Division 3 review
Leading all time run scorer (2011-2017) - Vijay Gopal (Clontarf) - 2110 runs @ 34.59
Most runs in a Division 3 season - Barry Archer (Balbriggan) - 614 runs (2011)
Highest score - Vijay Gopal - 157 - Clontarf 2 vs Civil Service 1 - Castle Avenue - 7 Sept 2014
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2017) - Mark Collier (Clontarf) - 116 wkts @ 15.29
Most wickets in a Division 3 season - Mark Collier (Clontarf) - 32 wkts (2015)
Best bowling - Glenn Kirwan - 7-14 - Malahide 2 vs Pembroke 2 - Malahide - 17 July 2016
Most matches - Mark Collier (Clontarf) - 69 - (2011-2017)
Highest team score - 393 all out - North Kildare 1 vs North County 2 - Inch - 25 May 2014
Lowest team score - 30 all out - YMCA 2 vs Leinster 2 - Observatory Lane - 13 Sept 2017
Team of the Year (in batting order) - Harry Archer (The Hills) (Division 8, 2017; Division 9, 2015, 2016; Division 12, 2015), Neil Brown (Merrion) (Division 3, 2015, 2016), Saqib Bahadur (Leinster), Vikas Dhiman (Merrion) (Division 5, 2015; Division 6, 2012, 2013), Beant Bhatal (Merrion) (Division 3, 2016; Division 4, 2014, 2017; Division 5, 2015), JJ Cassidy (YMCA), Mohit Sane (Merrion), Nitin Naik (Phoenix), Malik Amjad (Leinster), JJ Walsh (Merrion), Andrew Leonard (Pembroke) (Division 5, 2017)
Review
Runs per wicket for all teams - 22.88 Runs per over for all teams - 4.60
Pembroke 2 - Champions - (Predicted 6th) - Batting Rating 91 - Bowling Rating 113 - RpO for 4.40 - RpO against 4.32
Rejoicing in Sydney Parade as Pembroke 2 lifted their first tier three league title since being crowned Senior 2 champions back in 1966, which in itself was Pembroke 2's only ever league title. Rain followed the team throughout the season, with six matches being postponed or abandoned, and it meant that Pembroke only completed ten matches, winning eight, losing two, with there being no matches against Malahide, Merrion at home or The Hills away. And this is where our review gets slightly controversial. We ranked Pembroke as being only the 4th best team in the division, their batting as being the 7th best, and only one Pembroke player making our Team of the Year. Why is that? Well, there was lots of scrapping during the season, with many players making their mark at different times. A look at their wins reveals what happened. At home to The Hills, three batsmen got to 40, no one passed 50, and no one too more than three wickets; at home to Clontarf, no one scored more than 31, except Jack Balbirnie's unbeaten 100; away to Phoenix it was Sanil Gupta's 72 that set up the win (and he followed it up the following match with a ton away to Clontarf); at home to YMCA, Pembroke were 55-5 before Alec Barrett and JJ Garth added 100 to win; at home to Phoenix, no one scored more than 32, but Fiachra Tucker's 4-25 won the match; away to YMCA, number 11 Andrew Leonard top scored with 24; and at home to Leinster it was Diarmaid Tucker's turn with 66. So there you have it - no one dominated, but every match there was someone to chip in. Andrew Leonard was the one member of the Team of the Year, adding to his appearance on the Division 5 team as well. He took 13 wickets at 13.15 in only seven matches in the second half of the season. Only one other bowler got to double figures in the wickets column - Gavin Hoey with 15 wickets at 19.73. Sanil Gupta not surprisingly led the batting, his 50 and 100 contributing to 274 runs at 27.4. He was followed by Diarmaid Tucker (231 at 23.10), Declan Vermaak (164 at 18.22), JJ Garth (129 at 25.80), Dale McDonough-Kinkade (127 at 12.70), Achmat Carr (116 at 19.33) and Jack Balbirnie's 100 at 100. And that just adds to the slightly odd feeling around the batting - no one (apart from Balbirnie's cameo) averaged over 30.
