Division 15 stats
Leading all time run scorer (2011-2017) - Abdul Khan (Clontarf) - 363 runs @ 40.33
Most runs in a Division 15 season - Shahid Khan (North Kildare) - 353 runs (2016)
Highest score - Michael Hughes - 121 - Dundalk 1 vs Balbriggan 3 - Jack Harper Memorial Ground - 1 Aug 2015
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2017) - Raj Yadav (North Kildare) - 37 wkts @ 5.78
Most wickets in a Division 15 season - Sairam Goud Ayella (Tyrrelstown) - 22 wkts (2017)
Best bowling - Munir Khan - 8-5 - Civil Service 4 vs Rush 4 - Civil Service - 28 June 2015
Most matches - Aidan McDermott (Clontarf)- 17 (2015-2016)
Highest team score - 317-7 - Tyrrelstown 1 vs Ringcommons 2 - Ringcommons - 7 May 2017
Lowest team score - 28 all out - Dundalk 2 vs Clontarf 6 - Dromiskin - 31 May 2015
Team of the Year (in batting order) - Nigel Bainbridge (Merrion), Suresh Kumar Madhikanti (Tyrrelstown), Sairam Goud Ayella (Tyrrelstown), Rajkumar Koka (Tyrrelstown), Rajesh Adi (Knockharley) (Division 14 2016), Raju Siva Shankar (Tyrrelstown), Farhan Khan (North Kildare, wicketkeeper) (Division 15 2016), Bharath Rao (Tyrrelstown), Zahid Rasheed (Knockharley), Riju Varghese (Mullingar), Syed Raza (Carlow)
Review
Runs per wicket for all teams - 15.91 Runs per over for all teams - 4.17
Tyrrelstown 1 - Champions - (Predicted 3rd) - Batting Rating 125 - Bowling Rating 130 - RpO for 4.81 - RpO against 3.44
Tyrrelstown are very much the model of a new club. Their new purpose built, Fingal COunty Council installed ground has been years in the planning, and is now not too far away. Whilst waiting for their ground to be finished, they have started youth systems, with indoor training being carried out every winter for the last few years. And after dipping their toes in friendly cricket and Cricket Leinster cup competitions over the past three years, 2017 saw their first attempt at league cricket. And perhaps not surprisingly with all that preparation, they raced away to the Division 15 title at the first attempt. They won their first five matches, and despite an early July hiccup (losing to Knockharley 3 and North Kildare 4), they won their last two to win the title. Eight players passed 100 runs for the season (Rajkumar Koka, Suresh Kumar Madhikanti, Bharath Rao, Raja Siva Shankar, Jagadish Babu, Hareesh Vuthuri, Sai Jathin Chekhilla and Umeshchandra Goud Burra), and five took 10 wickets or more (Sairam Goud Ayella, Bharath Rao, Jagadish Babu, Rajkumar Koka and Raja Siva Shankar), with Sairam God Ayella breaking the record for the most wickets taken in a Divison 15 season with 22 at 7.64. Amazingly five of those also made our Division 15 Team of the Year. Finally the team ran up the highest total in a Division 15 match, scoring 317-7 against Ringcommons 2 in early May. Those two losses reveal that it wasn't a rout ,and Tyrresltown will have to keep working hard to win another title at a higher level next year.
Knockharley 3 - Runners up - (Predicted 4th) - Batting Rating 95 - Bowling Rating 127 - RpO for 3.46 - RpO against 3.51
Whilst it is not unknown, promotion winning teams tend to have a well balanced team with a handful of players making decent contributions. Not so with Knockharley 3 who had Rajesh Adi and Zahid Rasheed to guide them to second place. They were the only two players to pass 100 runs for the season, and for good measure they both finished with exactly 200 runs - 40.7% of all runs scored off the bat by the team. In addition to that, the two stars (both were rewarded with a place on our Division 15 Team of the Year, Adi adding it to his Division 14 award last year) dominated with the ball as well, taking 31.1% of all the team's wickets. Ramiz Sohail also got into double figures in the wickets column, taking 10 at 14.5. Knockharley were very much worth their runners-up spot though. No one except Tyrrelstown won more than their six matches, and the two matches against Tyrrelstown in July revealed a team that was perhaps more than just Adi and Rasheed. In a four wicket win on July 8, Daniel Swift took 4-21, before Calum Perry-Knox-Gore hit 53* to seal the win. In the follow up the week after it was back to normal, Tyrrelstown won by 1 wicket, and Adi and Rasheed scored 74 of the team's 115-9 and took 5-48 in Tyrrelstown's successful reply. The team finished in 111th, the same as in 2016, but the joint lowest the team has finished.
