The last report in respect of targets reached in 2014 was for those reached in June. In fact there was one towards the end of that month which I only became aware of after that piece and, as it happened, none were attained in July. I decided therefore to wait until after the season to complete a report on further ones reached during the season.
Lynal Jansen reached 3,000 runs at the end of June when he scored 90 against Leinster for Rush. He entered the season needing 147 to get to that figure. After his first 6 matches of the season he was still 20 short. However he then scored what was at that point his highest score of the season.
Lynal made his debut in Leinster Cricket for Rush in 2007. He has been a regular for Rush since then. Up to the end of this season he has played 93 matches, batted 87 times (9 not out) and has scored 3416 runs in all at an average of 43.79. The runs he has scored include 10 Centuries and 16 Fifties.
Tom Fisher reached 4,000 runs, in his case early in August when he scored 74 for Y.M.C.A. against Terenure, which saw him reach 4,003 runs. He came into the season needing 397 runs to achieve that target. The match in which he achieved his target was his 12th of the season.
Tom first played in Leinster in 2007 for Railway Union. He has since also played for Terenure and Y.M.C.A. In all up to the end of this season he has played 112 matches, batted 112 times (10 not out) and scored 4023 runs, at an average of 39.44. He has scored 3 Hundreds and 26 Fifties.
Theo Lawson was the next to achieve his target on 9th August. He entered the season needing 342 runs to reach 3,000 runs. In his 12th match of the season he scored 48 runs, which brought him to 3,047. He went into that match, against Railway Union, on 2,999 runs!
Theo first played for Clontarf in 2004. After 3 years with Clontarf, he moved to Pembroke in 2007. In all to the end of 2014 Theo has played 130 Matches, batted 123 times (14 not out) and has scored 3166 runs at an average of 29.04. He has scored 3 Hundreds and 18 Fifties.
On the same 9th August 2 players in the same match reached targets. John Mooney took his 100th catch. He entered the season on 96 and in his first 3 games of the season he got to 99. Then as can often happen with fielders, no catches came to him until his 10th match which was against Terenure. He took the first wicket of the Terenure innings when he caught and bowled CJ Mullen to reach the magic mark.
John actually made his debut for the Hills in 1994! It appears that he was probably called on effectively as a substitute fielder as he was only 12 at the time. He then appeared for the first time for North County in 1996, the only club for whom he has since played. In 19 seasons John has played 255 Matches for North County, to achieve a total of 101 catches.
This is the second time this season John has appeared in these reports. In May he reached the target of 5,000 runs.
David Langford-Smith, playing for Terenure, reached 3,000 runs in the same match as John Mooney reached 100 catches. He reached exactly the 226 runs he needed at the season start, in scoring 99* against North County.
Lanky, as he is universally known, first played in Leinster Cricket for Phoenix in 2002 and played for them consistently until 2010, after which season he returned to Australia. He qualified for Ireland during his time here and played in the 2007 World Cup.
In all Lanky has played 157 Matches, batted 141 times (23 times not out) and scored 3013 runs at an average of 25.53. He scored 2 centuries and 12 Fifties. He also took 293 wickets and indeed, it may be that injury towards the end of the season when he largely played as a batsman only prevented him from achieving the double target of 3000 runs and 300 wickets.
Dom Joyce reached 6,000 runs when he scored 57* against YMCA. He had entered the season needing 289 runs to get to 6,000. This was his 14th match in 2014, but only the 10th in which he had batted. Dom made his debut for Merrion in 1996. He did play part of the seasons with Dublin University during the years 2000 to 2005 once the College terms finished in each of these years he resumed for Merrion.
In all Dom has played 265 Matches, and batted 249 times (23 times not out). He has scored 6051 runs at an average of 26.77, scoring 5 Hundreds and 28 Fifties.
30th August saw Bill Coghlan of Clontarf reach 4,000 runs when he scored 63 (his 6th Fifty of the season) against Merrion in Castle Avenue. He entered the season needing 513 runs and got there in the 17 matches he played.
Bill made his debut for Clontarf in 2001. In all he has played 171 matches, batted 154 times (17 times not out) and scored 4,038 runs at an average of 29.47. He has scored 5 centuries and 23 Fifties. Indicative of his all round skills are the fact that he has taken some 43 wickets and kept wicket on a number of occasions.
The last day of the season saw Alan Eastwood reach his target of 200 wickets. In a season which was ravaged by injury he only got to play 6 matches for Pembroke firsts, but this proved enough to enable him to take the 14 wickets he needed to reach 200 wickets, exactly. It was also a target reached in what was his last match for Pembroke as for personal and family reasons he will be playing for Rush in 2015.
Stretch, as he is more widely known, made his debut in Leinster cricket for Pembroke in 2002. He played 153 matches and taken 200 wickets at an average of 23.71. He took 5 wickets in an innings 3 times, with a best bowling performance of 5-18.
Amongst all those I set targets for I must mention two player who achieved targets although neither were included in my list at the beginning of the season.
Firstly, Reinhardt Strydom. He started the season for Malahide on 6,037 runs. I felt the target might be too far away to include it. How wrong I was. In his second last match of the season against Rush he scored 133. This brought him not alone to 1,000 runs for the season (the 20th person to do so and the first since 2004), but also over 7,000 runs, having passed 6,000 runs last year.
Reinhardt made his debut in Leinster Cricket in 2001 and over his time here he has played for Malahide (on two separate occasions) Old Belvedere, North County and Y.M.C.A. He has played 205 matches in League and Cup, batted 188 times, of which 24 were not out, scored 7,120 runs at an average of 43.41. He has scored 15 centuries and 37 Fifties.
Secondly Damian Poder of Merrion. In setting targets the focus tends to be on batting and bowling. At the start of the season Damian was in fact on 99 catches. He reached his 100 catches when he dismissed N Pretorius for Merrion against The Hills on 28th August.
Damian made his debut for Merrion in 1997 and to the end of 2014 has played 257 matches and taken 102 catches