Division 13 stats
Leading all time run scorer (2011-2017) - Adam Ellison (Rush) - 827 runs @ 25.06
Most runs in a Division 13 season - Muhammad Navid (Merrion) - 588 runs (2013)
Highest score - Anto Coates - 203 - Ringcommons 1 vs Rush 4 - Kenure - 8 Sept 2012
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2017) - Kevin Threadgold (Dublin Univ) - 60 wkts @ 12.18
Most wickets in a Division 13 season - Stuart Gallagher (Halverstown) - 36 wkts (2012)
Best bowling - Robin Chalissery - 7-6 - Ringcommons 1 vs Sandyford 3 - Marlay Park - 13 May 2012
Most matches - Adam Ellison (Rush) - 48 - (2011-2014)
Highest team score - 380-6 - Ringcommons 1 vs Rush 4 - Kenure - 8 Sept 2012
Lowest team score - 14 all out - Sandyford 3 vs Ringcommons 1 - Marlay Park - 13 May 2012
Team of the Year (in batting order) - Rehan Ali (Halverstown), Mamoon Rashid (Halverstown) (Division 13 2016), Gunter Bayer (Halverstown), Shamil Koottembeth (Malahide), John Joyce (Wickow County), Robbie O'Neill (Bagenalstown), Graham Mooney (Pembroke), Neville Case (Halverstown), Craig Senior (Pembroke, wicketkeeper), Sean Smith (Pembroke), Noah Smith (Pembroke),
Review
Runs per wicket for all teams - 16.32 Runs per over for all teams - 4.15
Halverstown 1 - Champions - (Predicted 3rd) - Batting Rating 150 - Bowling Rating 145 - RpO for 5.26 - RpO against 3.34
Halverstown 1 bounced back from the disappointment of 2016 with a strong season, resulting in the team winning their fifth league title, and first since 2006. They pretty much cruised to the title, winning eight of their nine matches on the pitch. The eight victories ranged from tight affairs against Malahide 5 (13 runs as well as Malahide being the only tam to beat them) and Bagenalstown (3 runs) to three demolition jobs - 10 and 9 wickets against Greystones, and a win against Wicklow County which needs to be retold (however cruel that may seem). Very few teams win by over 300 runs, but this was one such occasion. Rehan Ali hit a brisk 125 as Halverstown ran up 320-5, before Neville Case took 5-10 to dimiss Wicklow County 2 for only 16 - leading to a 304 run win. Those two both made our Team of the Year, along with Mamoon Rashid and Gunter Bayer. Bayer's best came against Bagenalstown 2, scoring 102* in a total of 159 as Halverstown won by 3 runs - his total was 210 runs at 70. Ali scored 259 runs at 51.8, but the real reason behind Halverstown's success came down to the other two. Between them, Case and Rashid took 39 wickets at the expense of 236 runs. Case took an amazing 22 at 5.95 and Rashid 17 at 6.18 (as well as 181 runs at 36.2). In the five matches the pair bowled, they took 27 of the 46 wickets to fall. Two other players deserve honourable mentions - Richard Greene scored 148 runs at 29.6 and John Threadgold took 11 wickets at 13.82.
Bagenalstown 2 - Runners up - (Predicted 2nd) - Batting Rating 114 - Bowling Rating 136 - RpO for 4.12 - RpO against 3.59
We predicted Bagenalstown 2 would nearly be good enough for the title, and they did us proud finishing in 2nd place (07th in the league), their highest since 2013. After a brilliant start to the season (in which they won their first three matches, bowling the opposition out for under 80 each time) there was a mid-season wobble, before two wins in the last three matches sealed second place. Bowling was the team's strength, but the batting shouldn't be under estimated, with both facets begin ranked as second best in the division. As has been commented on here seven teams in a league is not normally enough. Unfortunately Dublin University realised at a fairly late stage that they could only fulfil seven matches this season, and it meant that many players didn't get the opportunity to fill their boots. For all Bagenalstown's success, only eight matches were played, with two rained off and one not played at all, and therefore stats were not that impressive. No one passed 120 runs with the bat, but three crept past 100 - Shozab Ali Taj with 115 at 28.75, Stephen Hadley (Snr) with 111 at 22.2 and Zahir Uddin, who had 109 runs at 18.17. Amongst those performances there was not a single league 50. The bowling was a similar story, although this apparent gloominess shouldn't be confused with a lack of success, merely a shortened season. Robbie O'Neill was the leading wicket taker with 11 wickets at 10.45 and Hadley had a fine all round season with 10 at 13.6. O'Neill was the team's sole member of the Team of the Year. Bagenalstown 1 finished the as the 27th highest ranked 1st team - and Bagenalstown 2 finished as the 27th best second team. A good year in 2018 will send them above Swords 2 and Sandyford 2.
