Division 4 stats
Leading all time run scorer (2011-2016) - Furqan ul Haq (Railway Union) - 1590 runs @ 30.58
Most runs in a Division 4 season - Mubasher Siddique (Civil Service) - 737 runs (2013)
Highest score - Rashid Mehraj - 199 - Laois 1 vs North Kildare 1 - Togher - 29 July 2012
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2016) - Naveed Khan (Civil Service) - 69 wkts @ 14.25
Most wickets in a Division 4 season - Yaqoob Ali (YMCA) - 36 wkts (2011)
Best bowling - Yaqoob Ali - 8-16 - YMCA 2 vs Malahide 3 - Malahide - 10 July 2011
Most matches - Furqan ul Haq (Railway Union) - 55 - (2011-2016)
Highest team score - 396-5 - Railway Union 2 vs North Kildare 1 - The Maws - 4 Aug 2012
Lowest team score - 53 all out - Civil Service 1 vs North Kildare 1 - The Maws - 15 June 2013
Team of the Year (in batting order) - Abdullah Hafiz (Railway Union), Naeem Shahzad (Phoenix), Furqan ul Haq (Railway Union, wicket keeper), Joseph Clinton (The Hills), Michael Kirk (Greystones), Naveed Khan (Civil Service), Medwin Hippolitus (Dundrum), Osama Khan (The Hills), Andrew Blair-White (YMCA), Graham Morris (Phoenix), Salman Ali (Dundrum)
Review
Runs per wicket for all teams - 21.94 Runs per over for all teams - 4.61
Phoenix 2 - Champions - (Predicted 2nd) - Batting Rating 129 - Bowling Rating 124 - RpO for 5.16 - RpO against 4.18
A tenth league title for Phoenix 2, and the second this century after 2014's Division 14 title. It was a job well done by Phoenix, who were desperate to right the relegation of 2015, and did so well, losing once all season (to Railway) and winning the title by a 22% margin. The work will soon begin to make sure that their position in Division 3 can be consolidated, but for now it is time to sit back and reflect on a job well done. There were big wins (140 runs against The Hills, 155 runs against Greystones, 130 runs against Merrion) and some narrow ones (one wicket against YMCA, eight runs against Civil Service), but big or small, thirteen matches were won. The individual performances were pretty phenomenal. Nine players reached 100 runs for the season (five of them at an average over thirty), and three of them went on to pass 200 runs. Ian Anders hit 226 runs at 20.55 and Sayed Mehdi Shah, an impressive 375 runs at 31.25 but the star of the show was Naeem Shahzad with 490 runs at 49.9. It was the most runs scored in a league season for Phoenix 2 since Masud Ahmed scored 581 runs in 2011. The bowling was no less impressive, and it is difficult to ignore any of them. Gordan Millar took 10 wickets at 19.70, Ian Anders 14 wickets at 21.64 (to go with his 226 runs), and Muhammad Asim Jan, 15 wickets at 16 runs per wicket. Those three would have given Phoenix a decent bowling attack, but they also had two more. Vish Vaidyanathan had 17 wickets at 19, and star of the show Graham Morris. Morris took 26 wickets at 11.12, placing him third on the list of most wickets for Phoenix 2 in a league season (behind Matt Lunson and Branam Adams). After spending 2015 with Clontarf, Amit Battan has been stuck on 978 runs for Phoenix 2 .After returning to Phoenix over the winter, he passed the 1000 mark during his first knock of the season, making him the first to pass 1000 runs for Phoenix 2. He now has 1200 runs at 23.53. Sayed Mehdi Shah was the second player to get there, reaching the milestone on August 27 versus The Hills. He now has 1044 runs for Phoenix 2 at 24.86. A great season.
The Hills 2 - Runners up - (Predicted 1st) - Batting Rating 122 - Bowling Rating 107 - RpO for 4.79 - RpO against 4.46
The Hills had one aim for the 2016 season, and that was to get back in to Division 3. That was achieved, although perhaps not as successfully as they would have liked. There were enough losses throughout the season (five of them) to keep the chasing pack interested, but Railway Union and Civil Service finished some way back, despite all three teams winning seven matches on the pitch. The crucial matches against Railway Union were both won, and although the one match against Civil Service was lost, it didn't cost the Skerries side too much. Nadeem Akhtar had a brilliant season, rolling back the years with 31 wickets for The Hills 2 in all forms. That meant he was the first player to take 100 wickets for The Hills 2, and he now has 115 wickets at 25.75. In the league he took 27 at 15.15 (the most wickets in the league for a Hills 2 bowler). The supporting bowlers were a couple of old hats and a new tyro, with Mark Dwyer (11 wickets at 13.73) and Osama Khan (13 at 9.85) being the former, and Andrew Kavanagh (14 at 16.93) the latter. The batting was a similar mix of the past, the present and the future. Joseph Clinton has been there on bought the t-shirt, and delivered once more with 280 runs at 35. The present was Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin, the Lightning player nursing his way back into form with 203 runs at 101.50 in three matches. The future was in the form of Mark Donegan, who hit a solid 267 tuns at 26.7. As with Phoenix, The Hills now need to consolidate their position in Division 3.
