Division 13 stats
Leading all time run scorer (2011-2016) - 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 (2011-2016) - Rob Gorvin (Dublin Univ) - 55 wkts @ 13.55
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) - Fintan Moore (Laois), Muddasir Zeb (North Kildare), Jobin Thomas (Ashbourne), Mamoon Rashid (Halverstown), Matthew Chase (North Kildare), Manoj Jacob (Swords), Shahid Hameed (Ashbourne), Nitin Rajwar (Dublin University), Fahad Ansari (Leinster, wicketkeeper), Nitish Kokalumchuvattil (Swords), Wasif Rashid (Halverstown)
Review
Runs per wicket for all teams - 17.44 Runs per over for all teams - 4.07
Ashbourne 1 - Champions - (Predicted 4th) - Batting Rating 117 - Bowling Rating 123 - RpO for 4.56 - RpO against 3.75
A triumphant year for the Ashbourne club. They had undoubted promise, but many (me included) felt that a three division jump (after last year's runners up spot in Division 16) would be a gap too big to bridge. It was a close run thing, and Swords 2 pushed right to the end, but in the end Meath beat Fingal. Ashbourne 1's losses were frequent enough to always raise the possibility they wouldn't win the league, with losses in May to Swords, in June to Halverstown and in July to North Kildare. But just when it was needed, the team put in a five match unbeaten run to the end of the season to seal the deal. Team stability was crucial, with ten players playing at least nine games, and that stability meant there were lots of fine performances. Eight batsmen passed 100 runs, and four of them went on to break the 200 run barrier. Vipin Baby (212 at 23.56), Anoop Bolledla (230 at 23), Terry Bruton (289 at 27.37) and Jobin Thomas (352 runs at 44.00). According to our ratings, the bowling was even stronger. Six bowlers got into double figures, with Baby (19 at 14.47) and Shahid Hameed (19 at 8.00) leading the way. A fine season - how much further can they go next year?
Swords 2 - Runners up - (Predicted 3rd) - Batting Rating 109 - Bowling Rating 136 - RpO for 4.50 - RpO against 3.35
It is not often a promotion winning season is branded a failure, and I'm probably being unduly harsh. But there is probably a hint of regret amongst the Swords 2 squad. They nearly won their first ever league title, but in the end finished only one place higher than their lowest ever finish in 2015 (they have been very consistent though, finishing 96, 98, 100 and 99 in the four years in the league). And it all went down to the last game, when they lost by 89 runs to Ashbourne, crashing to 76 all out. A win there and they would have been champions. But less of the doom and gloom - Swords were solid all season and deserved promotion. The batting wasn't as strong as the bowling, and it is easy to see why. Seven batsmen passed 100 runs, but none more than Manoj Jacob's 164 at 32.8 (Sibu Jose also scored 164 runs, at 27.33). The bowling was better, but still not amazing - five bowlers managed ten wickets, but none more than 11. The difference between 1st and 2nd in the league was a batsman with 250 runs and a bowler with 15 wickets.
Halverstown 1 - 3rd - (Predicted 1st) - Batting Rating 114 - Bowling Rating 110 - RpO for 3.90 - RpO against 3.83
It just didn't quite happen for Halverstown 1. Tipped for the title, they got off to a distinctly average start, losing three of the first five matches. Four consecutive wins in June and July reignited the challenge, before losses to Ashburne and Bagenalstown at the end of the year put out any lingering flames. Even the league title would have been Halverstown's lowest league position since we started recording such matters in 2011, and as it was they finished in 100th place in the league, below the previous low of 95th in 2015. Mamoon Rashid was imperious with the bat, scoring 366 runs at 73.20, although much of that was down to 141* against North Kildare in the last game of the season (making him the top run scorer in the division). Barry Ashmore scored 170 runs at 15.45, but Halverstown missed the presence of the other two batsmen to score 50s - Darren Ryall and Trevor Wardrop who only played seven matches between them. With the ball, Neville Case continued as Halverstown's leading wicket taker of modern times (15 wickets at 13.27), John Threadgold was as dependable as ever with 14 wickets at 12.29, and Wasif Rashid took 18 at 8.94. The star of the show was Mamoon Rashid who added 21 wickets (at 10) to his runs. He became the third player to score 300 runs and take 20 wickets in a Division 13 season, after Anto Coates (Ringcommons) in 2012 and Muhammad Navid (Railway Union) in 2013.