North Kildare 4 - 3rd - (Predicted 5th) - Batting Rating 104 - Bowling Rating 101 - RpO for 4.36 - RpO against 3.95
Normally these reviews pick up on the very good or the very bad. North Kildare 4 were neither, winning four and losing four of their eight games played - never scoring more than 183, but never less than 86. That isn't to be sniffed at though - the team finished in its higher league position since North Kildare entered a fourth string in 2015. That lack of headlines translated to the individual performances - three players scored more than 100 runs, but none more than Zubair Sheikh's 127 at 18.14 (the other two were Kawsar Islam with 116 at 23.20 and Ankit Rana with 113 at 22.60). The bowling was a bit different - no one passed 10 wickets with the exception of Raj Yadav who took a brilliant 18 wickets at an incredible 3.22 (in the process becoming the highest ever wicket taker in Division 15) .His four returns were 3-13, 5-9, 5-25 and 5-11, but four matches was not enough to qualify for the Team of the Year - you need five matches. North Kildare did have one qualifier though - Farhan Khan who qualified as the wicketkeeper with most dismissals in the league (to go with another Div 15 gong last year), although only four dismissals, Division 15 was not a productive league for keepers!
Merrion 8 - 4th - (Predicted 6th) - Batting Rating 99 - Bowling Rating 102 - RpO for 4.16 - RpO against 4.41
Our ratings compare each team to the average. A total score of 200 reveals an "average" team, and Merrion's 201 reveals exactly that. They were another team to reach their highest ever position - (113th beating 2014's 116), winning four of their nine matches. They didn't look like winning the league, but there again were never really in a bad position - 3-5 was their worst position after August 12, and the best being 1-0 after game 1. Two players passed 100 runs for the season, although in very different circumstances. Nigel Bainbridge made our Team of the Year, with 169 at 24.14, becoming the bedrock of the team's batting. Vishal Mediratta wasn't really a fixture on Merrion 8th's team - he played one match in early May, scoring 108 versus Carlow 2. The bowling was decent enough without being ground-breaking. Velamati Srikanth led the way with 14 wickets at 12.21, with Suresh Giri not too far behind with 12 at 11.42.
Carlow 2 - 5th - (Predicted 1st) - Batting Rating 98 - Bowling Rating 82 - RpO for 4.75 - RpO against 4.52
We tipped Carlow 2 to lift the silverware this year, but it wasn't quite to be, the team finishing in the same 114th spot as in 2017. But it was ultimately disappointing, with three wins in a row in July leaving them well placed at 4-3 before four losses to finish the season mucked things up. Sofiat Alam (111 at 11.1) and Mohammed Ismail (130 at 14.44) played most games but didn't really set the world alight, but Vishnu Vardhan Reddy Yannam provided the real runs with 220 at 73.33 - but only played four matches. The bowling struggled - only Ringcommons had a lower bowling rating. Syed Raza was decent but only played in six games (with 14 wickets at 8.93) but next was Mohammed Zamal with 13 at 15.85. At this level, bowlers need to be taking their wickets at well below ten a piece.
Mullingar 3 - 6th (Predicted 7th) - Batting Rating 65 - Bowling Rating 87 - RpO for 3.17 - RpO against 4.59
Facilities are rarely the subject of these reviews. But when grounds start to have a major impact on league placings, it is difficult to ignore. Only one of Mullingar's six home matches was played, and there is not a single team in the province that can fulfil its potential by only playing away. Until work is carried out on improving the drainage in St Finian's College, all Mullingar's teams will struggle. All their six away games were played, but unfortunately they lost all six, and the point is rammed home by their only home match being the one game they won. The batting really struggled, but one player was head and shoulders above the others. No one passed 50 runs for the entire season - apart from Riju Varghese who made our Team of the Year with 160 at 26.67. The bowling was much better, although no one took more than eight wickets.
Ringcommons 2 7th (Predicted 2nd) - Batting Rating 110 - Bowling Rating 67 - RpO for 4.09 - RpO against 5.73
Ringcommons 2 had a tough old time in their first season in league cricket. Put in Division 15, presumably on the basis of their all conquering 1st team, but with hindsight, perhaps Division 16 would have been better. The amazing thing about the first Ringcommons 2 season was that they only completed five matches all season. Of those five, they won two and lost three (two of which were against Tyrrelstown) which indicates there was a good team there waiting to get out. Four were rained off; one just wasn't played, and a couple of times Ringcommons couldn't field a team. With so little cricket, it was perhaps not surprising that there were no individual performances to talk of. But that first season is now out of the way, and they will come back stronger next year.
The full Division 15 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here