Grinds My Gears.
A few of you may have seen the episode of “Family Guy” where Peter Griffin does a stint on Channel 5 News with a segment called “Grinds My Gears”. This gives Peter the opportunity to spout on about day-to-day stuff that annoys him, like Lindsey Lohan, 19th Century people and America. It also gets him fired. I’m hoping that my own “Grinds My Gears” segment this week won’t get me fired from this column. Some people would say I am always going on about things that “Grind My Gears”, others would say “Who is Craig Senior?”
Well, the topic that “Grinds My Gears” this week is over-appealing. Last weekend whilst at a game, too many appeals were causing a ringing in my ears and a sinking in my heart. It seems that it is considered a fair way to put pressure on umpires to give decisions, even in situations where the bowler and fielding side know it is not really out at all. The ball could have hit the bat, the ball could have been pitching outside leg, or even the ball could have been going over the top. No matter, appeal anyway. Sometimes the sheer number or weight of appeals can cause an umpire to give an incorrect decision eventually. When the point was raised, the bowler announced that it was his job to ask the umpire and the umpires’ job to adjudicate. It’s like a kid in a car on a long journey. “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” Ultimately we will be there.
Unhappy with this definition of roles for players and umpires as spoken by the bowler, a small amount of research was undertaken. Actually it wasn’t too difficult to research. One visit to the Lords website, a look at the Spirit of the Game as outlined in the Preamble to the Laws.
Section 5 states “It is against the Spirit of the Game….. To indulge in cheating or any sharp practice, for instance: (a) to appeal knowing the batsman is not out….”
Enthusiasm is one thing, but this constant appealing, especially when you know the batsman is not out, is just plain wrong. This issue is not with just one Club or one team, but is in danger of becoming endemic in Leinster cricket and it is in danger of spoiling the pleasure of the game. I don’t know if people realise, but there is no prize money in the lower leagues, there is no “Champions League”. The glory of victory tastes sweeter when not tarnished by “cheating or sharp practice”. These hours spent at the weekend travelling around the cricket grounds of Leinster are free time and there isn’t a huge amount of it for most of us. As much as I love cricket, the disappointment of such things will soon outweigh the enjoyment of the game. And that’s what “Grinds My Gears”.
I know what grinds Paul Reynolds gears - missing or incomplete scorecards. There are 17 cards that are either missing or incomplete up to and including 19 May. They range from Division 2 down to Division 14 and also a number of midweek cup games. So if your statistics are not what you thought they might be, then it could be that the card has not been submitted correctly. It’s not all down to one side either. 32 different teams have a missing game from the statistics that follow. If you are a captain, please try and get all the information submitted, or if you are not the captain, see if you can assist him. There will be no naming sides this week, but please do get completed scorecards into Paul and stop grinding his gears.
Right-e-o, that’s this week’s grinds your gears? Is it sanctimonious cranky old men talking tripe or is there some other topic you’d like to raise? Feel free to leave a comment below or even email craig@cricket.ie and we will see what we can do.
Now onto the part you actually want to see and have read this far to do so; the fantasy points table and season’s category leaders. Over 33,000 runs have now been scored and over 1,700 wickets taken by bowlers. 837 catches have been held and 33 stumpings made. There is a lot of cricket going on out there, and an awful lot of it is good cricket.
Last week’s overall point scorer is still at Number One this week.
P. Peethambaran [Sandyford] added another fifty points to his total and
J. Singh [Castleknock] has moved from 8th to 2nd on the strength of 128 points at the weekend.
E. Lenehan [Greystones] has moved even further up the table from last week’s 12 position to this week finishing out the podium places in third.
P. (what does the P stand for?) Peethambaran has now played 6 games, batted four times, scored 201 runs and been not out twice for an average of 100.50 with a highest score of 68*. He is the only player to have reached over 500 points and is 72 points clear of J. Singh. J. Singh also has a top score of 68, but does have best bowling figures of 5/34 and an average of 9.69. E. Lenehan has only played four games, but already has both a half and full century to his name as well as the impressive bowling figures of 4/9.
The top three all have 450 points or more and only one other player has over 400. They are covered by 91 points. Are we seeing an early breakaway of players? The other 400 plus point scorer is D. Delany [Clontarf] with 216 runs at 54.00.
