Division 12 stats
Leading all time run scorer (2011-2016) - Aidan Chester (Phoenix) - 774 runs @ 51.50
Most runs in a Division 12 season - Manoj Jacob (Swords) - 415 runs (2013)
Highest score - Shyam Bharti - 138 - Sandyford 2 vs Malahide 5 - Malahide 1 - 25 June 2016
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2016) - Stuart Gallagher (Halverstown, Civil Service) - 65 wkts @ 16.94
Most wickets in a Division 12 season - Azhar Abdullah (Cabinteely) - 26 wkts (2015)
Best bowling - Shailendra Mishra - 7-34 - Cabinteely 1 vs Phoenix 5 - Phoenix - 4 Sept 2016
Most matches - Stuart Gallagher (Halverstown, Civil Service) (2013-2016) and Graham Mooney (Phoenix) (2012-2016) - 44
Highest team score - 333-9 - Adamstown 3 vs Dublin University 3 - Corkagh Park - 27 July 2014
Lowest team score - 12 all out - Merrion 7 vs Malahide 5 - Malahide - 15 Aug 2015
Dundrum 3 withdrew from Division 12
Team of the Year (in batting order) - Rob O'Byrne (North County), Rishabh Sharma (Merrion), Rohit Pahuja (Sandyford), Kevin McPhilemy (Malahide), Shyam Bharti (Sandyford), Piyush Sharma (Cabinteely), Vikram Gade (Merrion), Ravinder Singh (Sandyford), Gurjit Singh (Merrion, wicketkeeper), James Maginnis (Phoenix), Sankeerth Karpe (Phoenix)
Review
Runs per wicket for all teams - 18.73 Runs per over for all teams - 4.36
Merrion 7 - Champions - (Predicted 3rd) - Batting Rating 113 - Bowling Rating 145 - RpO for 4.65 - RpO against 3.67
Losses to Phoenix in April and Cabinteely in September, but between that, Merrion 7 put together a marvellous run of nine straight victories to lift the Division 12 title, their first ever league title. It was a fine all round performance with bat and ball. Eight batsman passed 100 runs for the season, with three deserving of an extra mention. Karan Singh scored 262 runs at 32.75, Rohit Pahuja an excellent 276 runs at 55.20 and the leading scorer was Amit Kharb with 365 runs at 30.42. With three batsmen scoring so many runs at such a good average, it is easy to see how Merrion were so successful (although it must be said that that is not reflected in their scores - they "only" passed 200 on two occasions). The bowling was rated as being much stronger than the batting, and that was based on Rishabh Sharma's 24 wickets at 8.75. This was Sharma's debut season for Merrion, after a stellar winter season indoors, and batsmen in Division 12 found his action as hard to work out as those indoors had. Only Matt Petrie (28 wickets in 2011 for Merrion 1) and Rex Walsh (25 wickets in 2011 for Merrion 3) had taken more league wickets for one Merrion team in a season since 2010. Vikram Gade was also excellent with 19 wickets at an incredible 6.42. It was Merrion 7's highest league position (90th) beating the 91st place of 2011.
Cabinteely 1 - Runners up - (Predicted 1st) - Batting Rating 124 - Bowling Rating 121 - RpO for 4.84 - RpO against 3.83
Heartache for Cabinteely 1, who after missing out on their first ever piece of silverware against Merrion 7 in the 2015 Junior Cup final, were again pippled by the Anglesea Road side in this year's league. Promotion will have to be the consolation, and the side, currently playing out of St Andrew's College until a home in Cabinteely can be found, matches their 2015 placing of 91st in the league. The difference between second and first lace may have just been down to a simple stat in the batting. Although nine players passed 100 runs, no one went higher than Akhil Jain's 148 runs at 21.14. And there aren't too many title winning sides around without anyone scoring 150 runs in a season. There may have been an element of sharing the workload with bat and ball as incredibly, seven bowlers took at least ten wickets in the season, with Jain (16 at 19.19) and Shailendra Mishra's 16 wickets at 10.25. Mishra's 16 wickets included the best figures recorded in a Division 12 match, beating Ivan Morgan's 7-36 for Railway Union against Adamstown 3 in 2014. Mishra took 7-34 against Phoenix 5 on September 4.