The Hills 2 - Runners up - (Predicted 4th) - Batting Rating 112 - Bowling Rating 103 - RpO for 4.78 - RpO against 4.57
The highest league position since the end of the 2011 season for The Hills 2, a result that was very much based on three things - the continuing brilliance of young Harry Archer, the continuing brilliance of a not so young Nadeem Akhtar, and the arrival of three new players from elsewhere in the province. They never quite were able to mount a title challenge, never winning more than three in a row (the last three of the season), and those three wins at the end enabled them to catch Leinster in second, rather than overtake Pembroke at the top. Archer was the dominant figure for the team, and the sole member of the Team of the Year (to add to his Division 8 accolade). He hit three 50s and scored 346 runs at 34.6, the second highest total in the division. Nadeem Akhtar was the leading wicket taker with 18 wickets at 20.61, including the best figures in Division 3 this year - 7-31 away to Malahide. The three players that fell in to The Hills' lap from other clubs made a massive difference to the success of the team. Laois' loss was The Hills' gain, as Rashid Mehraj and Mohammed Ramazan added beef to both batting and bowling. Mehraj scored 236 at 29.5 and took 15 wickets at 16.87, whilst Ramazan scored 203 at 29. The third newcomer was Roger Kear who moved from Balbriggan, and took 11 wickets at 20.09. Four other batsmen made minor contributions to the cause - Mark Dwyer (118 at 19.67), Andrew Kavanagh (118 at 16.86), Joseph Clinton (111 at 37) and Tomàs Rooney Murphy (109 at 27.25). A good job well done.
Leinster 2 - 3rd - (Predicted 7th) - Batting Rating 100 - Bowling Rating 133 - RpO for 4.88 - RpO against 4.30
After being tipped for failure in this column, Leinster 2 blazed brightly for most of the season, before falling away in the home straight. They won their first six matches of the season, before winning only one of their last five. As with Pembroke and The Hills, it was their best finish in the league for a few years - in Leinster's case since they were last in Division 2 in 2013. Leinster's two members on the Team of the Year were both bowlers, and their season sums up the team's season as well. Saqib Bahadur played in the team's first five matches, taking 12 wickets at 11.67 - once he had gone they won only two from six. Malik Amjad was there for the whole season, and in fairness finished strongly as the team stuttered, taking 15 wickets at 15.27 in his debut season in the province. Anees Ahmed was useful with 13 wickets at 16.54, and the indefatigable Gavin Gilmore took 10 at 18. Together they combined to be the best bowling attack in Division 3, although perhaps the pre-August attack rather than the post-July one. The batting wasn't the same force, and no batsman passed 200 runs. Peter Johnston led both as captain and leading batsmen with 179 runs at 35.8, although could only fit in six matches around his Ireland commitments. Bahadur made an impact with bat as well as ball with 166 at 33.20, followed by Hugh Mac Donnell (155 at 38.75), Danny Coad (141 at 35.25), David Lucas (130 at 26), Patrick Lynch (125 at 13.89) and Chris Janik (121 at 40.33).
