Division 11 review - Part 2

 Division 11 stats

Leading all time run scorer (2011-2015) - Ali Hashmi (Lucan) - 953 runs @ 38.12
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 (2011-2015) - Diarmuid Power (Bagenalstown) - 41 wkts @ 15.10
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 - Foram Mehta (North County) - 36 - (2012-2014)

Highest team score - 409-1 - Laois 3 vs Bagenalstown 2 - Togher - 15 May 2001
Lowest team score - 20 all out - North County 5 vs The Hills 4 - Milverton - 29 July 2012

Review

YMCA 5 - Champions - (Predicted 2nd) - Batting Rating 109 - Bowling Rating 122 - Overall Rating 231

YMCA were one of only two teams to get through the league season unbeaten - Phoenix 3 were the other. The two crucial games of the season were within six days of each other at the end of the season, when YM played eventual runners up Castleknock 2 twice. The margins were small (4 wickets and 12 runs), but the results were all that mattered. It was a success built on the talents of Nitin Thambi, who had a fine all round season. He was the leading run scorer with 277 at 27.7 and the leading wicket taker with 23 wickets at 11.35, which was the highest total in the division. Not too many other batsmen put in massive contributions (Karl Medcalf was the only other batsmen to clock up 200 runs with 234 at 33.42), but the bowling was YM's real strength. The next cricketer off the Tector conveyor belt, Tim came second to Thambi with 14 wickets at 14.36, with the 51 years older David Cooke (by his own admission) also having a good season with 11 at 11.09. Another under 13, Mike O'Reilly also took 11 (at 13.18).

Castleknock 2- Runners up - (Predicted 4th) - Batting Rating 96 - Bowling Rating 122 - Overall Rating 218

A bit of a curate's egg of a season. They chased YMCA hard, and if they had beaten the champions twice at the end of the season, they could have stolen the crown. They finished two places higher than we thought they would. But it also meant that Castleknock 2 finished two places lower than in 2014, and their season finished badly - including the two YM losses, they lost the last three. The batting was nothing to write home about (ranked the 6th best in the division), with the talents of Muhammed Nurulain Boda the one shining light (324 at 36). The bowling was up their with YMCA's though, with Boda once again the star with 19 wickets at 11.21. Faran Khalid formed the other prong of the toasting fork, with 18 wickets at 13.44. Hopefully Castleknock will move up to Division 10 next year - but they will have an even tougher challenge.

Clontarf 5 - 3rd - (Predicted 5th) - Batting Rating 107 - Bowling Rating 106 - Overall Rating 213

A solid season from Clontarf, who out-performed our prediction, in the process finishing in their highest league position in recent years, up one place on 2014's 84th. A bit of a gloss was put on the season with a three game end of season winning streak, but they all count. The batting was built around Rana Tariq's 283 runs (at 31.44), as the highest scorer for Clontarf all season, it won't be the last time his name crops up in these reviews. The bowling was dominated by Madan Gopal's 20 wickets at 13.05 with Pankaj Bhamare also chiming in with 12 at 16.75. It was pretty much a team effort though, and despite not too many dominating, Tarf scored over 200 three times, and dismissed the opposition for under 150 another three times.

Lucan 1 - 4th - (Predicted 8th) - Batting Rating 89 - Bowling Rating 90 - Overall Rating 179

Ali Hashmi became the first player to score 1000 runs for Lucan CC, but despite being the pre-eminent Division 11 player over the last two seasons, he couldn't propel Lucan to glory - on his own anyway. He scored exactly 400 league runs this year, and the commendable average of 33.33. Amit Walia added 262 runs at 29.11, but yet five times Lucan were dismissed for under 130 - hence their low batting rating. The bowling was similar, with Manjinder Singh and Abdul Ashraf both taking 16 wickets (at 18.56 and 20.38 respectively), but not a great deal of depth after that. Based on that batting and bowling, their overall team ranking was the worst in the division. Things should be kept in perspective though. 2015 was Lucan's best ever finish, and by ending the season at 84th in the league ladder, they have improved from 93rd in three seasons.

Pembroke 5 - 5th - (Predicted 7th) - Batting Rating 106 - Bowling Rating 102 - Overall Rating 208

Pembroke's season was a little lop-sided - they played twelve of their matches by the end of July. So although it would be fair to say their end of season run saved their year, that run was spread over three matches from July 19th to the middle of September! They ended up finishing in exactly the same league position as in 2014, and as such it seems as if the recent rot has been stopped, which saw Pembroke 5 slip in the league every season from 2011-2014. Both the batting and the bowling performed pretty well, and if it wasn't for a couple of 1 wicket defeats (at home to Castleknock and Rush), they would have finished much higher. Two players passed 200 league runs - Gordon Clarke with a distinctly useful 270 at 45, and Simon Heaney with 226 at 22.6. Incredibly, there were six bowlers who took ten or more league wickets. Joe Prendergast led the way with 16 at 11.88 (for details of the other five, refer to the averages below). Crucially though, Prendergast was the only one of those six to average under 15, and successful league campaigns need several such players.

Rush 3 - 6th (Predicted 3rd) - Batting Rating 107 - Bowling Rating 91 - Overall Rating 198

Rush 3 slumped to their lowest league finish since 2010 - although it mush be said that in each of the last five seasons they have finished between 79th and this year's 86th. David Carthy was the stand out performer, with 206 runs at 34.33 and 10 wickets at 20.3. There wasn't a great deal of support though - no one else scored 200 runs, and with the ball it was only Awas Azeem's 12 wickets at 14.33 which shone from the averages.

Civil Service 3 - 7th (Predicted 6th) - Batting Rating 102 - Bowling Rating 80 - Overall Rating 182

On the surface, Civil Service 3 seemed to have a promising year. Plenty of batsmen finished with lots of runs, and plenty of bowlers took wickets. They only did a bit worse than their predicted finish of 6th place, and so no one should be unduly worried. However, it was the team's worst finish since 2010, and somehow the player's performance wasn't translated into results. Five times their opponents scored over 200 times in the league (and on a further three occasions, they didn't have to, as they successfully chased less than 200). So although four bowlers had a double digit entry in the wickets column, only Munir Khan's 12 at 17.5 was at an average of under 20 - and that is where the problem lay. Vishal Ranade (331 at 30.09) and Tariq Quadri (200 at 18.18) were the only two to pass 200 runs, but their talents weren't able to overcome the shortfalls of the bowling.

Merrion 6 - 8th (Predicted 1st) - Batting Rating 89 - Bowling Rating 95 - Overall Rating 184

Rarely do a Merrion side fall short of expectations. They have been successful for so long (as with most other Merrion junior sides), that it was easy to forget that they may fail. In 2011 they finished 59th in the league structure (equivalant to 3rd in this year's Division 8). Since then it has been a slow slide, and this year was guaranteed to be their worst in the last five years. But even then, a top half finish should have been possible. At the end of June, things were still looking rosy, with the team having won three of the first five. That was as good as it got though, and they lost the last six to finish bottom. Praveen Nair was the sole member of the 200+ runs club, with 233 at 29.12. With the bowling, Vikas Gulati had the astounding figures of 19 wickets at 9.84. There can be a thin margin between success and failure in league cricket - and it looks like Merrion 6 just happened to fall on the wrong side.

Division 11 batting averages 2015 (Qualification 100 runs)

Division 11 Bowling averages 2015 (Qualification 6 wickets)