Division 11 stats
Leading all time run scorer (2011-2018) - Ali Hashmi (Lucan) - 1641 runs @ 43.18
Most runs in a Division 11 season - Ali Hashmi (Lucan) - 553 runs (2014)
Highest score - Tariq Islam (Laois) - 239* - Laois 3 vs Bagenalstown 2 - Togher - 15 May 2011
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2018) - Manjinder Singh (Lucan) - 63 wkts @ 17.97
Most wickets in a Division 11 season - Simon Rice (Greystones) - 34 wkts (2013)
Best bowling - Simba Mujeni (Knockharley) - 8-6 - Knockharley 2 vs Bagenalstown 2 - McGrath Park - 4 Jun 2011
Highest team score - 409-1 - Laois 3 vs Bagenalstown 2 - Togher - 15 May 2011
Lowest team score - 20 all out - North County 5 v The Hills 4 - The Vineyard - 29 July 2012
Most Matches in Division 11 (2011-2018) - Shafqat Ayub (Clontarf) and Jason Magee (The Hills) - 61 (2012-2018)
Cricket Leinster's new website will be launching in the spring, but until then all player stats for the last eight seasons can be found at https://www2.cricketstatz.com/ss/web.aspx?mode=104&club=4530&team=.
Team of the Year (listed in the order, five batsmen/one wicketkeeper/five bowlers)
Batsmen: Jack McGee (Rush), Rana Tariq (Clontarf) (Div 11, 2015; Div 16, 2015), Noman Shahid (Rush), Rishabh Sharma (Merrion) (Div 12, 2016, 2017), Usman Shaukat (Rush)
Wicketkeeper: Akshay Dubey (Merrion)
Bowlers: Murali Raparta (Merrion), Ravi Shokeen (Merrion), Jack MacNeice (Clontarf) (Div 11, 2017), Sreedhar Pendyala (Merrion), Brian Cotter (Clontarf) (Div 7, 2013)
Review
Runs per wicket for all teams - 20.18 Runs per over for all teams - 4.84
Merrion 6 - Champions - (Pos in league - 82 (2017 - 82)) - Batting Rating 118 - Bowling Rating 163 - RpO for 5.08 - RpO against 3.82
Merrion 6 won their sixth league title, their first since 2010, and their first ever Division 11 title, when they finished clear of Clontarf 5 by 72 points, remaining unbeaten for the season. They ended up in the same league position of 82nd in Leinster, somewhat better than their low of 88th in 2015, but a long way behind their best of 59th in 2011. As with all dominant teams, the individual stats are strong, but with Merrion they are particularly weighted towards the bowling. We rank their batting a only the third best in the division, with both Clontarf and Rush being better. That transferred to only two players passing 200 runs for the season. Andrew Kay scored 265 runs at 37.86 and Rishabh Sharma made his third Team of the Year (after making the Division 12 cut in 2016 and 2017) with 215 runs at 43. But it is the bowling attack where the Division 11 title was won, with two bowlers dominating. It may be worth looking at the totals of the opposition as the season progressed. Rush 99 ao (Ravi Skokeen 3-14, Murali Raparla 3-15), The Hills 159-9 (Raparla 2-27), Sandyford 142 ao (Shokeen 3-29, Raparla 1-20), Clontarf 190-9, Sandyford 77 ao (Shokeen 1-2, Raparla 2-20), Sandyford 155 ao (Shokeen 2-24, Raparla 1-21), The Hills 48 ao (Shokeen 2-10, Raparla 4-5), Civil Service 64 ao (Shokeen 2-15, Raparla 1-1), YMCA 58 ao (Shokeen 3-11, Raparla 6-16), Rush 131-6 (Shokeen 1-19), YMCA 84 ao (Shokeen 4-18, Raparla 3-11), North Kildare 108 ao (Raparla 3-15). It was a dominant performance from both players, and both were named on the Team of the Year - Raparla with 27 wickets at 7.14 and Shokeen with 25 at 8.08. Both totals were the most wickets taken for Merrion 6 in a league season. Both players look capable of playing at a much higher level. Two more also made our Division 11 Team of the Year - Sreedhar Pendyala took 12 wickets at 9.265 and Akshay Dubey was leading keeper with 13 dismissals.
