took centre stage in the denouement - North Kildare had beaten them by 82 runs to make sure the best Wicklow could do was 3rd. But with Carlow 1 having a ten point lead at the top of the division, North Kildare had to be happy with second place. That was until Carlow were unable to raise a team for the last game of the season, and the resulting points penalty took the title to Kildare. The 56th finishing spot was obviously much better than the 88th place that the team finished in 2018, but that was a false flag, based on the very particular circumstances of 2018. In reality 56th was still the lowest the team has finished in the last nine seasons, and they need to finish mid-table in Division 7 in 2020 to get back to 2017 levels. Two players made our Team of the Year, and you will see the pattern that develops - all have previously been named at some point before. Ajayveer Malhan made our Division 16 team back in 2015, but he hasn't played much in the last two seasons, and this year played only seven league games - all for the 2nds. That was enough to display his talents though, with 13 wickets at 13.15. The other Team of the Year from North Kildare is a bit more controversial. Manpreet Monty Singh started the season slowly, but then scored 68 and 123 for North Kildare 1 in mid May. He probably shouldn't have then been in the seconds, and then after a run of 39, 59 and 30 for the 1sts in June, he definitely shouldn't have been playing a further three games in Division 8. But this is only my personal opinion, and the OCC had no issues, so Singh did what he does best, scoring runs. In eight matches he scored 267 runs at 44.50, although it should be noted that his final innings against Wicklow County on September 8 was 124*. That is the highest score we have recorded for North Kildare 2 since 2011, beating Sean Dalton's 119* against Merrion 5 in 2015. Captain Gulab Singh was excellent in holding the team together, scoring 219 runs at 18.25 and leading the wicket taking with 17 wickets at 16.41. Interestingly, we rate North Kildare's as only the 5th best batting in the division and the 3rd best bowling. But no other team brought both facets to the table, and hence we make them the strongest team. That third best bowling attack is completed by Ahmed Dar (14 wickets at 15.21) and Daire O'Neill (14 at 18.64).

Carlow 1 - 2nd - (Pos in league - 57 (2018 - 66)) - Batting Rating 116 - Bowling Rating 93 - RpO for 5.58 - RpO against 5.20 - Youth %age (by appearances) 8.5% - Average age of team 31.6

Carlow 1's last day blip against Wicklow County is mentioned above, and although it led to a heart braking loss of the league title, this shouldn't detract too much from the most successful season in the club's recent history, and they have moved up from the 34 best 1st team in the province to the 29th. No player has performed more for Carlow 1 than Rocky Butt, and he is now one of only 12 players across the province to have taken 100 wickets and scored 2000 runs in all cricket since 2015 (the others are Manpreet Singh, Eddie Richardson, Joey Carroll, Usama Raees, Simi Singh, Gareth Delany, Tayyab Rashid, Rana Tariq, Harry Tector, Max Sorensen and Nitin Naik). His performances this year (368 runs at 30.67 and 15 wickets at 28.53) weren't quite enough to get on the Team of the Year, with Carlow's one representative being Saquib Nagra. Nagra made the Division 9 team in 2017, and was a shoe in this year with 328 runs at 46.86, along with 16 wickets at 17. As we mentioned in the North Kildare review, they were the only team that had a really balanced squad. Carlow were brilliant in the batting department, being the joint best (with Ringcommons) batting team. In addition to the two already mentioned, two more also passed 300 hundred league runs, the others being Amir Mehmood with 333 at 30.27 and Jazab Nagra with 304 at 30.40. Not surprisingly, only once did the batting really fail - when they were dismissed for 124 against Wicklow in early May, and they scored over 188 seven times. The bowling wasn't quite up to the same standard though, with six teams passing 200 against the Carlow attack. There were plenty of wickets, but at some cost. In addition to Butt and Nagra, Asif Butt took 16 at 18.81, Asad Ali took 13 at 19.69 and Sairam Mangisetty 11 at 17.

