Russell Court Hotel Division 2 stats
Leading all time run scorer (2011-2017) - Lynal Jansen (Rush) - 3132 runs @ 48.02
Most runs in a Division 2 season - Lynal Jansen (Rush) - 911 runs (2013)
Highest score - Robin Kelly - 219 - Pembroke 1 vs Rush 1 - Kenure - 5 June 2012
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2017) - Lynal Jansen (Rush) - 111 wkts @ 19.61
Most wickets in a Division 2 season - Stephanus Grobler (Cork County) - 31 wkts (2016) and Tom Stanton (Merrion) - 31 wkts (2017)
Best bowling - Malcolm Byrne - 7-16 - The Hills 2 vs Old Belvedere 1 - The Vineyard - 22 May 2011
Most matches - Shahid Iqbal (Rush) - 83 - (2011-2017)
Highest team score - 412-6 - Pembroke 1 vs Rush 1 - Kenure - 5 June 2012
Lowest team score - 49 all out - North Kildare 1 vs Dublin University 1 - The Maws - 1 May 2016
Team of the Year (in batting order): Givon Christian (Terenure), Dom Joyce (Merrion), John Anderson (Merrion) (Division 1, 2011, 2013, 2014), Jamie Brown (Merrion), Trent McGrath (Balbriggan), Ranil Dhammika (Railway Union), Dhram Singh (Railway Union), Tom Stanton (Merrion) (Division 4, 2012, 2013), Fintan McAllister (Malahide, wicketkeeper) (Division 1, 2015), William von Behr (Dublin University) (Division 2, 2014), Farooq Nasr (Balbriggan)
Review
Runs per wicket for all teams - 23.89 Runs per over for all teams - 4.85
Merrion 1- Champions - (Predicted 1st) - Batting Rating 171 - Bowling Rating 131 - RpO for 5.98 - RpO against 4.33
It wouldn't be fair to Merrion or the other teams in Division 2 to downplay their season. Although the then reigning Irish Senior Cup champions were massive odds on favourites to win Division 2, the margins involved showed a team that was pretty ruthless in its aims. All thirteen matches were won (Clontarf were the last team do achieve the feat in 2013), and the margins were as large as expected - the closest match when Merrion batted first was the 32 run win over Railway Union, when they were chasing the closest were two four wicket wins over Terenure and Railway Union. The number 11 only had to bat once all season and the number 10 only twice. And is pretty much all there is to say. We rank Merrion as the 5th best team on the island, and they are far too good for Division 2. The bowling attack pretty much only needed four bowlers, the other ten who took wickets were very much supporting actors. Overseas player Jamie Brown took 19 wickets at 19.79, Lightning skipper John Anderson took 17 at 17.76, but the story of the season was probably the Stanton brothers - Tom taking 31 at 11.55 and Sean 20 at 19.65. Tom's 31 wickets matches Stephanus Grobler's 2016 record of most wickets in a Division 2 season. Eight batsmen passed 100 runs for the season, and it would be fair to say none of them really struggled. Brown was leading run scorer with 607 at 60.7, Anderson had 569 at 81.29, followed by Bhavesh Lakhotia (279 at 39.86), John Blakeney (236 at 23.6), Michael Lewis (222 at 31.71), Tyrone Kane (213 at 26.75), Dom Joyce (206 at 51.5) and Vikas Dhiman with 123 at 15.38. Anderson, Brown, Joyce and Tom Stanton all made our Division 2 Team of the Year. (NB: Photo provided by Merrion and courtesy of Joe Curtis)
Dublin University 1 - Runners up - (Predicted 5th) - Batting Rating 82 - Bowling Rating 121 - RpO for 4.02 - RpO against 4.52
Without wishing to be unduly harsh, Dublin University's triumphant second place in Division 2 (their highest league position since they were also 10th in 1991), seems a lot better at the time! They were heavily beaten by Malahide and Merrion, and whilst their batting struggled all season, the bowling attack fashioned the wins against Balbriggan, North Kildare, Terenure and Rush, who were bowled out for 138, 63, 107 and 115 respectively. The rained off match against Railway Union probably also had a big impact on the league, and led to the Division 1/2 focus group recommending changes in points won in Dublin University matches. But that is getting away from the point - a historic 10th place in Cricket Leinster (in as much as it was the best in over 25 years, rather than historic in terms of Trinity's glorious history), with a bowling attack that was the second best in the division. Will von Behr made our Team of the Year with 11 wickets at 13.09 as well as 132 runs at 26.40, and a legend of Irish cricket, Conor Hoey backed him up with 10 wickets at 15.90. Mikey Hogan was excellent as well, scoring 121 at 30.25 when much of the batting was order was struggling to get runs. And a final point - we haven't had to mention the three current internationals who played for the team - Isobel Joyce, Lorcan Tucker and George Dockrell!