Merrion 2 - 4th - (Predicted 2nd) - Batting Rating 117 - Bowling Rating 106 - RpO for 4.93 - RpO against 4.43
For a column that has long lamented the predictability of Division 3, with Merrion 2, Clontarf 2 and YMCA 2 dominating for the last handful of seasons, it could be churlish to criticise those teams too much for failure. After all, their lack of success turned Division 3 into one of the most exciting for years. But Merrion's 4th place is as odd as the poor seasons of Clontarf and YM. They dominated our Team of the Year with five members, and were ranked as the second best team in the league. But what went wrong? A look at those five stars may help the analysis. Neil Brown has been one of the unsung heroes of the last decade for Merrion, scoring 1835 at 28.23 in all comps. He is the highest run scorer for Merrion 2 in the league since 2011, and yet hasn't played for Merrion 1 since 2012. His record this year was 305 runs at 43.57, and was the third year in a row that he has made the Division 3 Team of the Year. Vikas Dhmian was Merrion 2's leading run scorer this year with 365 runs at 40.56, and became an ever present on the 1sts after his first two Senior 50s in the Leinster Senior Cup. Beant Bhatal has been much described in these reviews, scoring 285 runs at 35.62. This is the second year in a row that he has made the Team of the Year in Division 3, and also made the Division 4 Team of the Year this year. Mohit Sane played for Dublin University in Division 2 for the first half of the season (albeit without too much success) before joining Merrion and taking 12 wickets at 15. And finally to JJ Walsh who makes his first ever Team of the Year after taking 25 wickets at 13.44. It was the highest number of wickets taken in Division 3 this year, the highest ever by a Merrion bowler in Division 3, and the 4th highest ever in Division 3. But with those five players, how did Merrion lose six matches? At home to Phoenix, four of those five payed, Dhiman scored 34 and Walsh took 2-32, but it wasn't good enough. In the return match, Walsh and Dhiman were missing, Sane took 4-55 and Bhatal was the second highest score with 39. Away to Leinster Brown and Sane were missing, but JJ Walsh's 4-31 couldn't make up for the failures of the batsmen. Away to YMCA, only Sane was missing, Bhatal top scored with 73 and Walsh was again the best bowler with 3-37. Away to The Hills, Bhatal again top scored with 63* but the bowlers had an off day. And finally at home to Clontarf only Dhiman and Walsh played and neither really contributed. Looking at all of that, the a good few of the five missed the games that were lost, and others didn't step up to fill the gap. Only Walsh and Sane took 10 wickets or more; and only three more passed 100 runs - Bhavesh Lakhotia (251 at 27.89), Sean Stanton (126 at 21) and Michael Lewis (107 runs in his only innings!)
Clontarf 2 - 5th - (Predicted 3rd) - Batting Rating 103 - Bowling Rating 101 - RpO for 4.54 - RpO against 5.03
A disjointed season for Clontarf, which when disjointed had a Mark Collier sized hole in the middle. The leading Division 3 all rounder for the last seven seasons (he is the only player to achieve the 1000 run/100 wicket double) only played in the second half of the season, and only took four wickets, leaving the Clontarf bowling attack to be perfectly adequate, but no better. The team played four matches in May (winning only one), didn't arrange any for June, and then had three of four postponed in July, to leave them at 1-4 entering August. Four wins from the final six recovered the position somewhat, to leave them with their lowest league finish since 2012 - which was also the last year when the team didn't have any representatives on our Team of the Year. Three bowlers put their hands up, Ehsan Ali being the best with 18 at 18.67 followed by those two Clontarf stalwarts - Asim Nazir (13 at 21.15) and Vijay Gopal (12 at 18.50). Decent figures, but not quite good enough to maintain the standards of previous years. There was a very similar feel to the batting. Nazir (246 at 27.33) and Gopal (232 at 23.2) passed 200, but the rest were a bit under-cooked - Robert Patterson (185 at 23.12), Junaid Altaf (175 at 17.5), Andrew Vincent (170 at 28.33), Waqar Azmat (140 at 28), and Collier himself with 135 at 27. The problem ended up being the number of players who were unable to play a full season - only four players (Ali, Altaf, Gopal and Nazir) played more than eight of the eleven matches.
Phoenix 2 - 6th (Predicted 5th) - Batting Rating 107 - Bowling Rating 90 - RpO for 4.59 - RpO against 4.61
Glass half full time - Phoenix 2 may have come 6th, but that was their best finish in the league in the last seven seasons. They just did enough, winning five games and finishing above YMCA 2 in 7th place due to the extra bonus points received in matches such as the one run loss to Pembroke, or the two wicket loss to Clontarf. The team could never quite get any rhythm to the season. never winning more than one match - but never losing more than two in a row. The lack of potency in the bowling attack was the main problem, in 50 over matches, Phoenix only managed to keep their opponents below 200 three times - twice against Merrion (which they won) and once against Pembroke (which they lost). That trend is matches by the bowling stats, where although six bowlers got to the arbitrary 10 wickets, they were all at averages over 20 - Vish Vaidyanathan (14 at 23.79), Gordan Millar (11 at 21.09), Matthew Scott (11 at 25.64), Nitin Naik (10 at 20.50), Muhammad Asim Jan (10 at 28.10) and Aaron Joseph (10 at 34.40). Not only did Naik have the best average with the ball, he also had a stellar season with the bat, making our Team of the Year with 249 at 41.5. The batting was very much Phoenix's strength, although the stats are skewed a bit by three players who only played a few games, but scored heavily. Tom Anders showed how he is now far too good for Division 3, scoring 106* and 47*, Richard Lawrence showed that he has always been too good for anything other than the very highest level with 200 runs at 100 (in three innings) and South African exchange student Keegan Cox scored 100 at 33.33 in three matches. Sayed Mehdi Shah was next after Naik wtih 246 runs at 22.36, followed by others not yet mentioned - Matt Scott (186 at 20.67), Naeem Shahzad (163 at 13.58), Vish Vaidyanathan (161 at 26.83), and Amit Battan (145 at 13.18). Not the worst season, but there will need to be improvements in 2018.
