Division 9 stats
Leading all time run scorer (2011-2016) - 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 (2011-2016) - 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) - 48 - 2011-2016
Highest team score - 339-6 - the Hills 3 vs Phoenix 4 - The Vineyard - 24 July 2016
Lowest team score - 15 all out - Dundalk 1 vs Swords 1 - Newbridge Demesne - 17 July 2016
Team of the Year (in batting order) - Brian Gilmore (Malahide), Ryan Tobin (The Hills), Jeevan Mithyantha (Swords), Benlee Muttahottil (Swords, wicketkeeper), Harry Archer (The Hills), Manpreet Singh (Greystones), Andrew Williams (Dundalk), Shiju Nair (Swords), Sunil Kant Trikha (Carlow), Rocky Butt (Carlow), Andrew Kavanagh (The Hills)
Review
Runs per wicket for all teams - 17.64 Runs per over for all teams - 4.17
The Hills 3 - Champions - (Predicted 4th) - Batting Rating 152 - Bowling Rating 131 - RpO for 4.90 - RpO against 3.60
The Hills 3 won their seventh league title, and their first since 2004, as they only lost one of the nine games played all season. It was a welcome to return to form the the Hills third string who finished in their highest league position (65th) since their finish of 60th in 2013. The one defeat was on May 14 against Civil Service, but after that setback, the team won eight on the bounce. The weather conspired against The Hills as well - both matches against bottom placed Greystones were rained off, and it isn't being too hard on Greystones to imagine that the games would have seen two more wins for The Hills if they had been played. The top three batsmen are worth a mention, the triumvirate all having youth on their side. Ryan Tobin topped the run scoring charts with 318 runs at 45.43; Harry Archer chipped in with 203 runs at 50.75 whilst South African exchange student Sebastian Van Rooyen payed four times, scoring 191 runs at 63.67. And two of those also led the bowling attack, with Kavanagh getting 16 wickets at 8.63 and Tobin 15 wickets at 10.73. Another youth player, Henirick Walser, was the third player to get to ten wickets, as he finished with 12 wickets at 12.50. All in all, a good job done.
Swords 1 - Runners up - (Predicted 8th) - Batting Rating 112 - Bowling Rating 144 - RpO for 4.21 - RpO against 3.32
Another narrow miss for Swords 1 who are again left waiting for their first piece of silverware. But it was a big step forward for the team. After four years of being stuck between 70 and 75 in the league, 2016 saw a big leap to 66th and a continuing movement up the ladder. Those who finish second in the league always have to live with the possibility of the occasional "what if". The crunch game was probably the early season loss to The Hills, when the team failed to chase 147. But that is picking holes in a season that should be seen as a success. A cursory glance at the stats above, shows that the bowling may well have been the stronger part of Swords' game. And boy, do the stats back that up. Jeevan Mithyantha took an incredible 27 wickets at 6.52, and Shiju Jair took 12 at the even lower 5.22. Jerson Santhosh almost passes away unnoticed with 15 wickets at 11.47. Mithyantha's return was the most league wickets in a season for Swords 1, beating Manoj Jacob's 24 in 2013, and the fourth most in a Division 9 season. The batting was none too shabby either, with seven batsmen passing 100 runs, and two (Benlee Muttahottil with 254 at 25.40 and Mithyantha with 211 at 23.44) passing 200. Mithyantha's all round season is worth a closer look. He is the fourth player to score 200 runs and take 20 wickets in a Division 9 season, and the first to do that double for any Swords team in a league season.
Carlow 1 - 3rd - (Predicted 5th) - Batting Rating 100 - Bowling Rating 95 - RpO for 4.53 - RpO against 4.42
After exploding onto the scene in 2015, it was difficult to know what 2016 would bring for Carlow 1. They were promoted seven divisions, and no one knew if that would be too much. On top of that, they had to play all their matches away from home whilst the problem of the flood lighting poles on the outfield of their Oak Park home is sorted. In the end they responded brilliantly, finishing in third place. That finishing position does hide a few ills - they won seven and lost seven games, and were a loing way from Swords 1 in second place. In reality, fifth place would have been fairer, but league tables sometimes throw up such oddities. With fourteen matches being played, there was ample opportunity for payers to put together decent performances, an dseven batsmen passed 100 runs, with three going on to 200. Tahir Mahmood scored 221 at 18.42, but two were head and shoulders above the rest - Sunil Kant Trikha scored 246 runs at 43.25 and Rocky Butt scored 398 at 30.62. Trikha and Butt have dominated for Carlow 1 in their two seasons of league cricket, and they became the first two Carlow 1 batsmen to score 1000 runs for the team. Butt was the first to get there, on August 2nd against Civil Service (he now has 1096 runs at 39.14). Kant Trikha passed the milestone eleven days later against the same opponents, and he now has the excellent return of 1070 runs at 56.32. The pair's dominance is illustrated by the next on the list being Manik Islams's 306 runs. The bowling attack was also based on the performances of a few. Rocky Butt also performed with ball with 16 wickets at 19.06, Gurpreet Singh took 12 wickets at 14.92. But way ahead of others was Asad Ali, who broke the record for most runs in a Division 9 season - taking 30 wickets at 11.77. Beneath Division 6, only three other players have taken 30 or more wickets in a league season since 2010 - Simon Rice (Wicklow County), AJ Malhan (North Kildare) and Stuart Gallagher (Halverstown).
