Review of the Season - RSA Division 5

How the league was won - Division 5 (or it's predecessor Middle A) has traditionally been one of the most keenly fought leagues. Stacked full of the stronger third XIs, it can be a dogfight. and with Dundrum 1 and Laois 2 in there as well, the league was always going to be tight.

Hindsight is a wonderful tool, and it can be seen from the dark days of November that once a team had lost four matches, they had lost their chance of promotion. How late this happened for most clubs shows how tight it was.

Malahide lost their fourth match on August 18th and Merrion and Clontarf on September 8th. Up until then, all had a chance of promotion. Above them though were Dundrum 1, who contimnued their relebtless rise up the divisions of the LCU, with yet another promotion. They lost twice, once to Clontarf and once to Malahide, and were unbeaten after July 7th.

Clontarf's season ended badly though, when due to their 1sts and 2nds both being relegated, the 3rds were denied promotion as well. 

 

How dreams turned to nightmares -  As can be seen above, most teams had a shout at promotion. Unfortunately though, two teams were always very much in contention for relegation. Leinster 3 and Railway Union 3 were always slightly off the pace, and it was only the fact the Malahide's season was played largely in the second half of the season that meant there was a possibility of escape. 

Leinster had a chance with a double header over Malahide in August - but the Villagers won both matches to send Leinster down.

 

Heroes with the willow - Quality exuded from Division 5, with 44 players scoring over hundred runs, and tewlve of them at an average of 30 or more. Eight scored over 250 runs, and they all deserve a mention. John Andrews (North County - 255 at 25.33), Alex Mathew (Dundrum - 273 at 21.00), Alan Godfrey (Leinster - 274 at 24.91), Vinu Jacob (Dundrum - 279 at 27.90), Mudaser Mughal (Laois - 291 at 32.33), Tariq Islam (Laois - 305 at 30.50) and Sony Sabastian (Dundrum - 307 at 34.11) .
Far above the others though was a certain Brian Gilmore of Malahide. 503 runs at 45.73. The lad will go far.

Hell for leather - The Division 6 bowling was similar to the batting, with famous names littering the list. There was also a healthy dose of talented youth making their mark at this level, and on top of the pile was a player who was far above the rest.
The names of many who would qualify for veteran status jump out. Jim Walsh of Merrion took 19 wickets at 11.47, Paul Delany of Leinster, 12 at 9.67 and Conor Gibbons of Malahide, 19 at 16.42. But as mentioned, the future is bright - Tom Stanton (Merrion), David Delany (Clontarf) and Stephen Pulbrooke (Leinster) all stand out.

At the top of the list though were a threesome who will surely be playing at a higher level next year. Tariq Islam of Laois took 19 wickets (along with Jim Walsh and Conor Gibbons),  Abhilash Abhi of Dundrum took 20 at 16.55 and far above them was Adam Craig of Clontarf who took an incredible 27 wicketts at 8.26.

Days to remember -  Twice in 2012, a team was bundled out for under 40. Clontarf were the victims once, and the perpatrator the other time, so out of balance we'll include them both.

Clontarf hosted North County for the first match of their season. North County had lost narrowly to Dundrum in their first match, but would have been reasonably confident going into the match. Michael Ryan of Clontarf had other thoughts though, ripping through the County order with 5-6, as North County were all out for only 29. Amazingly Adam Craig who as we saw above was the top wicket taker in the Division didn't even bowl. Even more amazingly, it was Michael Ryan's only match of the season.

After two rained off matches and a brilliant victory over Dundrum, Clontarf travelled to Rathmines and were similarly confident after restricting Leinster to 134. It was their turn to be on the end of a stunning bowling display though, as Nitin Sharma took 6-17, bowling out Clontarf for 26

Stat you may have missed - Renjith Nair of Dundrum scored the highest score for a number 10 in all league cricket in 2012. He scored 57 against Laois 2 on April 28th

Batting (Qualification - 100 runs)

Bowling (Qualification - 10 wickets)