Malahide 1 - 3rd - (Predicted 6th) - Batting Rating 100 - Bowling Rating 104 - RpO for 5.02 - RpO against 4.71
An stop start year for Malahide, who despite missing out on promotion, had a solid 3rd place, and were gunning for that second promotion spot until very end. The season started off in top gear, with good wins over Railway and Terenure, before immediately stalling with losses to Merrion, Balbriggan and North Kildare. After being jump started (and lapped in the process), an audacious manouvre saw them gain double points after beating Trinity, followed up by another move the following week against Rush. A missed gear change then saw a loss to Terenure before a series of quick laps saw them surge up the leaderboard - wins over North Kildare, Railway Union and Rush. WIth the chequered flag in sight, they (and this metaphor) ran out of steam, and losses to Balbriggan and Merrion left them with a podium finish. The surprise package of the season was skipper Alan Reynolds. Whilst it wasn't a surprise to score a lot of runs, and to lead from the front, his contribution of 458 runs at 35.23 was only the fourth time in the past seven years that a Malahide player had scored more than 400 league runs in a season (after Reinhardt Strydom in 2014 and Fintan McAllister in 2014 and 2015), and only three overseas players (Brown, McGrath and Christian) and John Anderson scored more in Division 2 this year. Danny O' Shea came next with 382 at 29.38, followed by McAllister (332 at 30.18, and who made our Team of the Year as wicket keeper with the most dismissals), Sean Davey (264 at 24), Peter Chase (147 at 21) Calum Riches (125 at 11.36) and Arjun Venkat Muntha with 104 at 17.33. A special mention as well to David O' Halloran who started his career for Malahide 1 with seven not outs, whilst scoring 81 runs. The bowling was spearheaded by the quartet of O' Shea (23 at 17.04), James Newland (17 at 25.18), Keith Reynolds (15 at 17.13) and Sean Davey (11 at 21.45).
Balbriggan 1 - 4th - (Predicted 3rd) - Batting Rating 96 - Bowling Rating 101 - RpO for 4.79 - RpO against 4.88
Balbriggan 1 finished in 12th place in the league for the 4th year in a row. Although it would have been nice to have reached third spot, they at least didn't drop, and all in all there will be some satisfaction in the club. The season started n the worst possible way, losing to a George Dockrell inspired Dublin University in the double points match. Merrion the following week was always going to be a tough ask, and when they lost to Rush by 93 runs next time out, it was looking like a long hard season. The next three were won, and despite more loses to Rush and Merrion, as well as Railway, three more wins to finish the season left Balbriggan in that familiar 4th spot. If we were to pick one area that harmed the team more than any other it was the inability for batsmen to convert 50s into big scores. Thirteen times a Balbriggan batsman raised their bat to acknowledge a 50, but only twice did one of those innings go past 76 (15.3%). The equivalent figures for Merrion and Malahide were 55.6% and 41.2% respectively. Railway were at 75%, Terenure at 50% and Rush 35.6%. Only North Kildare (25%) and Dublin University (only one score over 50 all season) were similar to Balbriggan's 15.3%. Nine players are worth of further mention in our round up, and two made our Team of the Year - figures that would suggest a team finishing higher up the league. Farooq Nasr took an impressive 20 wickets at 15.35 as well as 133 runs at 13.3 (and was interestingly one of only two players on the Division 2 Team of the Year (with Railway Union's Dhram Singh) who are resident in Ireland but have not played for Leinster Lightning). Overseas player Trent McGrath was the other one, scoring 545 runs at 60.56, a total only once bettered by a Balbriggan player in Division 2 (Mohammed Farrukh with 825 in 2014) - he also took 13 wickets at 27. Ehtesham Ahmed had another excellent all round season scoring 250 runs at 20.83 and taking 23 wickets at 17.26 - the fourth time in the last five seasons that he has reached the 200 run/10 wicket double in Division 1/2 league cricket. Mudassir Aziz took 11 wickets at 28.09 in his first season in Leinster cricket, and whilst Duane Harper had a poor season with the bat, he took 11 wickets at 25.09 to complete the summary of the bowling attack. Four other batsmen had seasons of varying success. Conor Fletcher blazed a trail across the province at the start of the season, scoring seven 50s (including three hundreds) between May 7 and June 17 in all cricket, but then didn't score another 50 until he scored 82 in the last game of the season - he finished with 366 runs at 30.5. Adrian Harper was solid at the top of the order with 287 at 23.92, Adam Keefe scored 155 at 14.09 and Anthony Moor 153 at 21.86.