Phoenix 4 - 4th - (Predicted 1st) - Batting Rating 110 - Bowling Rating 93 - RpO for 4.09 - RpO against 4.51
Perhaps we are expecting too much from Phoenix 4, but 2016 was a slightly disappointing season despite the team finishing in 68th place in the league - matching their previous best in 2013. The season never really got going, and a few early season losses were then compounded by five straight defeats in July and August. The bowling was the weaker suit, but even the batting looked a bit under cooked. In a season when 13 games were completed, only Lineesh Ramachandran batted more than nine times, and there was a need for more batsmen scoring 200 runs at 30. Excluding Aaron Joseph (whose one innings was a magnificent career first - 102*), six players passed 100 runs, but only three averaged more than 20. Arslan Mehmood (142 at 35.50), James Maginnis (187 at 37.40) and Rajagopal Gopalakrishnan (207 at 23). Gopalakrishnan became the second Phoenix 4 player to pass 1000 runs, (Grant White was the first), with a career total of 1157 runs at 20.66. And whilst batsmen clocking up 1000 runs for their team are relatively common, bowlers taking 100 wickets are as rare as hen's teeth. Willie Clarke got there this season though, and now has 108 wickets at 15.81. His 17 wickets this year (at 17.41) were bettered only by Ijaz Ahmed's 18 at 16.83. To sum up Phoenix's season, whereas the top teams in the division had bowlers taking multiple wickets at low averages, and batsmen scoring 200 runs at 50 - Phoenix didn't!
Malahide 4 - 5th - (Predicted 3rd) - Batting Rating 109 - Bowling Rating 96 - RpO for 4.10 - RpO against 4.06
A smidgeon away from third place, but as it was Malahide 4 had to settle for 5th, and the fifth straight season that failed to see an improvement in league position. It started well with three wins to start the season off, but as it turned out those early season wins were against sides that were to be outside of the top three. Once the stronger sides were played, Malahide had no answer - apart from a convincing, Brian Gilmore inspired win over Carlow in August. Gilmore was supreme once more. Seven batsmen passed 100 runs, but only Gilmore passed 200, finishing with 449 runs at 37.42. The next three on the aggregate run list all averaged less than 20. It wasn't all about Gilmore though - of Malahide's six wins, Gilmore scored 100 in one, 50s in two others - but didn't play in one and failed in two more. The bowling looks much better on paper. Inderjit Singh was the best with 21 wickets at 11.57. Ryan Condron had 13, but at 22.08 (and 6.17 an over), whilst father and son pairing of Howard and Ben Askew took 12 at 17.58 and 10 at 18 respectively. But the bowling seemed to go cold after May - only bottom sides Dundalk and Greystones were bowled out after this point.
Civil Service 2 - 6th (Predicted 6th) - Batting Rating 84 - Bowling Rating 95 - RpO for 4.17 - RpO against 4.48
Civil Service 2's up and down existence took a turn for the worse this season as they finished in (an expected) sixth place in Division 9, the lowest the team have finished since our analysis started in 2010. It was looking good at the end of June. After the first two matches were lost, Service won four on the bounce, including being the only side to beat The Hills 3 all season. But that was as good as it got, and the next five were lost. Back in 2011, the team were the 13th highest ranked 2nd team in the province, a position that was suggesting the 1st team should be around Division 2. But it wasn't to be, and a slow slip now sees Service 2nds back in 20th place - the seven clubs being Rush, North Kildare, Dundrum, Balbriggan, Knockharley, Trinity and Adamstown. Runs were definitely a problem - the team only passed 150 twice, and individually there were only were two batsmen who clocked up their century for the season. Md Mahmudul Hoque scored 133 at 22.17, and Hamza Tanvir only batted three times, scoring 185 at 92.50. The bowling was a little bit better with Alan O'Hara taking 13 wickets at 11.46; Rehan Ali taking 11 at 15.82 and Usman Aslan 10 and 10.40. Against all that downbeat analysis, Service finished 6th and avoided relegation!
Dundalk 1 - 7th (Predicted 7th) - Batting Rating 78 - Bowling Rating 81 - RpO for 3.78 - RpO against 4.50
A tough season for Dundalk 1, who may take a little bit of solace (a quantam?) in improving 2015's league position by a couple of places. There were decent wins throughout the season, with Swords and Carlow both being beaten, but there were big defeats as the side struggled to get the best eleven on the field. That Swords win was the highlight of the season. A team effort dismissed Swords for 119 before the day became the Darshan Patel show. Patel hit 11 sixes and 4 fours, hitting 95 out of Dundalk's winning total of 123-3. It was one of only three matches he played in his debut season. Hopefully there will be more in 2017. Alongside Patel's 104 league runs. the only other run scorer to get passed 100 was Sanju Thomas who scored 119 at 29.75. Run scoring was definitely a problem. The bowling was similarly under-powered, and only Andrew Williams had a season to be proud of - 13 wickets at 11.
Greystones 2 - 8th (Predicted 2nd) - Batting Rating 76 - Bowling Rating 86 - RpO for 3.61 - RpO against 4.35
For the second season in a row, Greystones 2 were predicted to achieve great things, and reality fell a long way short. However, despite finishing bottom, only twice before have Greystones 2 finished higher than this year's 72nd. Two convincing wins in August were as good as it got all season (over Malahide and Civil Service), and the batting especially failed to fire. The main reason was the loss of Eoin Lenehan, who departed to New Zealand. The avalanche of runs he has scored in previous years was hugely missed. (NB The original article said that Eoin had been moved up to the 1sts. Thanks to Will Houston for pointing out the error!) Manpreet Singh tried to fill the hole, and was the team's best performer with bat and ball (scoring 321 at 32.1 and 12 wickets at 28.58). Martin Potts reeled back the years with 146 runs at 24.33, and 12 wickets at 16.50, and others (Aidan Longstaff and Adnan Rauf with the ball, and Sinto John and Ashley Kempton with the bat) all had their moments.
The full Division 9 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here.