Division 11 stats
Leading all time run scorer (2011-2017) - Ali Hashmi (Lucan) - 1641 runs @ 43.18
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 (2011-2017) - Manjinder Singh (Lucan) - 62 wkts @ 17.81
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 June 2011
Most matches - Shafqat Ayub (Clontarf) - 56 - (2012-2017)
Highest 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 - Milverton - 29 July 2012
Team of the Year (in batting order) - Jawad Hasan (Rush), Raghav Khurana (Merrion), Shahbaz Ahmed (Lucan), Shahid Khan (North Kildare) (Division 15, 2016), Ali Hashmi (Lucan), Jobin Thomas (Ashbourne) (Division 13, 2016), David Vincent (Clontarf), Hariprasad Govindharajan (Lucan), Jack McNiece (Clontarf), Gurjit Singh (Merrion, wicketkeeper) (Division 12, 2016), Jithin Jose (Lucan)
Review
Runs per wicket for all teams - 19.64 Runs per over for all teams - 4.65
Ashbourne 1 - Champions - (Predicted 6th) - Batting Rating 112 - Bowling Rating 129 - RpO for 5.09 - RpO against 3.99
Back to back titles for Ashbourne 1, adding 2017 Division 11 to 2016 Division 13. Hats off to all involved with Ashbourne - our (fairly good) assessment was that although Ashbourne would survive in 2017, another league title would be too much. It was tight for sure, but they sneaked home by a handful of points. At the end of June, the outlook was none too rosy, with only three wins from five matches. But a run of six wins in the last seven (including a walkover) meant that a loss to Lucan on August 13 didn't matter. The burgeoning strength of the club can be seen from the fact that there are nine players that are going to get a mention here, although surprisingly only one player made our Team of the Year. Jobin Thomas had a brilliant all round season with 376 runs at 37.6 and 15 wickets at 15.87. The highlight of the season for him was a brilliant weekend in June, scoring 102 on the Saturday against Clontarf 5, and then 108 the following day (June 11) against Merrion 6. (Further research will be needed to find hundreds on consecutive days in Leinster cricket). No one has yet compiled the double of 1000 runs and 50 wickets for Ashbourne - Thomas (917 runs and 47 wickets) and Jeff Conway (956 runs and 49 wickets) lead the way. Conway is worth another mention for his run scoring this year with 203 runs at 20.30 with Terry Bruton being the other batsman to pass 200 runs with 257 runs at 25.7. Those with 100 runs were Anoop Bolledla (169 at 18.78), Shahid Hameed (164 at 27.33), Obaidullah Shahzad (149 at 21.29), Graham Conway (142 at 17.75) and Niaz Ahmed(123 at 20.50). The bowling was Ashbourne's forte, with the skills of Vikram Baby (18 wickets at 14.78), adding to the all round talents of Thomas, Shahzad (12 at 23.67) and Hameed (15 at 14.53). Another multiple promotion may await Ashbourne next year *perhaps Division 9) - can they possibly make it three in a row?
Lucan 1 - Runners up - (Predicted 5th) - Batting Rating 108 - Bowling Rating 118 - RpO for 4.69 - RpO against 4.15
An incredible ten wins on the pitch for Lucan, which wasn't quite enough to win the league title but which should be enough for a promotion, and Division 10 cricket for the club for the first time. The season started off in an amazing fashion with the first two matches (against Clontarf 5 and North Kildare 3) being won by 1 run margins. The crucial match turned out to be an away match to Ashbourne on July 23 which resulted in a 53 run loss. After that, they won their last five. For the third time in the last four years, Ali Hashmi was Lucan's leading league run scorer, and as opposed to 2016 (when he only played five league games), Hashmi made this year's Team of the Year with 512 runs at 85.33. Of those who scored 200 league runs, only YMCA's John Moffat had a better average in 2017. Our warning for clubs with one team (currently Lucan, Wexford Wanderers, Slieve Bloom, Dundalk, Cabinteely, Tyrrelstown and Gorey) is that they lead a precarious existence, and need to develop youth systems and a second team (which in fairness most of those have). Lucan have a real strength in depth - nine players made major contributions and hence may well be able to buck that trend without an extra team. But it is tough. Shahbaz Ahmed was the leading wicket taker with 21 wickets at 12.29, and together with 268 runs at 24.36, it is no surprise that he was Lucan's second TotY representative. Jithin Jose also made it with 14 wickets at only 8.71, and Lucan have a fourth representative - Hariprasad Govindharajan who took 16 wickets at exactly 12. The five contributors who didn't make out Division 11 representative team were Amardepp Dhiman (230 runs at 20.91), Daljit Singh (209 runs at 26.12 and 12 wickets at 17.08), Manjinder Singh (10 wickets at 17.40), Sukhpreet Singh (132 runs at 16.5) and Amit Walia (103 runs at 20.6). As with Ashbourne, Lucan will have a tough 2018 ahead of them.
