Open Division 9 stats
Leading all time run scorer (2011-2019) - Brian Gilmore (Malahide) - 368 runs @ 39.09
Most runs in a Division 9 season - Eoin Lenehan (Greystones) - 545 runs (2015)
Highest score - Danny Hogan - 151* - Terenure 3 vs North County 4 - Inch - 14 Sept 2014
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2019) - Monjur Ahmad (Phoenix) - 68 wkts @ 17.04
Most wickets in a Division 9 season - Saeedullah Azizi (Leinster) - 31 wkts (2018)
Best bowling - John Andrews - 7-16 - North County 4 vs Ringcommons 1 - Inch - 7 Sept 2014
Most matches - Lineesh Ramachandran (Phoenix/Sandyford) (2011-17) - 51
Team of the Year
Batsmen: Ronak Modi (Civil Service) (Div 10 (2018)), Levon Shields (Tyrrelstown), Wamiq Siddiqui (Phoenix) (Div 9 (2018), Div 13 (2018)), John Devane (North County), Rohan Bajaj (Pembroke) Wicketkeeper: Paul Mc Grane (The Hills) Bowlers: Urvin Desai (Civil Service), Piyush Sharma (Pembroke) (Div 12 (2016)), Sunny Sehrawat (Adamstown), Hardeep Singh (Adamstown), Abhijith Mathew (Tyrrelstown) (Div 10 (2018))Review In Open Division 9, 53 games were played and three other games were not played for various reasons (including rain) Runs per wicket for all teams - 20.73 Runs per over for all teams - 4.87 - Division Competitiveness 97%
Civil Service 2 - Champions - (Pos in league - 64 (2018 - 73)) - Batting Rating 119 - Bowling Rating 119 - RpO for 5.58 - RpO against 4.44 - Youth %age (by appearances) 0% - Average age of team 31.9
Civil Service 2 came out top of Division 9, in what was the most competitive division of the nine that we have reviewed so far. On August 6th, they only had a league record of 3-3, hardly the record of champions elect. Five wins in the next 18 days, set them up for a tilt at the title, before two losses in the last three matches made for a nervous end of season. In a division with all teams beating each other, there were plenty of opportunities for Civil Service to lose the title, but that is a problem for the other teams, and it is dealt with below. All Civil Service had to do was to get more points than anyone else, and we also had them as the "best" team in the league, with their batting and bowling both being stronger than anyone elses. Urvin Desai led the way, remarkably collecting his first Team of the Award nomination along the way. Only three players have passed 1000 runs and 100 wickets in all cricket for Civil Service since 2011, Desai, Mubasher Siddique and Gaurav Sehgal, and although Mubasher has four Teams of the Year, Desai and Sehgal were nominationless - until now. Desai took 22 wickets at 11.05, playing in twelve of the team's 14 matches. It is the joint second highest number of wickets in a Civil Service 2 league season, behind Praveg Arkadi's 26 in 2013. Unlike in divisions where one team dominates, with multiple players filling their boots with runs and wickets, performances were hard won in Division 9. Prasan Shah took 15 wickets at 22.13, and Pranav Desai took 10 at 18.6. Seven bowlers took at least three wickets in an innings once, showing that there were plenty of others who perhaps didn't play the full season (nine players played more than half the games). That pattern of a limited number of big performances is matched with the bat. Only two players got to 200 runs, with Simranjeet Singh scoring 300 runs at 33.33, including 113 against Pembroke in June (his first ton in Leinster cricket). The other hundred was scored by Civil Service's other member of the Team of the Year, Ronak Modi. Modi only played five matches for the team (our minimum threshold to be named on the TotY), but his third season in Leinster brought 317 runs at an incredible 158.50. His five innings were 78, 102*, 78*, 27 and 32. 64th place was a seven place improvement on 2018, and is their joint second best season since 2012, alongside 2013 and 2015.
The Hills 3 - 2nd - (Pos in league - 65 (2018 - 63)) - Batting Rating 113 - Bowling Rating 94 - RpO for 4.69 - RpO against 5.20 - Youth %age (by appearances) 24.7% - Average age of team 34.1
Every season between 2014 and 2019, The Hills 3 have finished between 62nd and 69th in the league, so this year's 65th is pretty much in the middle of that range. As such, the season was a qualified success. But if Pembroke's season below is summarised by "Not really having a chance of winning the league after a poor start.", The Hills' season is the opposite, very much "After a great start, the league was there for the taking before it fell apart at the end". 7-2 on the 21st July, hindsight shows us that ten wins would have won the league, so three wins from the last five matches. But in this ultra-competitive league. it wasn't to be. Back to back losses against North County meant that there needed to be wins in the last three matches - against Civil Service, Phoenix and Pembroke. And on a Tuesday night in August, Civil Service went to The Vineyard, won by 24 runs in a T20 refix, and ended The Hills' title hopes. The team's batting was its strength, which of course another way of saying that the bowling was weaker. Of the five bowlers who took at least ten wickets, none was younger than 33, a complete contrast to Pembroke's attack. Jason Magee led with 15 at 19.6, followed by Aijaz Farooqi (14 at 20.21), Charl Koekemoer (12 at 16.08), Malcolm Byrne (12 at 31.83) and Muhammad Hassan (11 at 30.18). One name stands out on the batting side. 17 year old Athar Farooqi scored 388 runs at 38.8, including 50s against Phoenix and Slieve Bloom (twice). Malcolm Byrne completed another strong season, adding to his wickets with 318 runs at 35.33 whilst Aijaz Farooqi was also a pillar of the team with 271 runs at 20.85. None of these made Team of the Year though, an accolade taken by Paul Mc Grane who was the leading wicket keeper in the division with 15 dismissals, which was over twice as many runs as he scored all season.
