Division 6 stats
Leading all time run scorer (2011-2017) - Eoin Sheehan (Rush) - 1371 runs @ 20.46
Most runs in a Division 6 season - Khizer Khan (Railway Union) - 479 runs (2013)
Highest score - Imran Mohammed - 160 - Railway Union 4 vs Longford 1 - Newtownforbes - 22 April 2014
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2017) - Anthony Burke (Sandyford) - 79 wkts @ 14.92
Most wickets in a Division 6 season - Aaron Joseph (Phoenix) - 31 wkts (2014)
Best bowling - Susheel Kumar - 7-13 - Railway Union 4 vs Castleknock 1 - Castleknock College - 14 June 2014
Most matches - Eoin Sheehan (Rush) - 67 - (2011-2017)
Highest team score - 345-8 - Railway Union 4 vs Sandyford 1 - Park Avenue - 14 June 2015
Lowest team score - 33 all out - Knockharley 1 vs Longford 1 - Knockharley - 14 Sept 2014
Team of the Year (in batting order) - Alan Butterly (Rush), Muhammad Haris (Castleknock), Niall Mullen (Rush), Rohit Pahuja (Merrion) (Division 12, 2016), Woody O'Neill (Mullingar) (Division 5, 2015), Vaibhav Sapra (Merrion, wicketkeeper), Muhammed Nurulain Boda (Castleknock) (Division 6, 2016; Division 7, 2015; Division 10, 2016, 2017; Divison 11, 2015), Adriaan van Dyk (Railway Union), Cavon Hall (Mullingar) (Division 10, 2017), Daniel Coffey (Rush), Irfan Qasim (Mullingar)
Review
Runs per wicket for all teams - 20.51 Runs per over for all teams - 4.81
Castleknock 1 - Champions - (Predicted 4th) - Batting Rating 108 - Bowling Rating 120 - RpO for 5.07 - RpO against 4.52
A thoroughly convincing title for Castleknock 1, a famous first piece of silverware of the team after a good few near misses. A scratchy start to the season at home to Merrion saw a 56 run loss, before ten wins from the next eleven matches (an away loss to Mullingar was the only reverse) sealed the deal. They won games batting first; they won games batting second they won games both home and away - a real all round season. A core of six players were the heartbeat of the team. All played at least ten of the twelve matches, and only one other player outside of the sextet managed to get past 100 runs. Two of the six made our Team of the Year, and we'll start with them. What to say about Muhammed Nurulain Boda? Here is named on his sixth Team of the Year (three each for the 1sts and 2nds) in only three seasons - the most by a player in the entire province. He was once again lethal with the ball, taking 25 wickets at 11.40, and is developing into a really good all rounder with 225 runs at 20.45. Muhammad Haris had best season (by far) for Castleknock 1. His run tally has increased each year (254 at 25.4 beating 143 at 35.75 in 2016) and he also had his best season with the ball with 15 and 12.6. The others were perhaps unlucky not to make the representative team. Afkar Ahmed led the run scoring charts with 331 at 30.09, Bilal Chauhan matched Haris, with 263 at 26.3 and 15 wickets at 17.07 and Usman Arshad took 16 wickets at 23.69 and contributed useful runs with 152 at 19. Shakeer Ahmed had a quiet season with 137 runs at 12.45 in twelve games, and the player outside of the sextet was Siddiue Mohi Uddin with 147 at 21. Although the new league structures haven't yet been published, Castleknock 1 look to have the strength to progress further.
Rush 2 - Runners up - (Predicted 1st) - Batting Rating 137 - Bowling Rating 114 - RpO for 5.94 - RpO against 4.48
The 7th consecutive season that Rush 2 finished between 43rd and 46th in the league, but crucially this one means second place, and presumably promotion to Division 5. It wasn't a sure thing for much of the season - at the end of July, Rush were 5-4 and looking at mid table mediocrity. But three wins at the end of the season, against Malahide, Railway Union and Terenure were enough to move them past Mullingar into the second promotion spot. Incredibly twelve players reached either 100 league runs for the season, or 10 league wickets. Weighing up youth advancement against league success is always hard (and the two are not mutually exclusive), and Rush probably got it about right - four of those twelve were youth players. Two players who were not at the youthful end of the scale made the Team of the Year, along with one who is just out of the youth set up. Alan Butterly and Niall Mullen were part of the massively successful Rush sides around the turn of the century, and both are now lending their experience to the next generation. Mullen took 14 wickets at 18.79 along with an excellent 371 runs at 53; Butterly was just behind in the run scoring stakes - 346 at 38.44. The third (slightly younger) player was Daniel Coffey, who on top of 138 runs at 17.25, took 22 wickets at 13.36. Coffey equalled his 2016 record of most league wickets in a Rush 2 season. Fourteen year old Daniel Thorne was next on the wicket taking stakes, with 14 at 18.43, followed by Nicholas Donnelly (13 at 19.54) and 17 year old Aaron McGuire (13 at 18.15). The rest of the run scorers were the evergreen Eoin Sheehan (287 at 23.92 and now the all time Division 6 leading run scorer with 1371 at 20.46), another two 14 year olds, Nathan McGuire (183 at 22.88) and Jack McGee (160 at 22.86), Joshua Murphy (158 at 39.5), Patrick Monks (152 at 38), and finally 16 year old Alex Neary (110 at 27.5). Rush have been the 12th best 2nd team for much of the last few seasons, and although that is approximately correct based on the position of their 1st team, they need to chase down Balbriggan ahead of them.
