Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics - Most Valuable Points ranking

A quick (may not be quick) look at the Most Valuable Player ratings (sounds so much better than Fantasy ratings don’t you think?) Two thousand, one hundred and twenty two players have appeared in the OCC statistics this week. That’s 2,122 players registered with the OCC…. Ok maybe not all registered originally or in time, but they appear in the statistics supplied by the OCC…(includes P. Unregistered for a number of Clubs – see end of article for details)

Long-time leader R. Meraj (Laois) [1,611 pts] leads the overall Most Valuable Player points by 122 points from R. Nair [1,489] (Dundrum). Ten points further back is A. Ravi (R&SPU) [1,479], who is only two points ahead of Jack Tector (YMCA) [1,477]. It all points to a tight finish with only two weeks to go.

For those who have asked the points are allocated as follows: 10 points for each game played, 1 point for each run, 20 points for each bowlers wicket, 10 points per catch (wicketkeeper or not) and 15 points for each stumping. Incomplete scorecards mean that run outs are ignored entirely. Bonus points are available for scoring half and full centuries and for taking 5 or 10 wickets in an innings. If a player has played for more than one club then their statistics will be split between the two clubs and thanks to Neel for pointing that out.

49 players (the top 2.3% of all players) have scored over 1,000 MVP points

John Andrews [North County] has played the most games in the whole of Leinster having appeared 30 times. Unsurprisingly 8 out of the top 10 overall points scorers have played at least 20 games.

John Andrews (795 runs) is also the second highest run scorer in the province and is only 16 behind leader R. Meraj (811 runs).13 players have scored over 500 runs with a further 4 players within 10 runs.

Martin Sheridan-Pope [Wexford Wanderers] has the top average (110.00), but being dismissed just the once in 6 games has certainly helped. S. Hughes’ [Knockharley] solitary knock of 106 keeps him second, but S. Dempsey [Halverstown] has 522 runs at an average of 104.40. Thirty-three players have maintained an average over 50, which has to be applauded, although only ten of them have played ten games or more.

R. Meraj, S. Iqbal [Rush] and L. Jansen [Rush] are the only players to score two hundreds, although Robin Kelly [Pembroke] has the only double century. Four other players have passed 150 in an innings. Forty five players have scored centuries. John Andrews leads the 50 makers also with 7 to date, although MT Raza [R&SPU] with 6 might still catch him. Bill Coughlan [Clontarf] and Theo Lawson [Pembroke] both have 5, although only Bill might improve his figures. Fourteen players have 4 x 50 and twenty-four have 3 x 50. A further 84 players have 2 x 50 and in total 370 players have scored at least one half century this season.

Fifty-seven bowlers have now bowled over 100 overs with R. Nair leading with 158 overs. One thousand and sixty nine players have now bowled, although seven hundred and seventeen have bowled less than 20 overs.

Four bowlers have taken more than 40 wickets, S. Gallagher [Halverstown] (47 wickets), A Ravi [R&SPU] (45 wkts), J. Toor [Adamstown] (44 wkts) and Vinu Jacob [Sandyford] (41 wkts). One thousand two hundred and twenty seven different bowlers now have a wicket to their name, with averages ranging from 154 down to 0.33.

Jack Tector’s 8/40 remains the best analysis and will take some beating, although R. Chalissery [Ring Commons] took 7 wickets for six runs in one game, a quick game one suspects. Thirty one games have seen a single bowler take six wickets or more.

Z. Scott [Leinster] has 18 catches and with 5 stumpings also it is assumed he takes the gloves regularly. M. Ellison [Malahide] with 16 catches and no stumpings would appear to be the leading outfield catcher.

Nine stumpings leads, with four keepers managing this. R. Maybury [Clontarf], M. Hogan [Terenure Titans], Lee Cole [YMCA] and S. Kurian [Dundrum].

Overall there have been 169,132 runs scored, 16,019 extras, 10,084 wickets taken by bowlers, 3,596 catches and 234 stumpings. Despite the weather during this summer, there has been a lot of activity.

How many players does each club have in the top 100 overall MVP points table? Leinster lead the way in this category which benefits the larger clubs. More players and more opportunities for games, but that is the same for the overall table also.

Don’t forget that the entire listing or a selection from it is available from craig@cricket.ie. I will try and answer any queries and I do appreciate any feedback.

Finally, how has Player Unregistered got on this season? Have any real ringers been parachuted into any teams? Have they been genuine late fillers or phantom demons? Which Clubs have been most forgetful in registering players [I mean apart from me and Pembroke’s 6^th XI]…