Merrion 6- 3rd - (Predicted 3rd) - Batting Rating 117 - Bowling Rating 124 - RpO for 5.00 - RpO against 4.32
Merrion 6th's highest league position since 2014, or their 3rd lowest in the past seven seasons depending on your viewpoint. The strongest batting line up in the division were only bowled out for less then 200 three times, and ran up big scores in The Hills (244-6), in Rush (297 all out) and at home to North Kildare (251-3 in a loss). But after winning seven of their first eight, the last last five matches only brought about two further wins. Raghav Khurana led the way with the bat, scoring two centuries in his 391 runs at 55.86 (And a Team of the Year place). Sateender Pal Singh wasn't too far behind with 369 at 33.55. But Merrion's biggest issue may have been amongst the five other players who passed 100 runs without going beyond 150. Amit Kharb (149 at 24.83), Andrew Kay (140 at 17.5), Gurjit Singh (121 at 15.12), Ravi Kiran Kosgi (115 at 14.38) and Sean Hussey (114 at 19). The bowling was a bit stronger with Ravi Shokeen equalling Karthik Neela's 2014 record of most wickets in a league season for Merrion 6 - 20 (at 12.65). Shokeen's heroics were backed up by Rishabh Sharma (13 wickets at 15.77), Khurana (12 at 8.42) and Mark Little (10 at 9.6). Gurjit Singh made the Team of the Year as the wicketkeeper with the most dismissals, adding to his nomination in Division 12 last year.
North Kildare 3 - 4th - (Predicted 7th) - Batting Rating 101 - Bowling Rating 100 - RpO for 5.05 - RpO against 4.77
North Kildare 3's highest league finish since coming 80th in 2011, but there was lots going on behind that headline. Our ranking has them as the 5th best team in the province, and much of that discrepancy is down to an amazing number of close wins. They beat Ashbourne by 3 wickets, Merrion by 2 wickets, Clontarf by 4 runs and Terenure by 5 runs. Without those close wins, they would have been languishing at the bottom of the table. Against that, they lost to Lucan by 1 run, conceded an end of season walkover, and handed Terenure their biggest win of the season. So whilst it could have been a lot worse, it probably could have been a lot better as well. Our Team of the Year has to set a minimum on the number of matches played. Someone who plays two matches scoring a hundred in each can hardly have been said to have been integral to the Division 11 season. Where that minimum comes is arbitrary, but we plump for five matches - normally half of the matches a team plays on the pitch (as opposed to rained off matches or walkovers). And North Kildare's one representative on this year's Team of the Year is one such player. Shahid Khan played five league matches throughout the year, scoring 59, 4, 68, 108* and 21 (and being run out on three of the four occasions he was dismissed!), with North Kildare winning three of the five. It would be difficult to dispute that his 260 runs at 65 helped North Kildare to their league position, and so Shahid makes the Division 11 Team of the Year, to go with his Division 15 award last year. Behzad Majeed provided good support with 237 at 29.62, with Muddasir Zeb (171 at 21.38), and Amarbir Singh (157 at 19.62) not too far behind. Zeb was very much the star with the ball though, breaking Matthew O'Meara's 2013 record of 18 wickets in a North County 3rds league season. Zeb ended up with 21 at 13.71. The other bowler of note was Amarbir Singh with 14 at 23.5.