Wicklow County 1 - 3rd - (Pos in league - 58 (2018 - 60)) - Batting Rating 108 - Bowling Rating 95 - RpO for 5.18 - RpO against 5.22 - Youth %age (by appearances) 9.1% - Average age of team 35.1

A impressive season from Wicklow County 1, who broke into the 50s for the first tome since 2012. Losses to North Kildare, Knockharley and Clondalkin in the last three matches ruled out any possibility of promotion, but the squad should be happy with third. Wicklow's experienced players provided much of the firepower, none more so though than Nicky Fusco. The club's leading run scorer since 2011 also dominates the Division 8 records. He has played in this division every year since 2011 - apart from 2012 and 2017, and no one has played more than his 76 matches. In these 76 games, he has become the division's leading run scorer with 2292 runs at 32.28, a healthy amount of which came in 2019. He scored 476 runs at 39.67, the fourth highest total in Division 8 since 2011 (his 2018 effort is third on that list). He is named on his third Team of the Year after being on the Division 8 team in 2013 and 2018. But it very much wasn't a one man team. Rohan Raikar was brilliant with bat and ball - 300 runs at 25 and 23 wickets at 20.87. 23 is the second highest number of wickets taken in a league season for any Wicklow County player, behind Khalid Chaudhary's 25 wickets in 2013 for the 1sts. Damian Joyce scored 238 runs at 26.44, Sashi Kanth took 10 wickets at 17.6 and Chaudhary is still going strong with 10 wickets at 25.90. The final mention goes to a player who is named on his 4th Team of the Year but the first time at this level. Trevor Koen was the wicket-keeper in the division with most dismissals (10) and also scored 294 at 26.73, including 117 against Ringcommons, which was his 5th century, making him one of only a dozen players to have scored five tons in the last five seasons in Leinster.

Clondalkin 1 - 4th - (Pos in league - 59 (2018 - 65)) - Batting Rating 95 - Bowling Rating 113 - RpO for 4.76 - RpO against 4.38 - Youth %age (by appearances) 2.1% - Average age of team 33.0

Carlow and Wicklow County were teams whose lack of a strong bowling attack possibly dented their title hopes. For Clondalkin 1, it was their batting that wasn't quite up to it. But as with many other teams, we shouldn't get too hung up on the details - Clondalkin 1 had their best ever season, finishing six places higher than their previous best in 2018. They were only two wins away from first place, but in all honesty, there weren't too many results that they were close to overturning. The 9 run loss to Dublin University is one that stands out, but on its own, those nine runs weren't enough to overhaul North Kildare. Three batsmen got to 200 runs for the season, but they weren't quite at a higher enough level, or in enough bulk to give the bowlers more chance of success. Josh Uddin joined the club after a season in Terenure, and was the leading run scorer, scoring 313 run at 34.78, with 50s against Ashbourne (twice) and Dublin University, although he didn't appear after mid July. Shahid Islam scored 214 at 30.57 and Shakil Ahmed scored 210 at 19.09. But it was the bowling where the real star was, and one of the most prolific bowlers in Leinster had another great season. Munir Khan is the 9th highest wicket taker in Leinster since 2014, and has been named on his fourth Team of the Year, after taking 27 wickets at 12.81. This is the joint second highest number of wickets in a Division 8 season, and the highest in a league season for Clondalkin, and he took three or more wickets on five separate occasions. Khalid Hossain took 17 wickets at 19.94 and Md Khurshid Anowar took 13 at 21.46.

Knockharley 2 - 5th - (Pos in league - 60 (2018 - 59)) - Batting Rating 109 - Bowling Rating 88 - RpO for 4.86 - RpO against 4.97 - Youth %age (by appearances) 13.6% - Average age of team 31.4

Dublin University 2 - 6th - (Pos in league - 61 (2018 - 56)) - Batting Rating 72 - Bowling Rating 136 - RpO for 3.63 - RpO against 4.46 - Youth %age (by appearances) 0% - Average age of team 24.4