Railway Union 2 - 3rd - (Predicted 4th) - Batting Rating 101 - Bowling Rating 94 - RpO for 4.69 - RpO against 5.03
The good news for Railway Union 2 was that 2016 saw the highest league position for the team since the 27th place that they occupied between 2011 and 2013. But that may be scant consolation for another failure to gain promotion to Division 3. It was a close tun thing though, and victory in either of the two matches over The Hills could have been enough to get that second place. However in both games, The Hills convincingly had the upper hand, and there can be no real complaints from Railway, a feeling enhanced by them only being the fifth best team according to our ratings. The bowling was scored especially badly, and as has been stressed many times in these reviews, successful teams need bowlers taking at least fifteen wickets at a very low average. Railway had neither, with four bowlers taking 10 or 11 wickets - Eoghan Grehan (10 at 27.6); Andrew Jackson (11 at 31.36); Hamza Maan (11 at 17.27) and Dhram Singh (10 at 22.3). The batting was better, with three players getting over 200 runs. Alex Stiles scored 234 at 21.27 but the top batsman by a long way was Abdullah Hafiz, with 471 runs at 58.88 - the most league runs scored by a Railway Union 2 batsmen since our records began. The third batsman to reach 200 runs was Furqan ul Haq, who has long been the leading run scorer in Division 4, and has now also taken the record for most Division 4 matches played. On July 3 this year against Phoenix, he also became the first player to score 2000 runs in all cricket for Railway Union 2. His career record now stands at 2098 runs at 30.41.
Civil Service 1 - 4th - (Predicted 5th) - Batting Rating 104 - Bowling Rating 108 - RpO for 4.75 - RpO against 4.23
A second attempt by Civil Service to get back to Division 3, but a second failure. The team got off to a shocking start to the season, not winning until July. At that stage avoiding relegation would have been the aim, but a fantastic run of six wins on the trot saw Service surge up the table. A very strong finish could have got them promoted, but losses to Phoenix, Dundrum and Railway ended that dream. Two great servants of Civil Service both passed 100 career wickets for the first team during the season. Mubasher Siddique was first there on July 9 against YMCA 3. His career record stands at 117 wickets at 20.46, and he was joined in the centurion club by Naveed Khan on August 14. He is eight wickets behind, with 109 wickets at 17.83. Four players have already reached 1000 career runs for Civil Service 1, but the only one to have 2000 is Siddique who completed a remarkable double when he took his 100th wickets on July 9th. Five weeks previously, he had scored his 2000th run for the Service first team, scoring 2431 runs at 30.30 in total. In our trawls through the records, he is the only player to have scored 2000 runs and taken 100 wickets for one team. There may be others as we complete our reviews. Watch this space. Siddique was perhaps obviously the star of the team, with 358 runs at 29.83, one of four players to pass 200 runs. The other three were Keith Webster (225 at 25), Nilesh Joshi (298 at 27.09) and Khan (221 at 36.83). The bowling was also fairly strong, and also dependent on Siddique. The star allrounder took 25 wickets at 14.16 to go with his 358 runs. Not far behind him in the star stakes was Naveed Khan, who added 25 wickets (at an exceptional 11.4) to his 221 runs.
