Fantasy points

The August Bank Holiday, the last of the summer, is now passed. No more trying to explain to our loved ones, the need to disappear for three days of cricket. Standing in a field for seven hours is difficult enough to justify, except for the wonderful tan-lines that make us all look like farmers, at the best of times, but to want to do so for three days in a row seems to make us all candidates for therapy.

However, the real difficulties are not the players’ partners or parents; it’s finding the players to play. Captains, selection committees, fixture secretaries, all of these hard-working dedicated people spent the week before chasing, calling texting, emailing and meeting people in an effort to find 11 willing to play in Wexford, Dundalk, Laois and all points in between. All sorts of excuses, pretexts, apologies get trotted out: Holidays, short breaks, appointments, family gatherings, unwillingness to travel, BBQ’s, parties and sometimes just a plain “no”. It is always easier to fill a side playing a home game, fact.

Despite all of this, an amazing amount of cricket was played in the last week. In fact there has been an incredible amount of cricket played in the past month. In my own Club the past 16 weeks have seen 115 games of cricket, and in the last 24 days, 40 games. The people who tend our grounds around Leinster, paid or unpaid, have done a tremendous job of keeping outfields short (some shorter than others!), wickets cut and marked and all of the other 1,001 tasks that have to be undertaken so that we can turn up on a weekend and play. Artificial wickets have undoubtedly helped (where applicable), but still think of the work you don’t have to do, but someone else does. Wickets, boundaries, scorers tables, teas, the list is endless. When you next rock up to the ground for a game, consider thanking them or if you want to be extreme, give them a hug. Firstly the surprise on their faces will make it entirely worth it, but secondly you can make them feel appreciated and valued, because if they stopped the work they are doing, you might have to do some.

Retaining his lead for the third week is Pat Collins [R&SPU] who has already scored more points than the leading point scorer for the entire 2012 season. Five centuries, four half centuries and 943 runs (at an average of 94.30), plus 32 wickets and 6 catches and all scored in Division One cricket. He has amassed an exceptional total of 1,973 overall points and a lead of 233 points over his nearest challenger. Will he be caught before the end of the season? His fabulous season can be judged from the figures below and how many times his name appears in different categories. To demonstrate this domination, his is the only name is in bold below.

Second place is E. Richardson [North County], whilst Simon Rice [Greystones] retains his lofty podium position in third, but still requires that one more wicket to reach 50.

This week the figures are shown in the form of tables (rather than you having to read my scribbling). In compiling the figures no qualifying marks are made, no minimum innings, no minimum games played. This does throw up unlikely names and figures, but isn’t that the fun?

In the top ten of individual point scorers there are eight different clubs. Pembroke have three players in the top ten and two of them are brothers, Fiachra (5^th) and Diarmaid Tucker (10^th). Eldest brother Lorcan is 149^th and is now Pembroke’s First XI keeper. Father Barry (a biological term, not a spiritual one) is captain of the Pembroke Thirds and is in 1,207^th place and has a bit of work to do to catch his off-spring. Does anyone know of any other family to challenge them?

As usual you may request your own, your Club or the entire spreadsheet from craig@cricket.ie and many thanks to those that have done so and those who have provided feedback. It’s nice to know someone, somewhere is actually reading this.

Overall points (and gap to leader)

