Division 9 stats
Leading all time run scorer (2011-2017) - Eoin Lenehan (Greystones) - 1071 runs @ 44.62
Most runs in a Division 9 season - Eoin Lenehan (Greystones) - 545 runs (2015)
Highest score - Danny Hogan - 151* - Terenure 2 vs North County 4 - Inch - 14 Sept 2014
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2017) - Patrick Mount (Mullingar) - 52 wkts @ 15.62
Most wickets in a Division 9 season - Asad Ali (Carlow) - 30 wkts (2016)
Best bowling - John Andrews - 7-16 - North County 4 vs Ringcommons 1 - Inch - 7 Sept 2014
Most matches - Lineesh Ramachandran (Phoenix/Sandyford) - 51 - 2011-2017
Highest team score - 342-8 - Carlow 1 vs Phoenix 4 - St Patrick's College - 25 June 2017
Lowest team score - 15 all out - Dundalk 1 vs Swords 1 - Newbridge Demesne - 17 July 2016
Team of the Year (in batting order) - Rocky Butt (Carlow) (Division 9, 2016), Brian Gilmore (Malahide) (Division 9, 2016), Sankeerth Karpe (Phoenix) (Division 12, 2016), Prashant Tiwari (Civil Service), Saquib Azeem (Carlow), Trevor Koen (Wickow County, wicketkeeper) (Division 14, 2016), Rohan Raikar (Wicklow County), Vishnu Vardhan Reddy Yannam (Carlow), Sunil Kant Trikka (Carlow) (Division 9, 2016), Sanish Ignatious (Wicklow County), Matthew Sisley (Wicklow County)
NB: Railway Union 4 were withdrawn before the season began
Review
Runs per wicket for all teams - 19.38 Runs per over for all teams - 4.62
Dublin University 2 - Champions - (Predicted 4th) - Batting Rating 91 - Bowling Rating 174 - RpO for 4.45 - RpO against 3.15
It was the league title that snuck up on the province! A one wicket win over Carlow in April didn't herald a dominant team; a couple more wins over the two teams that would finish at the bottom of the league showed that Trinity may be top half material, but nothing more. But in a seven team league, with Dublin University 2 only playing six games, four wins could have been enough to lift the title, and five definitely would be. And so came the June Bank Holiday weekend, two more victories, and the league title was wrapped up before the season had got going. It was the team's first league title since the same league in 2013, and their fourth overall. The batting was a damp squib, the bowling was dynamite - so let us start there. Carlow were bowled out for 74, Civil Service for 42, Slieve Bloom for 108, Malahide made 170-6, Phoenix 99 and Wicklow County 118. The destroyers were shared around (hence no one making out Team of the Year) - best were Nitin Rajwar with 9 at 5.33 and Matthew Strong with 8 at 4.38. Four times the students batted first (so there was no real excuse for not scoring plenty of runs) but only two batsmen passed 100 runs - Tom Gibbs with 144 at 28.8 and Jack Kerrison with 107 at 21.4. A word of caution though - the last time the side finished lower in the league was in 2012.
Wicklow County 1 - Runners up - (Predicted 1st) - Batting Rating 110 - Bowling Rating 128 - RpO for 4.89 - RpO against 4.24
Another team whose apparent success is marked with an asterisk. A welcome promotion for Wicklow County 1, but their lowest league position on record (66th). They were close to a first ever league title for the team though - at 99-8, Dublin University needed another 20 runs, but Wicklow couldn't take the last two. It may not be much consolation, but four players made the Team of the Year for Division 9. Sanish Ignatious took 13 wickets at only 7.54 and Rohan Raikar had a fine season with bat and ball, with 15 wickets at 12.60 and 159 runs at 26.5. Matthew Sisley was the third bowler to make the cut with 11 wickets at 11.64 and Trevor Koen was the Division 9 keeper with most dismissals, as well as getting 239 at 29.88. Damian Joyce was perhaps the unluckiest member of the club in this respect - 16 wickets at 14.88 and 191 runs at 31.83 but not quite good enough with either to make the eleven. Three others passed 100 runs for the season - Nicky Fusco (195 runs at 21.67), DaviD Rice (155 runs at 31) and Justin van der Spuy (141 runs at 17.62)
Carlow 1 - 3rd - (Predicted 3rd) - Batting Rating 115 - Bowling Rating 112 - RpO for 5.20 - RpO against 4.53
A good enough season from Carlow 1, the most important aspect of which was moving to their new home ground in St Patrick's College in the town. A five match winning run across the middle of the season promised much, and of their four defeats, two were by one wicket. It meant that Carlow 1 finished in 67th place in the league, the same as in 2016. Rocky Butt was supreme as the highest run scorer in Division 9 this year, with 417 runs at 46.33 to go along with 15 wickets at 14.80, making our Division 9 Team of the Year for the second year in a row. Sunil Kant Trikha also made it two years in a row after scoring 264 runs at 29.33, Saquib Azeem looks to be a real find, scoring 258 runs at 36.86 on top of 20 wickets at 14.05 (although an interesting footnote - in his 12 innings for Carlow, he has been dismissed under 5 on seven occasions with the other five knocks being 10, 69, 41*, 100 and 44!). His 20 wickets were also the highest number of wickets in Division 9 this season. Vishnu Vardhan Reddy Yannam also made the representative team with 12 wickets at 12.17. Plenty of other players contributed as well. With the bat Jazab Azeem scored 220 at 27.5 and Gurpreet Singh scored 165 at 33, whilst with the ball, Asad Ali chipped in with 13 wickets at 15.46. With the new ground, Carlow should push on in 2018.