Mullingar 1 - 3rd - (Predicted 3rd) - Batting Rating 85 - Bowling Rating 126 - RpO for 4.18 - RpO against 4.23
Before the season started, it looked as if Mullingar wouldn't struggle in Division 6, but that they wouldn't be quite good enough to get promoted back to Division 5 - and that is how it turned out to be. Bowling Castleknock out for 44 (on the way to a 9 wicket victory) was the highlight of the season, and if they had managed to beat Rush in one of the two matches (they lost both) the sides would probably have swapped places. But they didn't, so probably not too much point dwelling on it! On first inspection it would seem as if Mullingar's main problem was the batting, as only one player passed 200 runs and a further three scratched together 100. That is slightly skewed by the strength of the bowling - four times they bowled out the opposition for less than 100, and then successfully chased. There isn't too much opportunity for run scoring when the side needs 70 to win! Three of that bowling attack made out Team of the Year. Woody O'Neill has his best return with the ball since 2013, taking 20 at 12.65. That was nothing compared to Irfan Qasim's figures - 20 wickets at 7.15, which was again his best ever return. It as already been seen in our reviews that Cavon Hall was a major contribution to Mullingar 2nd's season, and he proved pretty decent in Division 5 as well, with 232 at 33.14 and 16 wickets at 15.25. Patrick Mount was the fourth member of the successful attack, with 18 wickets at 17, an impressive return. The batting just wasn't as good. Apart from Hall's haul, no one was better than Daragh Ryan's 139 at 23.17, followed by Sheikh Saad (133 at 14.78) and Mark Condell (104 at 17.33)
Railway Union 3 - 4th - (Predicted 5th) - Batting Rating 104 - Bowling Rating 100 - RpO for 5.04 - RpO against 5.23
You'd have to think that Railway Union 3 would be fairly happy with their season. An uncertain year, with a team dropped and a ground out of action, turned into a decent season. In fact, looking at the performances of a few key players, and you wonder why Railway weren't even higher. Two losses to Castleknock revealed that Railway were probably a bit off the pace, and the end of season loss at "home" (it was played in Wesley College) to Rush sealed their mid-table fate. Adriaan van Dyk was the star, making our Team of the Year with 277 runs at 46.17, and taking 12 wickets (including a hat-trick against Rush) at 20.25. Nagesh Yadav wasn't too far away, taking 24 wickets at 14.38. That was the second highest number of wickets taken in a league season for a Railway team - behind only Muhammad Navid's 25 wickets for the 6ths in 2013. Despite the positives, it was still the team's lowest league position in the last seven seasons. Three others passed through the ten wicket mark - Muhammad Raza with 17 at 20.59, Kumail Toori (11 at 23.09) and Ali Elahi (10 at 19.90). If there has to be a criticism of the batting, it may be that of the other five batsmen with 100 runs, none averaged more than 25. Gurdave Sihra was top dog with 225 at 25, and then Simon Grehan (219 at 19.91), Gerard O'Brien (193 at 21.44), Muhammad Raza (168 at 18.67) and Ciaran Kenny (164 at 23.43)
Malahide 3 - 5th - (Predicted 2nd) - Batting Rating 101 - Bowling Rating 116 - RpO for 4.45 - RpO against 4.34
It is hard t put too much of a positive slant on Malahide 3's season. There were five league wins (all against the sides below them) and they finished comfortably mid-table. It could have been very different, with the last four league matches all being lost, but by margins of 14 runs, 7 runs, 9 runs at 17 runs. An extra 51 runs and they could have been promoted. But that was the lowest league position the team have finished in the last seven seasons (46th) and they have now slipped to the 8th best 3rd team in the province (with Railway Union leapfrogging them this year). Those making an impact on the team were mainly closer to the end of their careers than the beginning, with one of them really putting on record breaking seasons. Desmond Horstmann was leading wicket taker with 15 wickets at 18, the returning Wayne Horstmann took 12 at 21.42 and Conor Gibbons took a brilliant 11 wickets at 6.45, but only played four matches before being called to higher things. That pattern is matched in the batting - six scored 100 runs, but none went on to 200 (and in fact none went passed 153). That top scorer was definitely the biggest plus for the team, 13 year old Wilhelm de Klerk with 153 runs at 25.5. Brian Gilmore was next with 151 runs at 50.33, but he concentrated on the 4ths this year. Des Horstmann scored 150 at 18.75, followed by Michael O'Brien (who only played two matches all season, scoring 125* and 13), Riley Shoebridge (131 at 16.38), and Glenn Kirwan (117 at 29.25).