1. 1,973 - P. Collins [R&SPU]
2. 207.00 – B. Thambi [Castleknock]
3. 130.00 – G. Conway [Bell’s Academy]
4. 116.06 – Pat Collins [R&SPU]
5. 114.00 – Z Azhar (Dublin University]
6. 112.50 – J. Quinlan [Merrion]
7. 106.50 – I. Cox [Walnut Taverners]
8. 106.00 – J. Conway [Bell’s Academy]
9. 105.75 – Q. Roux [Greystones]
10. 102.35 – E. Richardson [North County]
11. 102.29 - L. Jansen [Rush]
12. 100.00 – K. Prabhakar [Malahide]
    • 29 – J. Kerrison [Leinster]; Simon Rice [Greystones] and; Fiachra Tucker [Pembroke].
    • 26 – Manu Jacob [Swords]; D. Singh [R&SPU] and; Diarmaid Tucker [Pembroke].
    • 25 – P. Flanagan [YMCA]; C. McMahon [Balbriggan]; Ian Smillie [Clontarf]; B. Smyth [North County]; and H. Tanveer [Civil Service]
    • 943 – Pat Collins [R&SPU]
    • 832 – L. Jansen [Rush]
    • 800 – E. Richardson [North County]
    • 741 – J. Singh [Laois]
    • 736 – K. Khan [R&SPU]
    • 703 – Tom Fisher [Terenure Titans]
    • 702 – H. Tanveer [Civil Service]
    • 627 – A Mathew [Dundrum]
    • 624 – Kenny Carroll [R&SPU]
    • 623 – C. McLoughlin [The Hills]
    • 612 – N. Shazad [Phoenix]
    • 607 – Tayyab Rashid [Knockharley]
    • 170 – Andre Botha [Clontarf]
    • 168* - H. Pike [Dublin University]
    • 168 – J. Quinlan [Merrion]
    • 162 – L. Jansen [Rush]
    • 160 – Tayyab Rashid [Knockharley]
    • 159* - Colm Reilly [Balbriggan]
    • 158 – Bill Coughlan [Clontarf]
    • 157 – M. Gregg [Phoenix]
    • 154* - Jeff Short [Merrion]
    • 150* - Danny Barclay [Pembroke]
    • 150 – S. Shahzad [Civil Service]
    • 117.00 – R. Chalissery [Ring Commons] (2) and B. Thambi [Castleknock (1)
    • 103.00 – I. Cox [Walnut] (2)
    • 94.30 – Pat Collins [R&SPU] (17)
    • 87.50 – J. Quinlan [Merrion] (2)
    • 86.75 – David Drane [Greystones] (5)
    • 74.50 – P. Jonkers [Greystones] (9)
    • 70.60 - J. Tasmin-Jones [Dublin University] (7)
    • 70.00 – Nabeel Khan [Castleknock] (4)
    • 68.75 – Carl Hosford [YMCA] (4)
    • 5 – Pat Collins [R&SPU]
    • 3 – L. Jansen [Rush]
    • 2- Kenny Carroll [R&SPU]; Robert Forrest [Leinster]; C. Keene [Sandyford]; T. Lynch [Terenure Titans]; C. McLoughlin [The Hills]; S. McGrath [Greystones]; John Mooney [North County]; M. Mughal [Laois]; W. O’Neill [Mullingar]; E. Richardson [North County]; M. Safeen [Civil Service] and; M. Singh [North County].
    • 1 – 86 players.
    • 6 – R. Abbasi [Castleknock]; Tom Fisher [Terenure Titans]; S. Iqbal [Rush]; K. Khan [R&SPU].
    • 5 - J. Altaf [Clontarf]; A. Bellew [Knockharley]; P. Byrne [R&SPU]; Nic Pretorious [The Hills]; E. Richardson [North County]; N. Shazad [Phoenix]; M. Siddique [Civil Service]; J. Singh [Laois]; U. Siraj [R&SPU]; Matt Sorenson [The Hills]; H. Tanveer [Civil Service]; B. Thompson [Merrion] and; A. Van der Merwe [YMCA].
    • 4 – 19 players
    • 3 – 40 players
    • 2 – 148 players
    • 1 – 295 players.
    • 49 – Simon Rice [Greystones]
    • 41 – Fiachra Tucker [Pembroke]
    • 37 – Adam Ellison [Rush]
    • 35 – Z. Van Der Merwe [Clontarf]; M. Singh [Greystones]; U. Raees [Laois] and; Simmi Singh [YMCA].
    • 34 – Diarmaid Tucker [Pembroke].
    • 33 - B. White [Phoenix]; Ian Smillie [Clontarf]
    • 32 – Pat Collins [R&SPU]
    • 31 – Conor Gibbons [Malahide]; S. Kumar [R&SPU]; R. Gallagher [Malahide]; E. Richardson [North County]
    • 30 – M. Scully [Leinster]; C. Mackey [North County]; S. Sudarsanan [Dundrum]; P. Peethambaran [Sandyford]; I. Mohammad [North Kildare]; D. Bertram [North County]; P. Arkadi [Civil Service].