North Kildare 3 - 4th - (Predicted 5th) - Batting Rating 122 - Bowling Rating 84 - RpO for 4.88 - RpO against 4.70
Back at the end of May, North Kildare looked down on the rest of Division 13, after four straight wins - including victories over top three sides Halverstown and Swords. After that it all went a bit wrong, and only two more matches were won. It's difficult to find specific reasons as to why that turn around happened. Kamal Gambhir had two excellent bowling performaces in those four matches (4-25 and 3-16), but didn't take more than one wicket in an innings for North Kildare 3 all season. Behzad Majeed scored a brilliant 113 in the win over Laois - but then didn't pass 35 again all season. Muddasir Zeb brilliant orchestrated three of those wins with 43, 30* and 56*, and despite being consistent all season, couldn't carry the batting on his own. So no major reason behind the dispiriting June - September spell, but lots of minor ones. Zeb was leading run scorer with 313 runs at 34.78, Tehseen Hashmi scored 251 at 20.92, and Majeed scored 241 at 30.12 (including that century). The bowling wasn't as impressive though with six teams scoring more than 185 in an innings. Matthew Chase took 15 at 7.60 and Amarbir Singh, 12 at 16.67.
Bagenalstown 2 - 5th - (Predicted 8th) - Batting Rating 84 - Bowling Rating 115 - RpO for 3.60 - RpO against 3.41
Congrats to Bagenalstown 2 who were predicted to come bottom, and in the end improved their 2015 league placing by five places (to 102nd) - enough for a comfortable mid table postition. They are still a long way behind where they were in previous years (85th in 2011) but at least the decline has been reversed. It wasn't looking quite so rosy in August - a couple of walkovers recevied was keeping them afloat, before the last three mathches of the season were won. Runs were at something of a premium and the batting is ranked as the second worst in the division. Only three players passed 100 runs (Ray Stapleton, Shozab Taj and Zahir Uddin), with only Uddin averaging over 20 with 187 at 23.38. Despite playing ten games on the pitch, only Stapleton got 10 wickets, 10 at 18.1. Eight bowlers took at least three wickets in an innings though, so the load was shared!
Dublin University 3 - 6th (Predicted 6th) - Batting Rating 87 - Bowling Rating 97 - RpO for 3.74 - RpO against 4.24
A season for Dublin University 3 that can be described as you see fit. Either "It was another year where Trinity finished between 97th an 103rd in the league structure, positions they have held every year since 2011", or "Trinity finished in their lowest spot in the last six seasons, 103rd "bettering" their 102nd of 2015". So not a disaster, but nothing to write home about either. The highlight of the season was probably the narrow 8 run win over Swords in July. Sam Huleatt-Games hit 48* to get Trinity to 147 all out, before a fine all round bowling effort saw six bowlers take wickets, and Swords just falling short. One batsman was head and shoulders above the others - Nitin Rajwar scored 292 runs at 36.50. The bowling attack was a two pronged affair, with Rajwar taking 16 wickets at 12.31 and Kevin Threadgold 14 at 17.43, although it was the six wickets that Rob Gorvin took that enabled him to be the new highest wicket taker in Division 13 history. Rajwar broke Garin Howell's 2013 record for most runs for Dublin Univ 3 in a league season.
Laois 3 - 7th (Predicted 2nd) - Batting Rating 110 - Bowling Rating 76 - RpO for 4.36 - RpO against 4.59
Laois' batting raced at along at a great rate, scoring at 4.36 runs an over, and being rated as the fourth best batting of the division. Unfortunately for them, the opposition took a liking to the bowling attack, which conceded runs at an even faster rate, and was rated as the worst in the league. Eight sides managed to score more than 150 against Laois 3 - without being bowled out, which can be a rare enough occurence in Division 13. Noman Raees was the one bright spot in the bowling attack, with 17 wickets at 14.06, only going for 3.92 an over. No one else got more than eight wickets. Six batsmen passed 100 runs with Fintan Moore way ahead with 339 runs at 56.50. He became the fourth batsmen to score 1000 runs for Laois 3 (1000 runs at exactly 50.00) and Adrian Tudor got the two wickets he needed to become the first to 100 wickets for the team (101 at 16.52)
Leinster 7 - 8th (Predicted 7th) - Batting Rating 61 - Bowling Rating 77 - RpO for 2.85 - RpO against 4.69
Something of a car crash season for Leinster 7. Seven times they were dismissed for under 100, and those runs were scored at a crawl of only 2.85 runs per over. There were a couple of wins, over Laois and North Kildare, and they finished in the same league position as in 2015 (105th - although they couldn't have done worse). Only three batsmen scored more than 100 runs and only one of those, Fahad Ansari averaged more than 20 - 163 at 20.38. The bowling was a good bit more hopeful (although still the second worst in the league). Maaz Mushir Ahmed Khan led the way with 18 wickets at an excellent 11.56, and Asad Javed took 15 at 14.93.
The full Division 13 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here