Only twice in the last nine seasons (2014 and 2018) have Dublin University 2 finished higher in the league. The team's matches were arranged for the very end of the Universoty's season, with six of the seven matches being played from June 1 onwards, and overall four were won and three were lost, with the summit of the team's achievements being the 11 run win over North Kildare 2, when Srikanth Venkata Subramanian took 6-36 as the team successfully defended 106. The slight controversy around this review concerns Dublin University 3, who benefited from the selection of Naveen Malipatil, who makes our Division 8 Team of the Year, but probably shouldn't have been able to make our Division 14 Team of the Year as well. After taking 4-22 against Knockharley. Malipatil dropped down to the 3rds, scoring 78, 25 and 49, before moving back to the 2nds to score 24 and 39, with 3-12 in the first match (the win over North Kildare). After a run of quiet games for the 2nds (which illustrates how hard this is for both clubs and the OCC), he returned to the 3rds with a handy 32 and 2-32 against Wicklow County. Malipatil's Division 8 record (Which is beyond reproach) was 121 runs at 20.17 and 12 wickets at 12.17. The shortened season obviously makes impressive stats hard to attain, but Sumit Kumar was also excellent with 11 wickets at 16.73. The batting was a different story though, the weakest in the division, with Malipatil being the leading run scorer and only one batsman scoring a 50 at all - Sahil Manchanda scoring 52 against Clondalkin.

Ringcommons 1 - 7th - (Pos in league - 62 (2018 - 55)) - Batting Rating 116 - Bowling Rating 96 - RpO for 4.86 - RpO against 4.85 - Youth %age (by appearances) 0% - Average age of team 40.3

After finishing in the mid 50s in the last two seasons, 2019 saw a small step back for Ringcommons 1, albeit still at a level that is much higher than the team were plying their trade before 2017. Five players absolutely dominated the season, with Ringcommons needing to find more players of this ilk if they are to move back up the league. Those five are pretty awesome though , and three of them made our Team of the Year. Anthony Coates joins the select club of players to have six Teams of the Year to their name (see the Division 10 review for the full list). Coates is a phenomenal run scoring machine, and there was another Coates special against Wicklow County, when he scored 185 from 136 balls, taking the team to 300 and a 5 wicket win. There has been 16 scores over 180 in all cricket in Leinster since 2011, with Coates having scored three of them. He only got to play six matches this season, but that was enough to score 311 runs at 51.83. Declan Moore makes his third team of the year, with 326 runs at 46.57, and brother Andrew Moore gets his second TotY, with 27 wickets at 11.11. His 27 wickets lies alongside Munir Khan of Clondalkin as the highest wicket taker this season, and also the joint second highest total wickets in the league for Ringcommons (behind Coates with 29 in 2013). He also added to his wickets with 252 runs at 22.91. The Moore family was desperately unlucky not to have another member on our representative team, as Brendan Moore had an excellent season with 321 runs at 35.67 and 16 wickets at 18.94. Edrees Kharotai took 10 wickets at 19.20, but for all the run scoring abilities of the team, it needed at least two more bowlers taking 10 wickets to make an impact.

Ashbourne 1 - 8th - (Pos in league - 63 (2018 - 61)) - Batting Rating 77 - Bowling Rating 91 - RpO for 4.20 - RpO against 4.87 - Youth %age (by appearances) 2.8% - Average age of team 36.5

Four players returned really impressive seasons but there wasn't quite enough support, and Ashbourne 1 only won two matches all season. As with all other teams, it is vital to look at the bigger picture, and their finishing spot of 63rd was still 17 places higher than they finished in 2017, and the 2020 season will offer a good guide as to where Ashbourne really are. The two wins came in the fifth match of the season (against Dublin University) and the very last (against Ringcommons). Jobin Thomas stood out in a struggling team, making his fourth team of the year in successive seasons, taking a quite brilliant 22 wickets at 9.59, with Thomas' record being amongst the very best at this level of cricket in Leinster (of those to have bowled over 150 overs in Division 8 since 2011, no one has a better average than Thomas' 45 wickets at 12.24). The bowling was very much where Ashbourne's strengths lied, and Thomas was supported by Vipin Baby (14 at 21.79) and Umesh Burraa (14 at 22.17) although those were not good enough totals to really lift the side. Burraa was the team's leading all rounder, also scoring 244 runs at 24.4, with the leading run scorer being Anoop Bolledla with 303 runs at 30.30. Vipin Baby has become the first player to take 100 wickets for Ashbourne (103 at 16.89 in total) with Bolledla being the leading run scorer with 1782 runs at 20.96.

The full Division 8 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here