    • 0.00 - C. Garry [North County] (1 ball/1 wicket); V. Ranade [Civil Service] (1 over/1 wicket).
    • 1.00 – Stephen Roughan [Pembroke] (4.5o/3w).
    • 1.50 – J. Gray [Dublin University] (5o/3w).
    • 2.00 – M. Ahmad [Adamstown]; M. Sharma [Mullingar]; R. McGovern [YMCA].
    • 2.50 – S. Larkin [Balbriggan].
    • 3.00 – C. McCann [Rush].
    • 3.50 – M. Varghese [Swords].
    • 4.00 – T. Ryan [Civil Service]; RR Varughese [Swords]; H. Walser [The Hills]; D. Martin [Dublin University]; R. Achanta [Tyrellstown]; B. Sweeney [Greystones]; E. O’Neill [Leinster]; and Nabeel Khan [Castleknock].
    • 3 times – I. Mohammad [North Kildare]; B. Adams [Phoenix]; A Farooqui [The Hills].
    • 2 – Q. Roux [Greystones]; Diarmaid Lynch {Terenure Titans]; A. Jacob [Swords]; P. Peethambaran [Sandyford]; Simon Rice [Greystones]; Pat Collins [R&SPU]; Anto Burke [Sandyford]; Naveed Khan [Civil Service]; and H. Manks [Malahide]
    • 1 – 104 players.
    • 176 overs – Fiachra Tucker [Pembroke]
    • 159.5 – P. Flanagan [YMCA]
    • 157.3 – Manu Jacob [Swords]
    • 156.4 – Simon Rice [Greystones]
    • 155.3 - Jeremy Dunleavy [Pembroke]
    • 153.4 – Conor Gibbons [Malahide]
    • 151.1 – D. Trotsky [Sandyford]
    • 145.5 – M. Singh [Greystones]
    • 145.3 - D. Bertram [North County]
    • 139.2 - H. Tector [YMCA]
    • 137.5 – D. Jose [Dundrum]
    • 136.2 – G. Delany [Leinster]
    • 135.1 – Ian Smillie [Clontarf]
    • 135.0 – B. White [Phoenix]
    • 25 – Nic Pretorious [The Hills] (20+5)
    • 24 – M. Cotter [Terenure Titans] (16+8)
    • 21 – J. Cassidy [YMCA] (14+7); J. Kerrison [Leinster] (14+7) and; Robert Forrest [Clontarf] (21+0)
    • 20 – Tom Fisher [Terenure Titans] (17+3)
    • 19 – B. Smyth [North County] (16+3)
    • 17 – K. Beasley [Merrion] (17+0); K. McPhilerney [Malahide] (15+2); D. Monk [Laois] (14+3); Lorcan Tucker [Pembroke] (12+5); S. Murphy [YMCA] (13+4).
    • 16 – Ian Smillie [Clontarf] (16+0) and C. Diviney [R&SPU] (12+4).
    • Most games without batting: 3 – S. Goodburn [North Kildare]; M. Avavind [Dundrum] and; D. McKenna [Mullingar].
    • Most Not Outs – 9 – K. Ali [North County]
    • Number of players who have batted and not been dismissed – 79.
    • Highest ranked player without a run – W. Gunnell [Dublin University] – 868^th
    • Highest ranked player without a wicket – Tom Fisher [Terenure Titans] – 28^th
    • Highest ranked player without a catch – S. Reddy [Merrion] – 60^th
    • Total number of players: 2,159.
    • Points scored: 647,039.
    • Runs scored by bats: 213,424.
    • Wickets taken by bowlers: 10,591.
    • Catches held: 4,076.
    • Stumpings: 189.
    • Half centuries scored: 876.
    • Centuries scored: 118.
    • Five wicket hauls: 137.

Points per game average

Appearances

Total Runs

Highest scores

Top batting averages (innings)

Centuries

Half Centuries

Wickets taken

Best bowling averages

Five wickets in an innings

Overs Bowled

Dismissals (catches + stumpings)

Other figures

Overall Totals

13. 1,740 – E. Richardson [North County] (-233)
14. 1,656 – Simon Rice [Greystones] (-317)
15. 1,576 – Simmi Singh [YMCA] (-397)
16. 1,463 – Fiachra Tucker [Pembroke] (-510)
17. 1,457 – Jeremy Dunleavy [Pembroke] (-516)
18. 1,443 – R. Gallagher [Malahide] (-530)
19. 1,441 – Ian Smillie [Clontarf] (-532)
20. 1,432 – L. Jansen [Rush] (-541)
21. 1,424 – Diarmaid Tucker [Pembroke] (-549)