Dundrum 1 - 5th - (Predicted 7th) - Batting Rating 75 - Bowling Rating 123 - RpO for 4.11 - RpO against 4.12
A season that threatened disaster, turned out to be pleasantly surprising for Dundrum 1. They finished one place below their all time high of 2015, and that probably wasn't the expected finish, when on August 27th they still only had one win to their name. But more than any other team in the league, Dundrum 1's summer didn't really start until September, and they played seven games in the last 17 days of the season, winning the last four to finish solidly mid table. The batting wasn't great, being bowled out for under 125 on four occasions. Only Srikanth Boddu (247 at 22.45) and Ramji Padmanaban (200 at 18.18) got to 200 runs, but neither could be said to have set the world on fire. The bowling was a different story though, with three bowlers returning distinctly useful seasons. Medwin Hippolitus took 15 wickets at 12.73, Muhammad Javed took 18 wickets at 18.33 but the best bowler by far was Salman Ali. Ali has had spells with YMCA and Sandyford, but curiously has not bowled a great deal, with his previous best being 2013, when he took 7 wickets for Sandyford at an average of 24 (in Division 5). But this season, his bowling was a revelation, taking 28 wickets at 11.39, smashing Renjith Nair's previous 2015 record of 21 wickets for Dundrum 1 in a league season. Dundrum have survived a tough season, and hopefully will be stronger in 2017.
Merrion 3 - 6th (Predicted 6th) - Batting Rating 96 - Bowling Rating 85 - RpO for 4.61 - RpO against 5.46
A season that ended pretty much as could be expected for Merrion 3. They just about avoided relegation, but succeeded in being the best third team in the province, wrestling back that title from YMCA 3. Only four games were won all year, but that was enough to finish comfortably above YMCA and Greystones. The two matches against Greystones were shared, and the one match against YMCA was won. It needed a few more performances to seal their position in Division 4, the pick of which was a 7 run win over The Hills 2, thanks to an all round bowling effort that saw five bowlers take wickets. No side leaked runs quite like Merrion did, with the opposition averaging at 5.46 per over across the season. Vikas Dhiman was the only bowler to bowl more than 20 overs at an economy rate of less then 4.5, so it wasn't as if any one in particular was to blame! Two youth players led the way, with Sean Stanton taking 14 wickets at 28.21 and James Walsh matching him with 14 wickets the better average of 17.39. The batting was a good bit better, with several strong performances. Three players passed 200 runs, although the fact that none of them went past 228 reflects their league position. Ross Shivmangal was top with 228 runs at 32.57, perennial run scorer Alan Parkinson scored 219 at 21.90 and Dhiman scored 206 at 34.33. The league structure for 2017 hasn't yet been seen, but it is probably that Merrion will be tussling with either YMCA or Phoenix for the title of top third team in 2017 - and odds are that they will come out on top again.
YMCA 3 - 7th (Predicted 8th) - Batting Rating 81 - Bowling Rating 81 - RpO for 3.87 - RpO against 4.64
YMCA 3 matched their finishing position of 2015 (31st), but in the end that was not enough to save them from relegation. There were wins over Dundrum and Civil Service, but only playing Greystones and Merrion once each probably didn't help (although they lost to both teams in the games they did play). There isn't too much more to say - it is tough for a third team to play in Division 4 - it was tough for YMCA in 2015 and it remained tough in 2016! There wasn't even part of the performance to blame. Both bowling and batting were ranked seventh best in the league. Andrew Blair-White had another excellent season with 297 runs at 49.50, a total that included four 50s in only seven innings. But he didn't have a great deal of support, with no one else getting more than 146 runs over the season. The bowling was a good bit better, with four bowlers getting to ten wickets. The top two were Philip Samson Francis taking 15 at 18.53 and Rory Anderson leading the way with 16 at 15.75. It wasn't quite good enough though, and YMCA 3 will wait to see whether they will be in Division 5 next year, or whether they have once again been reprieved.
Greystones 1 - 8th (Predicted 3rd) - Batting Rating 95 - Bowling Rating 79 - RpO for 4.67 - RpO against 5.07
A disappointing year for Greystones 1. Tipped to do well by all it just didn't happen. They started well, winning two games in May, but when they resumed cricket in June, their unbeaten record was quickly lost, and they then lost the next five. A win over YMCA rekindled hopes of survival, but it wasnt' to be, as the last four games were lost. The reasons behind the poor season are probably only known in the club, although from 2015 John Moffat and Greg Lambert were badly missed. The batting was relatively successful, with Michael Kirk having an excellent season with 277 runs at 46.17, and stalwarts John Fitzsimons (213 at 26.62) and Danny Barclay (232 at 29) contributing well as well. The bowling wasn't quite of the same calibre, with Manpreet Singh being the spearhead of the attack (19 wickets at 18.37) - Luke Mascarenhas coming next with 10 at 27.8. Fitzsimons became the second player to score 1000 runs for Greystones 1 (after David Drane) and now stands second on the all time list for the Druids Glen team with 1205 runs at 41.55.
The full Division 4 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here.