Phoenix 5 - 3rd - (Predicted 8th) - Batting Rating 116 - Bowling Rating 106 - RpO for 4.15 - RpO against 4.29
A proverbial two fingers to this column, after we predicted last place for Phoenix 5. The end of the season slightly spoiled matters, with four defeats to close things out, but the stunning start to the season cannot be forgotten, as eight straight wins put the team in a great position. As with Cabinteely, the problem with the batting was a lack of batsmen going on to have great seasons. Seven passed 100 runs, but only Arslan Mehmood passed 200, with 213 runs at 35.50 (and crucially, he only played in one of the last four lost games). Fourteen year old Louis McDonagh was the leading wicket taker with 16 wickets at a brilliant 12.63 - four others also got to ten wickets. On the records front, there was plenty to celebrate. Graham Mooney became the first batsman to score 1000 runs for Phoenix 5 (in all cricket since 2011) when he moved on to 23 against Malahide on July 9th. He now has 1024 runs at 17.36. Mooney was soon passed by Aidan Chester who became the second member of the Phooenix 5 1000 club when he moved on to 11 against Cabinteely on September 4th. Chester has the marvellous record of 1068 runs at 44.50, and on top of that became the leading run scorer in Division 12 with 774 runs at 51.50
Civil Service 3 - 4th - (Predicted 4th) - Batting Rating 100 - Bowling Rating 123 - RpO for 4.29 - RpO against 3.76
The good news is that Civil Service 3 played as was expected, a mid table place not the worst result. The bowling performed very well and the batting wasn't too bad either. On the negative side, this was the lowest that Civil Service 3 have finished in the league in the last six seasons. The club have gone from having the 12th strongest third team in 2011, to the 14th today, having been passed by Adamstown and Rush. Another plus is that eight games were won, and Service were very much closer to the top than the bottom. The batting line up seems to be a familiar tale in Division 12. Colm Faherty scored 213 at 26.62 and Rana Hasan Ur Rahman nearly got to 200 with 196 at 21.78. But there needs to be players topping 200 runs at over 30. The bolwing was built around the strong triumvirate of Manish Mohan (14 wickets at 9.86), Ur Rahman (18 at 11.13) and Stuart Gallagher (17 at 13.47). Gallagher became the leading Division 12 wicket taker of all time (for details see above) as well as the layer with the (joint) most appearances after spells at Halverstown and Service. Ur Rahman was the only player in Division 12 to complete the 150 runs and 15 wickets double (after five completed the feat in 2015)
Sandyford 2 - 5th - (Predicted 2nd) - Batting Rating 117 - Bowling Rating 80 - RpO for 5.09 - RpO against 4.75
A tough year for Sandyford 2, who lost a few players, had further disruption from the use of their ground from the Longitude festival. But there was some hope, with South Dublin County Council moving the ground away from the festival site at the end of the season, which will hopefully lead to better things in 2017. That optimism was added to by the team winning the last four matches played, making a big difference, and saving the team from relegation. Sandyford's batting was their stength and amazingly they scored the best three totals of the season, the best being 294-9 against Malahide in August. Three batsmen had excellent seasons. Anand Joshi hit 203 runs at 20.3, Ravinder Singh 284 at 47.33 and best of all Shyam Bharti who scored 343 league runs at 68.60. The bowling was less successful, and students of the game will be able to work out the details if we said that one bowler stood head and shoulders above the rest. Only one player took more than nine wickets, and that was Anto Burke with 17 at 12.59.
North County 5 - 6th (Predicted 5th) - Batting Rating 89 - Bowling Rating 87 - RpO for 4.14 - RpO against 4.30
A tough year for North County 5 whose league position fell for the fourth year in a row - now at 95th after finishing in 87th in 2012. Only three games were won, one in April and two in July, but they just maaged to edge out Malahide 5 for the second relegation spot, and at the end of the season, that is all that matters. Only Rob O'Byrne passed 150 runs, scoring 255 at 42.50 and the team struggled as a whole, being bowled out for under 150 seven times. The bowling saw youth and experience combine well. Youth players Lorcan Woodhouse (10 wickets at 16.60) and Owen Graham (15 at 17.33) being backed up by a certain James Bisto Mooney who added to his career haul with 11 at 15.58. Foram Mehta only played one game for North County 5 this year, but that was enough for him to get the ten runs needed to be the first North County 5 batsman to get to 1000 runs on August 27th against Merrion. His record is 1006 runs at 20.12
Malahide 5 - 7th (Predicted 6th) - Batting Rating 82 - Bowling Rating 85 - RpO for 3.60 - RpO against 5.14
It was nip and tuck all year between Malahide 5 and North County 5 but in the end it was Malahide who just missed out on safety. Two of the last four matches were won to give hope, but it was a solitary win from the first ten matches of the season that did the damage. Malahide have been well served in the last couple of years sons of Strabane and Kevin McPhilemy keeps churning out the runs. His availability wasn't as good this year, but on the occasions he played for Malahide 5, he scored well - one hundred and two fifies in his six innings for 297 runs at 74.25. Of the six games played, three were the three wins. Any club can take a poor season if youth has developed, and this very much provides a silver lining for the team's season. Four bowlers took ten or more wickets, with youth to the fore. Three players who were 15 year olds during the season - Ben Askew (17 wickets at 17.71), Zak Woods Oliver (15 at 15.13) and Daniel Read (11 wickets at 28.64) did well, with Geoff Read the old hand - 11 wickets at 31.55.
Leinster 6 - 8th (Predicted 7th) - Batting Rating 73 - Bowling Rating 69 - RpO for 4.25 - RpO against 5.20
And with a heavy heart (as a proud Leinster man) we come to the final team in this year's Division 12. Leinster 6's season just never got going, and they lost eleven straight matches on the pitch And when they did finally win the last game of the season, the scorecard wasn't submitted so any performances in the match have been lost for ever (athough the OCC did award them the points for the win). In fairness to Leinster, they used this team as a youth development team, and used 41 players in all - far more than anyone else in the Open Competitions reviews to date. Patrick Lynch was out on his own with the bat (214 runs at 26.75), the only player to pass 100 runs. And the ball didn't offer much more cheer - no one passed ten wickets with the best being Mark Tonge's 8 wickets at 15.75. A positive to finish off with I hear you say? Well, I suppose Leinster are still the second placed 6th team in the province - a long way behind Merrion, but a long way ahead of Clontarf and Phoenix.
The full Division 12 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here.