Railway Union 1 - 5th - (Predicted 2nd) - Batting Rating 108 - Bowling Rating 96 - RpO for 4.86 - RpO against 4.56
There are enough back stories in Railway Union 1's season to fill an epic novel, let alone a short review. An awful start to the season saw them lose their first four matches. A fortnight later, things were even worse when the double point match against Trinity was rained off leading 16 points each (from a possible 50). At that point, Railway had only won one match in their first seven (including that rained off match), and things were looking bleak. But they then won four of the last six to finish strongly. We have the team ranked as the 3rd best team in the league, and whilst 4th may be more realistic, it does suggest that they shouldn't have been as low as 5th. The individual stats can be broken up into a series of intriguing chapters - "Players who have served Railway well but who had off seasons"; "Excitement for the future with quality coming up through the ranks"; and "It is easy to forget just how good Kevin O'Brien is". Starting with O'Brien - he played three matches, scoring 125*, 101* and 114*, all leading to Railway wins. Whilst playing overseas, Railway have been starved of his services, and the hundreds were his first in Leinster club cricket since 2012. In his last six league matches (Division 1 and 2) he has scored 522 runs at 174. This season's contribution was 340 runs. Chapter 1 includes three players who didn't have the best of seasons, but are probably allowed to do so having been brilliant servants of the club for as long as most can remember. Kenny Carroll has been performing miracles for the last few seasons, but came back down to earth this year with "only" 197 runs at 19.7. Mohammad Tariq only took 9 wickets, and added 120 runs at 12, and Saad Ullah didn't make our threshold with bat nor ball, despite playing nine matches. There is always next year. Chapter 2 gives the club hope for the future though. Sixteen year old Alex Stiles was top scorer with 353 runs at 50.43, including two centuries, Ciaran Divney scored 122 at 30.5 and perhaps most impressive of all was Rachit Gaur with an all round season containing 403 runs at 36.64 and 11 wickets at 27.27. On top of that, two players made our Team of the Year who we have not even mentioned yet. Dhram Singh took 13 wickets at an impressive 15.46 and overseas player Ranil Dhammika scored 193 runs at 32.17 and 14 wickets at 15.5. Two other players worthy of a mention - Abdullah Hafiz scored 194 runs at 17.64 and Robin Russell scored 106 at 15.14. Railway will be back.
Rush 1 - 6th (Predicted 4th) - Batting Rating 103 - Bowling Rating 89 - RpO for 4.97 - RpO against 5.27
It's tough being a bowler in Rush. Excellent batting pitches linked with the famous small straight boundaries, make the bowler's lot a hard one. So although Rush's bowling was rated much lower than the batting, and although there were a few off days (North Kildare chased 120 for the loss of one wicket, Merrion scored 403-6), it could well have been the batting that caused more problems (192 ao vs Merrion, 115 ao vs Trinity, 163 ao vs Malahide). Maybe we're just being picky in an attempt to find why Rush finished two places lower than predicted. As with all clubs in Division 2, the match against Dublin University was crucial, and after losing by 6 wickets, Rush were in trouble. That was in the midst of a five match losing streak in June and July, and although they struggled to recover, in the end they were only 25 points away from 4th place. Five bowlers took at least ten wickets, but the fact that only one got to 11 wickets tells its own tale. Allan Eastwood doesn't need to prove much more in his illustrious career, but still led the attack with 16 wickets at 22.75. The other four were a mixture of old - Shahid Iqbal (10 at 28.90) and young - Daniel Coffey (10 at 25.6), Stephen Doheny (10 at 27.5) and Alex Neary (10 at 24.5). Incredibly, ten players got to 100 runs (or perhaps not so incredibly bearing in mind our opening sentence to this review). Those aged 20 and under were Stephen Doheny (420 at 35), Neil Rock (324 at 32.4), Alex Neary (171 at 28.5) and Dean Brogan (129 at 21.5), whilst those with a bit much experience were Saadat Gull (462 at 35.54), Lynal Jansen (267 at 89), Conor Armstong (190 at 27.14), Sean Monks (131 at 17.62), Shahid Iqbal (130 at 14.44) and Allan Eastwood (113 at 10.27). A special word for Jansen. He had to cut short his season after a family bereavement in South Africa. If that is indeed the end of his Leinster career he leaves as the leading run scorer (3132 at 48.02) and wicket taker (111 at 19.62) in Division 2, and with a Senior record of 4154 runs at 45.15 and 152 wickets at 20.51. On top of that is his legacy of one of the most successful youth set ups on the island.