The rest of the top ten are more closely bunched with 68 points covering 4th to 10th:
The top 2 run scorers both hail from Balbriggan. Adrian Harper’s 268 contains 2 centuries and an average of 67.00, whilst club-mate M. Farooq has a superior average of 124.50, but has only 249 runs.
D. Delany [Clontarf] with 216 and a top score of 131 is third here, ahead of E. Lenehan reversing their positions in the overall table.
All of the players who have passed 200 runs are:
R. Wing [Malahide] has batted seven times, with one half century. 7 players have been wielding the wood six times. A further 1,167 players have at least entered the fray. 20 centuries have been scored with only the top two run scorers getting more than one, which is two. 130 half centuries have now been reached by 117 players with P. Peethambaran making three of them. Another 11 players have made two so far.
Averages at this stage of the season are too easily subject to massive changes, but isn’t that the fun of it? Looking at the batting averages shows just how unreal these statistics are. 17 players are averaging 100.00 or over. These however, at least have an average. 105 players have scored runs, but not yet suffered the ignominy of the slow walk back to the pavilion. Scoring the most runs without dismissal is Dom Joyce [Merrion] with 114. Five other players all scored 50’s on their single appearances. Top of the pile for players with an average is I. Mohammed [Railway Union] whose solo innings brought him a province leading highest score of 160 runs but dismissal.
S. Chahal [North Kildare] holds the lead for most innings without a run having headed to the middle thrice full of hope and joy and returned without troubling the scorers, again. I hope next time out sees this duck broken.
Four of the overall points scorers top ten now appear in the list of top wicket takers, those who have taken at least ten wickets.
Thirteen wickets is a major reason why J. Singh is second overall and leading wicket taker. A. Singh [North Kildare], R. Abbasi and C. Senior are all on 11. Also taking themselves into double figures are: P. Peethambaran, A. O’Neill [Terenure], P. Rodgers [Leinster] and K. Clarke [North Kildare].
808 players have experienced the joy of seeing a batsman heading back to the pavilion as a result of their bowling. J. Bansal [Adamstown] delivered just one ball, whilst at the opposite end, not entirely unexpectedly is P. Peethambaran having sent down 38.3 overs. 24 bowlers have managed to take five wickets in an innings, but not one of them has done so more than once. C. Siddell [Malahide] and his 7/11 still top the season-best figures, ahead of David Poff [Pembroke] and his 7/47.
As was pointed out in last week’s column and I hold my hands up, no excuses, M. Mathal [Swords] has an average of 0.00 having taken a wicket and not conceded a run. A. Seth [Merrion] has the nearly as impressive totals of 3 wickets for two runs. Nine other bowlers averages are below 3.43, although in three of these cases just one wicket is involved.
Stumpings are less frequent than catches, but in this column are worth more points. Leading glove-man adept at flicking off the bails at the right moment is P. Padmanaban [Sandyford] who has just two catches, has four stumpings to his name and some grateful bowlers at the other end. On three victims is S. Sarfraz [Laois] whilst a further four players have two. 18 other keepers have done it at least once.
536 catchers are out there, somewhere. It’s been a tough season so far for cold hands, but there are some catchers who can and some catches that just had to be held. The figures below here will again include wicket-keepers and part-time wicket-keepers.
In an effort to mix both stumpings and catches the top ten here have been calculated using the fantasy point totals for both catches and stumpings and adding them. It’ll move keepers up the list, but they’ve earned it. Keeping in April and May is not easy or pleasant. Sean Rooney [North County] (10 c, 1 st) has 115 pts. Robert Forrest [Clontarf](7c, 1 st) is second with 85 and in third is C. Diviney [Railway Union] (8 c).
Now that would appear to be all for the fantasy league for this week. Another weekend looms into view, hopefully with better weather this time, and for the author the prospect of making my first visit to relative newcomers, but also trophy winning, Slieve Bloom C.C.. I wonder how Apple (other map suppliers are available) maps will deal with this. Finally if you are considering giving feedback, would you also indicate if you prefer a narrative article or would prefer just the facts and figures in handy to read tables please.