Clontarf 5 - Runners up - (Pos in league - 83 (2017 - 84)) - Batting Rating 127 - Bowling Rating 127 - RpO for 5.76 - RpO against 4.19
Another solid year for Clontarf 5, who finished in either 83rd or 94th place in the league for the sixth year on the trot. They remain the second best 5th team in the province for the second year in a row. They had the second best bowling attack (behind Merrion) and the second best batting (behind Rush). To be honest they were destined to finish in the runners up spot. In hindsight, the season's crucial victory was the 3 wicket win over Rush, when Daire Vickers and and Ben McCabe put on 58 for the 7th wicket to chase down Rush's 209-8. Brian Cotter made his first Team of the Year since the Division 7 team in 2013 taking 16 wickets at 11.25. He was backed up by Muhammad Saleem with 13 at 15.15, Yousuf Tanvir with 13 at 17.85 and 16 year old Jack MacNeice made the team for the second year in a row, with 10 wickets at 9.10. Andy Wordley in his debut season in Leinster led the batting with 274 at 24.91, Rana Tariq made his first Team of the Year since 2015 with 207 at 51.75 and Navneet Sengar scored 214 at 30.57.
Rush 3 - 3rd - (Pos in league - 84 (2017 - 86)) - Batting Rating 158 - Bowling Rating 107 - RpO for 5.02 - RpO against 5.20
There has been plenty of talk around the circuit as players move around clubs, and with money being thrown around at the higher ends of the game. Rush find themselves in an interesting place within this argument, with one of the strongest youth structures on the island, but needing to supplement these young players with better players from elsewhere. But most interesting (to this article anyway) is the make up of teams below that top level. If you were to create an "ideal" team, with a mix of youth players, club stalwarts, and a mix of players coming from elsewhere, you may well end up with Rush 3. There was a small squad of 20 players, with 11 of them being 18 and under. Three of those scored over 100 runs and two scored more than 100 runs and took more than 10 wickets. Star of the show was 15 year old Jack McGee, who scored 517 runs at 64.63, including centuries against Clontarf (in Kenure) and The Hills (in Margaretstown) at the end of the season. It was the second highest number of runs in a Division 11 season, and the highest in a league campaign for Rush 3. Next on the list was Usman Shaukat (also making the Team of the Year) with 324 runs at 40.50, followed by 18 year old Noman Shahid who scored 293 at 46.83 along with an excellent 20 wickets at 11.45. The experience in the team came from Amir Iqbal (16 wickets at 13.75) and Sean McCann (10 wickets at 13.40). As with Clontarf 5, Rush's position in the league is pretty static - they have been between 79th and 86th each year for the past eight seasons, so this year pretty much lived up to expectations.
YMCA 4 - 4th - (Pos in league - 85 (2017 - 55)) - Batting Rating 100 - Bowling Rating 126 - RpO for 4.77 - RpO against 4.08
A rejigging of the league position of YMCA 4 saw them finishing in 85th place - six places below where YMCA 5 finished in 2016, or eleven places below where YMCA 4 were back in 2011. At the end of July it was looking very positive, with the team sitting at 8-1 in the league, but availability struggled come August, and a couple of walkovers dented the league position. YMCA's age profile was similar to Rush's with 12 of the 23 players used being youth players. YM's batting struggled, with only Andrew Jackson having a season to be proud of with 254 runs at 36.29. The bowling was a different matter though, with only Merrion and Clontarf being ranked higher. Two youth players led the way - 13 year old Yash Balasubramanium with 13 wickets at 12.62 and 15 year old Jack Davy with 10 wickets at 14.50. One other bowler of note was a player who can't really be described as a youth player - David Cooke, who took 10 at 13.70.