YMCA 2 - 7th (Predicted 1st) - Batting Rating 94 - Bowling Rating 83 - RpO for 4.49 - RpO against 4.86
Something of a disastrous season for YMCA 2, who slumped to 23rd place in the league their worst finish since 2011. With the league structure not yet released for the 2018 season, there has to be a risk that YMCA will be relegated, although Merrion 3's position at the top of Division 4 may well prevent that. The season can be split into three very distinct parts. A poor start to the season (0-3), led to a good period between mid-July and mid-August (4-1) before a poor end to the season raised those relegation worries (1-4). And as was alluded to in the Phoenix review each of YMCA's wins were close (4 wickets three times, 1 wicket and 18 runs) which meant bonus points were at a premium. Neither batting nor bowling particularly shone, and we made YMCA's bowling as the worst in the division with only Sam Streek (10 wickets at 21.2) and Tamim Faqiri (12 at 24.17) worthy of mention. Seven times YMCA batted second in 50 over matches, and on each of those occasions the opposition ran up many more than 200. A few youth players scored well - Andrew Blair-White with 256 at 28.44, Rory McGovern 165 at 15 and Aviral Shukla with 201 at 22.33, band as with YMCA 3, that was mixed with the tried and trusted - Alan Lewis with 239 at 29.88, Yogesh Kumar Kashyap 168 at 84 (in only three innings), and John Moffat with 117 at 39. One more player passed 100 runs - JJ Cassidy with 101 at 20.20 in only seven matches. Cassidy was the one YMCA player on the Team of the Year, making the selection as the wicketkeeper in Division 3 with the most dismissals.
Malahide 2 - 8th (Predicted 8th) - Batting Rating 82 - Bowling Rating 90 - RpO for 4.30 - RpO against 4.57
A season that ended up being as difficult as imagine for Malahide 2, who came bottom, albeit a 24th place that has only been bettered twice in the past seven seasons (2011 and 2016). At the end of May, they were in a decent position, having won three of their first six games. But that was as good as it got, losing the remaining six games that were completed from June onwards. Thus is the life of a yo-yo team - joyous promotion one year, and heart-breaking relegation the year after. There was plenty to be optimistic about though, and we'll attempt to paint a cheerful picture! The bowling was dominated by two players at opposite ends of their career. Conor Gibbons may have thought his days of leading a Division 3 attack were over. He played enough games in 2016 to get 9 wickets, but nearly doubled that this year, with 17 wickets at 18.06. Should anyone forget, Gibbons is the leading Open Competitions wicket taker since the start of the 2011 season with 247 wickets at 19.06. Anyone who could name the eleven who have taken 200 wickets (without cheating!) would be doing very well. At the other end of the scale, sixteen year old David O' Halloran had the type of season that many dream of. Still playing for Malahide 4 in 2016, O' Halloran made his 1st team debut in June, and ended up playing 16 1st team matches, averaging 53.5 with the bat. It was with the ball that he was most effective for the 2nds, with 17 wickets at 20.82 along with 183 runs at 18.3. Fifteen year old Samuel De Klerk scored 173 at 17.3, and Riley Shoebridge hit 157 at 15.7. At the other end of the scale Nick Tuner keeps churning the runs out with 320 at 30.2 and Michael Hingston had his most successful season for Malahide with 257 at 25.7.
The full Division 3 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here.