Pembroke 4 - 3rd - (Pos in league - 66 (2018 - 62)) - Batting Rating 97 - Bowling Rating 99 - RpO for 5.20 - RpO against 4.80 - Youth %age (by appearances) 25.2% - Average age of team 27.5
On the surface, a raft of new members looked to have propelled Pembroke 4 to a new future. Of the eight players who made signifiant contributions to the season, four were new to the club - two new to Leinster, and two more from other clubs. But the run to third place was perhaps a little disappointing, with 66th being the lowest finishing position for the team since our records began in 2011. Against that Pembroke 4 are still the third best 4th team in the province, behind Merrion and Clontarf, so perhaps we shouldn't be too harsh. In the review of Civil Service, we referred to how we would look at how the teams below had missed opportunities. However, that wasn't quite how Pembroke's season panned out. After losing five of their first six matches, the title was presumably the last thing on the player's minds. The tide turned thanks to a 78 ball 115 from Sk Ahmed Zibran Shovon, which propelled Pembroke to 383-6 and a 217 run win over Tyrrelstown. From then on it was a different story, with the next six games being won as well as a walkover over Slieve Bloom. So in terms of missed opportunities, that catastrophic start to the season is as far as we need to look. The two players to make the Team of the Year were both new to the club. Piyush Sharma joined from DLR County, and in nine games, took 17 wickets at 11.82 for the 4ths, as well as having a decent record further up the teams. He made the Division 12 Team of the Year in 2016 with Cabinteely, so collects his second gong this year. Rohan Bajaj was playing his first season in Leinster, and scored an excellent 348 runs at 43.5, although not quite enough to earn a promotion to Pembroke 3! SK Ahmed Zibran Shovon scored 266 runs at 38, Brendan Ferres scored 230 at 28.75 and Sharad Patel got 225 at 32.14. With the ball, the picture is completed with 17 year old Siawash Safi who took 11 wickets at 22.73, Saeedullah Azizi (who took 10 wickets at 16.10 at the start of the year, before finishing the season on the 2nds), and Rahmanullah Orikhel with 10 wickets at 20.60.
Adamstown 3 - 4th - (Pos in league - 67 (2018 - 75)) - Batting Rating 104 - Bowling Rating 106 - RpO for 4.68 - RpO against 4.47 - Youth %age (by appearances) 4.60% - Average age of team 34.1
After three seasons of finishing between 75th and 77th in the league, Adamstown 3 pushed on once more, moving up another eight places on their 2018 position. They have moved up to be the tenth best 3rd team in the province, over-taking North County 3. Two stalwarts of Adamstown led the way, Amandeep Matharoo and Sunil Parashar. During 2019, Parashar moved from 4th to 1st on the all time Adamstown run scoring charts, now standing at 2813 run at 23.25. His contribution in Division 9 this year was 358 runs at 32.55. Matharoo moved from 6th to 4th on the all time Adamstown wicket taking charts (totalling 122 wickets at 18.13) and in Division 9, he took 18 wickets at 20.33. Aman Sangwan was the only other batter to pass 200 runs with 258 at 32.25, whlst four other bowlers crept up to 10 wickets - Sunny Sehrawat (11 at 12.82), Hardeep Singh (11 at 13), Aman Sangwan (11 at 22.09) and Shazid Rahim (10 at 20.70). Adamstown were very much following The Hills' playbook of a string start to the season followed by decline. Adamstown won their first five matches, but then lost their next five, and coupled with two matches not being played (against the bottom two sides), they finished three wins short of the title.