Phoenix 4 - 4th - (Predicted 5th) - Batting Rating 122 - Bowling Rating 81 - RpO for 4.58 - RpO against 5.33
A mid table position was the prediction, and that was where Phoenix 4 finished. It was the third time in the last four years that they have finished in 68th place in the league although they have not been higher than that in the last seven seasons. The bowling was none too special, with six opponents running up over 200 (and Carlow hitting the highest ever Division 9 score - 342-8). The batting was better though (twice they chased over 230), and the squad can look back on the season with some satisfaction. Monjur Ahmed was the leading wicket taker with 12 at 22.25 and Muhammed Zafarullah also reached double figures with 10 at 16.80. For the neutral there is nothing better than watching a youth player successfully rise up through the divisions. Sankeerth Karpe made the Division 12 Team of the Year as a 13 year old in 2016, and has made the Division 9 team this year as a 14 year old, with an excellent 235 runs at 47, including 104 against Malahide in May. Arslan Mehmood was not too far behind with 220 runs at 73.33, followed by Rajagopal Gopalakrishnan with 178 at 35.6, Marc Brazil (146 at 48.67), and Evan Chester (138 at 23). With the latter two being more players coming through the Phoenix youth system, there is not too much to worry about. Perhaps 67th in the league next year could be nice?
Malahide 4 - 5th - (Predicted 6th) - Batting Rating 122 - Bowling Rating 77 - RpO for 4.71 - RpO against 4.82
Congrats to Malahide 4, who finished in the same position (69th) as in 2016 - the first year that their league position has not fallen since 2013. That is no small feat in this day and age (one where the big clubs can no longer hide behind starring lists). The team was a young one, with a few old lags there to hold the thing together. It was the lags that did the bulk of the run scoring/wicket taking, but that is sometimes the way it works, and without them it isn't much fun losing week after week. Brian Gilmore continues to be dominant at this level, scoring 385 league runs at 64.17 and making the Division 9 Team of the Year, as in 2016. Since 2011, Gilmore is now the second highest run scorer in Division 9 (behind Greystones' Eoin Lenehan), the highest run scorer in league cricket for Malahide, and the and fifth on the list of run scorers in league cricket since 2011 (there are seven players (including Gilmore, who have scored over 3000 league runs in that period. Care to name the other six?!). Only one other passed 100 runs - Nick Payne with 149 at 49.67. The bowling was a family affair, with opening bowlers Ben and Howard Askew being the only two with double figures in the wickets taken column. Howard took 11 at 18.27 and Ben took 10 at 32.5.
Slieve Bloom 1 - 6th (Predicted 2nd) - Batting Rating 81 - Bowling Rating 86 - RpO for 4.66 - RpO against 5.05
We'll start our review of Bloom's season in a very similar way to others. Their finishing position of 70th was four places higher than the club had ever finished before. They fell well short of our second place position, but that is our fault and not theirs. In fact the only worry down in Kilcormac is probably how the OCC places teams for next year - will a 6th place in a seven team league result in relegation? No one will know for a few more weeks. On the pitch, Slieve Bloom were a little under powered with both bat and ball, and were missing star players that could have rocketed Slieve Bloom 1 up the table. Shahzad Munawar Mirza led the way with an excellent 14 wickets at 21.71 as well as 190 runs at 19, and Waqas Khalid was the top run scorer with 221 at 27.62. But the seasons of the other thre batsmen to pass 100 runs probably explain Bloom's tough season. It was the least number of runs that Peter Auret has scored in a league season for Slieve Bloom (141 at 17.62), and there was a case of what might have been with the other two batsman to pass 100 runs - Imtiaz Ali Kalyar (124 at 41.33 in three matches) and Abdulah Rauf Rana (169 at 42.25 from four matches). What could have happened if they had been able to play more?
Civil Service 2 - 7th (Predicted 7th) - Batting Rating 70 - Bowling Rating 99 - RpO for 3.73 - RpO against 4.51
The good news is that despite a not great season, Civil Service 2 are still pretty much where they were in 2012. Then they were the 19th 2nd team in the province, now they are the 20th; then they were 67th in the league, now they were 71st. Based on their 1st team, Civil Service 2 should probably be at the top of Division 9, but they are not massively under performing. But despite all that positivity, it was still a horror season - especially with the bat. Only once did they pass 160 (although in fairness they were only bowled out for less than 100 twice). But seven times they only made between 121 and 156, and that is reflected in the individual stats. Urvin Desai was best with 123 at 20.50, but the others struggled - Prashant Tiwari with 112 at 11.2, Ajay Prabhakaran (107 at 13.38) and Rana Hasan Ur Rahman (107 at 11.89). The bowling kept the side competitive, and led to the only win of the season as Tiwari took 3-9 to bowl out Carlow for 146. He was the best bowler by far with 15 wickets at 13.40, and deservedly made the Team of the Year in his first year since a move from NCU side BISC. Ur Rahman completes the picture with 10 wickets at 18.20.
The full Division 9 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here.