Clontarf 5 - 5th - (Predicted 1st) - Batting Rating 109 - Bowling Rating 98 - RpO for 4.71 - RpO against 4.47
We had hoped that Clontarf 5 would go all the way to the league title (as that was our prediction), but it wasn't to be. They ended up in 84th place in the league, the sixth consecutive season that they have finished between 83rd and 85th (inclusive). But there are two very obvious highlights, both from products of Clontarf's youth system, and both who made our Division 11 Team of the Year. David Vincent had a fantastic year with the bat, scoring his first 5th team 50 in the last game of the season (after scoring his maiden Open Comps 50 for the 6ths in June). He finished with 194 runs at 24.25 in the league. But it is with the ball that Vincent made the biggest mark. He took 25 wickets at 11.48, the most by a bowler in Division 11 this season, and a total only bettered in Division 11 by Simon Rice of Greystones in 2013. For Clontarf, only Mark Collier (32 wkts for the 2nds in 2015), Asim Nazir (28 wkts for the 2nds in 2014) and Adam Craig (27 wkts for the 3rds in 2012) have taken more for one team in a league season since 2011. But the highlight of Vincent's season was undoubtedly this match (http://www.cricketleinster.ie/results/view/-mount-temple-2017-07-08-130000) against Rush. Vincent bowled six overs, took six wickets and didn't concede a run. The previous best bowling without conceding a run is by nine bowlers who have taken four wickets. On the morning of June 24, Jack McNiece hadn't passed 40 in his short career. A couple of hours later, he had a new career high of 123*, as The Hills were put to the sword. It was one of only three hundreds this season by u15s (or younger), the other two players being Sankeerth Karpe (Phoenix) and Alex Stiles (Railway Union). McNiece cemented his position on the Team of the Year with a further 50, finishing the season with 256 runs at 64. Unfortunately that wasn't enough to propel Tarf to the title, and unusually it was the adults who failed to come to the party. Only two other bowlers got to 10 wickets - Yousuf Tanvir (13 at 25.54) and Brian Cotter (10 at 25.4) and the batting, whilst a bit better was over reliant on youth (that is not a criticism, but success needs the non youth players to perform as well!). Shafqat Ayub had 282 at 25.64, Darragh Devilly (another youth player) was next on the run scoring chart with 220 at 31.43, followed by the ever youthful Samuel Ritchie (142 at 28.40), Adbul Khan (128 at 16) and Selvin Nakka (107 at 17.83)
The Hills 4- 6th (Predicted 4th) - Batting Rating 85 - Bowling Rating 65 - RpO for 4.17 - RpO against 5.51
Not quite the season that was hoped for from The Hills 4, who were ranked as our worst team in Division 11, but scraped their way to 6th place. But perhaps our expectations were too high, especially as the team ended up with its highest league finish since 2011. The highlight of the season was the 48 run win over Clontarf, when Kiwi Katie Gurrey set up The Hills with 99, one of four such scores this year (all the rest were in Division 7). Matt richards was undoubtedly the player of the year with 249 runs at 24.9 and 12 wickets at 25.33. He was the leading run scorer, and only Conor Maguire (15 wickets at 24.93) had more victims. Three others got 100 runs for the season (excluding Gurrey, who got a duck in her only other innings to end up with 99 for the season). Tom Mullen got 156 at 17.33, Jason Magee had 107 at 10.7 and Jason Murtagh 102 at 10.2.
Rush 3 - 7th (Predicted 2nd) - Batting Rating 94 - Bowling Rating 85- RpO for 4.40 - RpO against 5.42
The positivity that the 2016 season had created disappeared, as Rush 3 slipped back to 86th in the league - the same as their lowest position reached in 2015. With their second team gaining promotion, the 3rds look cut adrift, and should really be playing at least a couple of divisions higher. It was a season with few ups, but like The Hills, the best bit was probably a win over Clontarf. Jawad Hasan hit exactly 100, and 14 year old Cian Rock hit 58 as Rush won by 7 wickets chasing Tarf's 235. That century, along with a 98 against The Hills was enough to propel Hasan into our Team of the Year with 274 runs at 54.80 - Rock was distinctly useful as well with 190 at 21.11. Two stalwarts, Sean McCann (139 at 23.17) and Adam Ellison (113 at 18.83) were the only others to pass 100. The winner of last year's Cricket Leinster "Find a Fast Bowler", Daniel Thorne was the only Rush bowler to get to 10 wickets, with 10 at 18.20.
Terenure 3 - 8th (Predicted 8th) - Batting Rating 73 - Bowling Rating 92 - RpO for 3.98 - RpO against 4.91
It was always going to be a tough year for Terenure 3. Even coming bottom was going to mean they finished higher than in 2016, and that was the way it turned out. The batting struggled, with the side bowled out for under a hundred five times. But they were capable of decent cricket, beating Clontarf by 8 wickets (thanks to Michael Hanrahan's 4-13 and JP Harvey's 92*), and North Kildare by 125 runs (Sachin Dev 79* and Asad Ali 6-36). Tellingly, those were the highest two individual scores by the team all year. Harvey finished the season with 155 at 31, Akhil Chaudhary hit 146 at 13.27, Dev 141 at 28.2 and Rory Goldsmith 102 at 25.5. Asad Ali never quite reached the heights of that North Kildare match again, but finished with 16 wickets at 16.94 and 15 year old Patrick Ryan supported with 13 wickets at 16.31.
The full Division 11 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here.