Tyrrelstown 1 - 5th - (Pos in league - 68 (2018 - 74)) - Batting Rating 89 - Bowling Rating 87 - RpO for 4.89 - RpO against 5.34 - Youth %age (by appearances) 0% - Average age of team 33.5
A massively inconsistent season; their highest league position in their third year in Open Competitions; an "unknown" becomes the division's leading run scorer. Tyrrelstown 1's season was definitely not boring. Despite winning six matches, they never put together back to back wins. And even though they lost eight matches, they never lost more than two in a row. But let us start with that leading run scorer. Levon Shields debuted for Tyrrelstown in the back end of the 2018 season, and showed glimpses of his talent in the five matches he played. But in a full 2019 season, he out together some impressive numbers, running up three 50s, 140* in the last match of the season against Slieve Bloom (the highest score recorded for Tyrrelstown), and a total of 464 runs at 51.56. That Tyrrellstown didn't push on up the league is probably down to the lack of support for Shields, with no one else getting to 200. Abhijith Mathew showed what might have been, making our Team of the Year despite only playing five matches. He took 11 wickets at 13.45, playing throughout the season, and how Tyrrelstown could have done with better availability. Two bowlers took 16 wickets - Sachin Dev (at 15.56) and Rajkumar Koka (at 18.19), with Sairam Goud Ayella (11 at 24.18) completing the set.
Phoenix 4 - 6th - (Pos in league - 69 (2018 - 69)) - Batting Rating 105 - Bowling Rating 89 - RpO for 4.61 - RpO against 5.27 - Youth %age (by appearances) 27.3% - Average age of team 29.2
It's probable that when Phoenix 4 walked off the pitch for the last time this season, after a convincing 9 wicket win over Slieve Bloom, they were satisfied. It was a solid win to finish a season when they just about avoided relegation. But to be honest it was very nearly so much better. If they had cobbled together an extra 26 points over the season, it would have been their highest league position in the nine seasons on record. As it was, they remain extremely consistent - the sixth season in a row where they have finished 68th, 69th or 70th. Phoenix 4 had the second highest number of youth players in this division, and a massive 42 players were used across the season, with only four players playing more than half of the matches. Wamiq Siddiqui retained his place on the Division 9 Team of the Year from last year, having a brilliant season with 356 runs at 50.86 including 110* in the first game of the season away to The Hills. Michael Godwin was the rock on which the team was built on, with 211 runs at 19.18 alongside 17 wickets at 15.71. But with so many players only playing a handful of games, that was as good as the prolific seasons got. Thirteen year old Reuben Wilson provided one of the team's highlights, taking 3-18 in the team's final match, to set up victory over Slieve Bloom.
North County 3 - 7th - (Pos in league - 70 (2018 - 64)) - Batting Rating 99 - Bowling Rating 99 - RpO for 4.78 - RpO against 4.88 - Youth %age (by appearances) 32.9% - Average age of team 27.6
North County 3 represent another piece of the evidence in "The Case of the Future Cricketer". North County 3 have been dropping down the leagues in recent years, but have responded in the most sensible way, by planning for the future, and developing the next generation of North County cricketers. But as we have seen in our reviews, making such a decision makes it much harder to compete in leagues, with teams being simply out muscled by older players. But whilst that is a problem for administrators across the province, cricket goes on, and North County seem to have a star in the making. Our final Team of the Year player is 15 year old John Devane who has such a good season for the 3rds that he ended up making his 1st team debut in the last game of the season. He scored 403 runs at 50.38, including 50s against Phoenix, Pembroke, Tyrrelstown and Slieve Bloom. He is the first person to score over 400 runs in one league season for North Couty 3. Devane's batting support came from Nithin Thambi with 287 runs at 35.88 and 16 year old Ciaran Sheridan who scored 212 at 23.56. The bowling attach also seems to suggest a team that was much better than one in the relegation places. Pritish Onmalwar was top with 18 wickets at 21.28, followed by Asad Ali (16 wickets at 24.81), Ali Zawwar (13 at 15.54), Kashif Qazi (13 at 21.54) and Zia Mohyuddin (12 at 15.83).
Slieve Bloom 1 - 8th - (Pos in league - 71 (2018 - 67)) - Batting Rating 74 - Bowling Rating 112 - RpO for 4.59 - RpO against 4.58 - Youth %age (by appearances) 0% - Average age of team 38.4
There's no need to panic for Slieve Bloom 1 who after six years of moving up the leagues, finished four places lower in 2019. In the most competitive league, they won five games, and were only three games off their most successful season ever. It wasn't quite to be, but as we said - no need to panic. The batting was very much the weak link, but an initial look at the Slieve Bloom stats makes it difficult to work out quite why. All nine of Slieve Bloom's leading all time run scorers were playing at some point in the season, but it seems that no one really fired. Seven players passed 100 runs for the season, but only Bilal Iqbal got to 200 runs, with 212 at 21.2. That lack of runs manifested itself in the team only scoring more than 110 on four occasions. The bowling was much better, but that is no surprise as we have the team as having the second best bowling attack in Division 9. It was a four pronged bowling attack, with all four taking 15 wickets in the season. Jameel Awan took those wickets at 15, Waqas Khalid took them at 16.27, Bilal Iqbal at 18.33 and Shahzad Mirza at 19.4.
The full Division 9 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here