Merrion 5 - 6th (Predicted 7th) - Batting Rating 98 - Bowling Rating 87 - RpO for 4.36 - RpO against 4.91
After rising up through the leagues each year from 2013-16, there was a sight fall back this year, although only of one place - to 47th. But whilst not being a magical story, and there being very little amazing stories to tell, it was a solid season, and Merrion 5 remain nearly five divisions ahead of the next 5th team - Clontarf 5. The season started with a bang (although it may not have felt it at the time), as Merrion beat eventual champions Castleknock 1, but from then on they only beat Sandyford, Terenure and Malahide. Sixteen year old Richard Bisgood was leading wicket taker with a brilliant 13 wickets at 9.77. Unfortunately as he only played four matches, he didn't qualify for our Team of the Year, but by the end of the season he was bowling on Merrion 2nds. The slightly more experienced Jim Walsh was the only other bowler of note with 12 wickets at 12.83. Two of the batsmen made our Team of the Year, Vaibhav Sapra, who was leading wicketkeeper with 12 dismissals as well as scoring 212 runs at 30.29. Rohit Pahuja earned his second nomination (after Division 12 last year) with 202 runs at 33.67. The rest of the successful batsmen were Rob Stanton (214 at 23.78), Jeffrey David (172 at 21.5), Ashish Bharvirkar (108 at 54) and Timcy Khanduja (105 at 26.25). As we always say with Merrion's teams, the final position may not matter, but the achievement of playing at such a high level should not be forgotten.
Terenure 2 - 7th (Predicted 8th) - Batting Rating 96 - Bowling Rating 68 - RpO for 4.86 - RpO against 5.68
2017 was always going to be a tough season for Terenure 2. After struggling in 2016, they remained in the same division for another season. And perhaps it is perhaps not too much of a surprise that they finished in the same position 48th. The season started well with wins over Merrion and Sandyford in the first three matches, before a five match streak without a win sealed their fate. A few big losses 118 runs, 190 runs and 203 runs (to Rush, Rush and Castleknock respectively) put a bad sheen on the year, but if are to be honest, it came out as expected. The most meaningful stat in the summary above may well be that they conceded 5.68 runs per over across the season, and no bowler conceded at less than Alex Mathews 4.25. Fifteen year old Seamus Lynch was the team's star, leading the wicket taking with 13 wickets at 25.85, and nearly topping the run scoring as well with 197 runs at at 21.89. Honour of top run scorer went to Michael Cotter with 201 at 22.33, then Dónal Lynch (196 at 24.5), Diarmuid Lynch (162 at 23.14), Colm Morgan (113 at 56.5), Alex Mathews (106 at 26.5) and Rory Goldsmith (102 at 34). Goldsmith was also the only other player with ten wickets, with 11 at 19.91. A season in Division 7 could be a good idea, and Terenure 2 would be favourites to bounce straight back up.
Sandyford 1 - 8th (Predicted 6th) - Batting Rating 77 - Bowling Rating 81 - RpO for 4.48 - RpO against 5.14
Sandyford finished in 49th place in 2017, exactly the same as in 2016. The difference between the two seasons is that 2016 saw a Division 7 title, and this year saw a relegation from Division 6. Such are the vagaries of league cricket. They haven't got worse, but instead of celebrations, there is merely introspection. There was only one win all season - against Rush in July, although there was also a tie against Merrion in May. Whilst on the surface, the player stats for Sandyford don't look too bad, it is worth repeating this column's mantra - to succeed in league cricket, you need to have at least a couple of bowlers taking 15 wickets at under 15, and a couple of batsmen scoring more than 250 runs at over 30. And Sandyford had none. Vinay Iqbal was closest with 304 runs at 25.33, but he had little support - Ali Khan had 177 at 14.75, Senthil Kumar had 165 at 27.5, Qasir Chohan (164 at 18.22), Shyam Bharti (151 at 11.62) and Arun Nambisan completing the list with 110 at 10.83. The bowling was also a bit under cooked - Bharti was the best with 12 at 28.5, followed by three bowlers with 10 wickets - Shiyas Basheer (10 at 22), Iqbal (10 at 26.8) and Khan (10 at 25.2). Sandyford will presumably be relegated and will probably come back up with Terenure 2!
The full Division 6 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here.