Pembroke 5 - 3rd - (Predicted 1st) - Batting Rating 109 - Bowling Rating 95 - RpO for 4.08 - RpO against 4.48
Something of a bitter sweet year for Pembroke 5. It always feels better to finish towards the top of Division 13 than to finish towards the bottom of a higher league, and in that Pembroke succeeded in 2017. Against that, Pembroke finished in their lowest position since our records began in 2011 - this year was 98th and the previous worst was 2016's 89th. Admittedly, they couldn't have got any where near last year's postiion, although promotion would have helped. There was a big, big gap between Bagenalstown in 2nd and the rest of the teams, and remarkably Pembroke secured third place with only three wins on the pitch (and an extra one courtesy of a walkover received). The league table doesn't lie though, and we think that Pembroke were good for their third place, although their batting was definitely stronger than the bowling. The batting was down to the old lags, with Graham Mooney leading the way with 230 runs at 32.86. The returning Craig Senior hit 144 at 72, Sean Smith scored 153 at 19.12 and Marcus Beale had 120 at 40. If experience led the way with the willow, the bowling was the preserve of youth. 14 year old Oskar Shorthose took 10 wickets at 15.7 and Noah Smith, who only turned 14 towards the end of the season went one better, making our Team of the Year with a brilliant 13 wickets at 9.38. Smith won't be lonely on the representative team though. Dad Sean also made it, aloing with Mooney and the slightly surprising figure of Craig Senior, who made the team as the wicket keeper with most dismissals in Division 13.
Malahide 5 - 4th - (Predicted 4th) - Batting Rating 96 - Bowling Rating 99 - RpO for 4.22 - RpO against 4.22
As with Pembroke, Malahide 5's year can be looked at in one of two ways. We predicted 4th place, that is where they came, and therefore they lived up to expectations. But it was the 6th consecutive year in which their league position fell. They played as full a season as anyone else, and won half of their ten matches, although until winning four of their last five games, the season didn't look that silver lined! The dominant figure in the squad was Shamil Koottembeth who led the way with bat and ball. He had the game of his life against Halverstown, scoring 125 and taking 5-22, inflicting Halverstown's only defeat, and becoming the first Malahide player since Adam Shehabeddin in 2013 (in this match http://www.cricketleinster.ie/results/view/-malahide-1-2013-06-16-130000) to score 100 and take 5 wickets in the same match. That hundred inflated his batting figures a little bit, with 230 runs at 23 over the season, but there was no denying his bowling, with 15 wickets at 10.07. In a a division of youthful bowling, 14 year old Matthew Carrick was the next best Malahide bowler with 11 wickets at 16.45. The only other batsman to pass 100 runs was Nick Payne with 122 runs at 40.67 in his only three innings.
Wicklow County 2 2 - 5th - (Predicted 7th) - Batting Rating 103 - Bowling Rating 69 - RpO for 4.44 - RpO against 4.86
A decent batting line up was hampered by the worst bowling attack in the division, but as a whole the team recorded the best league finish for Wicklow County 2 since 2012. There were two games lost to the rain, one match just not played, and a walkover given, which mean that only seven matches were completed on the pitch, with four of them being won. They won four of their first five games (with the loss coming to Halverstown), but after that there were only two more matches, both lost. Sanish Ignatious was the leading wicket taker with 10 wickets at 11.8, and Trevor Koen had the best average (and was one of only two players to pass 100 season runs) with 128* in his only match, against Greystones 3. Wicklow's one member of the Team of the Year was the other player to pass 100 runs - John Joyce, who scored 155 runs at 38.75.
Greystones 3 - 6th (Predicted 6th) - Batting Rating 70 - Bowling Rating 70 - RpO for 3.39 - RpO against 4.45
It is a little bit difficult to know where to start with Greystones' season. We'll go for the positives first. Their first season in 2013 resulted in a finish of 113th place. Since then they have gone 115, 118, 116 and then 101st this year. That massive leap emphasizes how difficult a season Greystones 3 could have had, and so in some respects they did ok. Their batting was ranked the worst in the division, and the bowling just a little bit better than Wicklow's. But the actual scores perhaps don't reflect that. They were bowled out for under 100 four times, but against that there were three occasions when they got four or five losing bonus points. They weren't too far away from winning five matches on the pitch. No one took ten wickets on the pitch - Ian Oliver was best with 8 for 135, and three players got to 100 runs, Oliver with 106 at 17.67, Jim Stewart 114 at 16.29 and Paul Longstaff with 133 runs at 14.78
Dublin University 3 - 7th (Predicted 5th) - Batting Rating 80 - Bowling Rating 115 - RpO for 3.62 - RpO against 4.24
Dublin University 3 have finished between 101st and 104th in the league in five of the previous seasons, so perhaps it should be no surprise that they finished 102nd, albeit bottom of Division 13. The realisation that the team would only be able to play half a season instead of the full season that has been played in recent years was a sign that things could be tough, and it some ways it was. However we had them ranked as the 4th best team in the division - with such a truncated season and percentages being used for league placings it can be easy to get a "false" placing. With so few games, there wasn't a chance that any players could make out Team of the Year, but one player has left his mark. Kevin Threadgold took 10 wickets at 10.9 and moved to the top of the all time Division 13 wicket taking table with 60 wickets at 12.18, overtaking his former colleague, Rob Gorvin who had 55 at 12.18.
The full Division 13 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here