Sandyford 2 - 5th - (Pos in league - 86 (2017 - 89)) - Batting Rating 81 - Bowling Rating 97 - RpO for 4.55 - RpO against 4.78
Sandyford 2's season is very much one that can be looked at in a glass half empty/glass half full kind of way, and we're still not quite sure which it should be. Starting with the "that's quite a lot of liquid" approach, Sandyford 2 finished in their highest league placing since 2015 when they dropped a third league team. They started the league brilliantly (winning their first two matches), and finished it brilliantly (winning their last three matches). They also moved up one place in the Leinster rankings of 2nd teams, overtaking Greystones to moves into 24th position. However, if we're thinking, "Where did that liquid disappear to?" there was a spell from April 30 to August 18 without a win. The club currently doesn't have a single youth or female player (cutting off the main source of new players), meaning that any continual improvement needs to come purely from attracting new players. On the pitch, performances were dominated with bat and ball by Shyam Bharti. He was the only player to pass 200 runs with the bat, with 296 at 29.6 and led with ball as well with 16 wickets at 14.69. Two other bowlers got into double figures - Bhupinder Nizer with 11 wickets at 20.36 and Anurag Singh 10 wickets at 16.60.
The Hills 4 - 6th (Pos in league - 87 (2017 - 85)) - Batting Rating 103 - Bowling Rating 79 - RpO for 4.65 - RpO against 5.22
In a (mostly) youthful division, The Hills were another one going down the youth/experience route, although with not quite as much success as Rush. 33 players played for the team, with 13 of those being youth players. The bowlers struggled though, and the team ended up finishing in 87th - only 2014 and 2015 saw lower positions. Matthew Richards had a stellar season, leading from the front with bat and ball with 479 runs at 39.93 and 14 wickets at 23.50. As with Richards, the rest of the successful bowlers were of a more advanced age, with Conor Maguire taking 11 wickets at 16.36, and Quintin Gaddy 10 at 19.90. The exception was 16 year old Lorcan Woodhouse with 14 wickets at 14.71 including a career best 6-20 against YMCA. The batting saw youth to the fore. Two more 16 year olds were next after Richards, Athar Farooqi with 222 runs at 22.2 and Conor O Brien with 209 at 20.9. The team remain as the 8th best 4th team in the province.
Civil Service 3 - 7th (Pos in league - 88 (2017 - 83)) - Batting Rating 69 - Bowling Rating 78 - RpO for 4.92 - RpO against 4.52
The last four seasons have seen Civil Service 3 settle into a steady pattern position in the league - a bottom half of Division 11/top half of Division 12 kind of team. With that background, 2018 was a success, with the highest finishing position in the league since 2015's 87th. The team only played 11 games on the pitch (they gave a walkover, received one from North Kildare and didn't play YMCA at home) and so individual performances were lacking. There was a large squad of 36 players, although 20 of those only played one or two games. Of the sixteen others who had the chance to contribute a bit more to the season, unfortunately not a single one managed to get past our 200 run or 10 wicket qualification mark. Srinivas Yerramsetti was leading run scorer with 149 runs at 24.83, and Alan O'Hara was leading wicket taker with 8 wickets at 23.38. Their batting was ranked as the worst in the division, and their bowling was only better than North Kildare's. 2019 may see them back as a "Top of Division 12 team".
North Kildare 3 - 8th (Pos in league - 89 (2017 - 83)) - Batting Rating 77 - Bowling Rating 59 - RpO for 4.03 - RpO against 6.88
Much of North Kildare's traumatic season has already been discussed, so there is no reason to rake over coals here (especially as things are looking much more positive for 2019). But without putting too finer a point on it, North Kildare 3 came bottom ,and they were lucky to be that good. The headline may say that North Kildare only finished six places lower than their 83rd place in 2017, and that only in 2011 and 2017 have North Kildare 3 finished higher. But with North Kildare 2 withdrawing from the league, this was effetively the club's second string - who finished 52nd in the league in 2017. Predictably, the individual performances were nothing to write home about. Only James Machin was really worthy of acclaim - his 12 wickets costing 30.75 a piece. Leading run scorer was Behzad Majeed with 184 runs at 46.
The full Division 11 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here