Terenure 1 - 7th (Predicted 7th) - Batting Rating 84 - Bowling Rating 104 - RpO for 4.17 - RpO against 4.47
Although we predicted Terenure 1 would come 7th, it was still something of a surprise that they ended up where they did, which was their lowest league finish we have on record, 15th. There were two wins over North Kildare, and two good wins over Railway Union (thanks to 4-21 from Muhammad Arshad) and (the architects Givon Christian with 68 and Malik Waqar Hussain with 4-24). Apart from that it was a bit of a log, although the bowlers more than held their own, with the problems being the batting. The home scores were 107ao, 141ao, 142-2, 231-8, 161ao, 203ao, 125ao and 121ao - perhaps not disastrous but enough of a reason to be identified in a post mortem. That feeling is reflected in the analysis. Overseas player Givon Christian was brilliant, making our Team of the Year with 485 runs at 69.29. Jeremy Bray needs no introduction, and whilst this probably didn't compare with vintage Bray, the best batsman the province has ever seen still scored 182 runs at 45.50. But that was more or less it - Mick Cotter scored 144 at 16, Kenny McDonald 111 at 15.86, Conor Mullen 107 at 13.38 and Malik Waqar Hussain 102 at 14.57. The bowling was much better, with only Merrion and Dublin University being rated better. Christian chipped in with 11 at 22.82, Muhammad Arshad was top wicket taker with 14 at 21.57, followed by Yasir Cheema (12 at 25.17) and Malik Waqar Hussain (12 at 30.33)
North Kildare 1 - 8th (Predicted 8th) - Batting Rating 67 - Bowling Rating 74 - RpO for 4.38 - RpO against 5.87
As rumours have grown in the past few weeks regarding North Kildare's league status in 2018, it has been easy to forget the details of their 2017 season. And it shouldn't be forgotten, because in many ways it was a glorious success. After five matches, they had already won three, all at home, beating Rush, Malahide and Railway Union - all Irish Senior Cup winners or runners up in the past 20 years. Admittedly there were two heavy defeats away to Trinity and Terenure, but the homes games later in the season against Balbriggan and Terenure should have been winnable. Instead, that early season confidence seems to evaporate, and the team lost the last eight matches (including two to Merrion which is hardly a crime), including many heavy defeats. That lack of confidence and belief could be seen to be a cop out; a guess when nothing else is apparent. That may be the case, but a look at who did what reveals that there were very few changes from the previous year, and in fact a good few positives. The 2016 season was dominated by Imran ul Haq, and in fairness he could only play four games this year. But Manjeet Singh more than compensated, with 221 runs at 18.42 and 21 wickets at 25.1. In 2016, North Kildare had one batsman scoring more than 200 runs, and seven more scoring over 100 - and it was the same in 2017, with the other seven being the returning Tom Satchwell (164 at 20.5), Rob Neavyn (151 at 16.78), Paul Ryan (143 at 14.3), Neil Vorster (136 at 12.36), Josh Uddin (135 at 16.88) and Sean Dalton (128 at 12.8). Admittedly not great figures, but on par with 2016. Paul Ryan had much less impact with the ball this year than when compared to 2016, but Wasif Ali took 12 at 25.92 and Vorster 12 at 26.25. It is difficult to ignore the confidence factor.
The full Division 2 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here.