After a long, wait, the best team on the island of Ireland at the end of 2018 can be named as ...........Waringstown.
It's not perhaps the most surprising announcement, as the 2018 Irish Senior Cup champions from the NCU have been widely acclaimed as the top side in the land.
Cricket Leinster's All Ireland team rankings have been overhauled over the last three months. They now include more teams than ever before with Munster sides being included for the first time. Calculations have also been adjusted, meaning that the size of the rating given to most teams has changed since the last time these rankings were published.
The full list of teams that are now included is as follows:
Leinster - all 1st teams playing in the Open Competitions. (source: www.crickerleinster.ie)
Munster - all 1st teams playing in Munster Competitions (source: www.munstercricket.ie)
NCU: all 1st teams playing in Premier, Section 1 and Section 2, as well as associated cups (source: www.northerncricketunion.org)
North West: all 1st teams playing in Premier and Championship, as well as associated cups (source: www.cricketeurope.com/NORTHWEST)
Only matches between 1st teams are included. Approximately minimum of 6 matches per year must be played to qualify for the table.
Waringstown continue to dominate. They have now been number one since 5th August 2017, when they took over the crown from Clontarf. In fact, either Waringstown or Clontarf have been the best team on the island since Merrion had a three day stay at number 1 in early September 2015.
The top five is completed by Leinster champions Merrion, NCU champions CIYMS, Leinster Senior Cup champions Clontarf and YMCA. Brigade are the leading North West side in 6th place, whilst the top Munster team are Cork County in 29th place.
The increase or decrease in a team's rating gives a fairly good guide as to the success (or otherwise) experienced by a team over the season (whereas the position in the rankings depends on other teams). The NCU's Holywood come top of the pile. The Section 1 runners-up also beat Muckamore in the Challenge Cup, and moved up 15 places in our rankings to 27th. Holywood are now not too far off their previous highest ranking, reached way back at the start of these rankings in May 2001.
Malahide's excellent season in Leinster has been well documented, with the team finishing unbeaten in the league on their way to the Division 2 title. The Village move up seven places to 19th, but are still a long way behind the 2006 Malahide vintage which is the best Malahide team we have this century.
Malahide's equivalent in the North West come third in our table of "Most Improved". Glendermott also won their second tier, but the gulf in standards between the North West and Leinster/NCU is highlighted by Glendermott only making it to 47th in the overall table.
The addition of many new clubs for these rankings is being assessed, and may lead to a few oddities - especially in Leinster. Dublin University are perhaps not surprisingly the 13th best team in Leinster, but the following team's position is mainly due to a lack of matches against relevant 1st team opposition.
Terenure, Carlow and North Kildare are the three teams that stand out. Terenure would argue that they should be above Knockharley, but it is has been a tough year for Terenure, with not a single match being won. Matches against the likes of North Kildare, Knockharley and Civil Service would give them the opportunity to chalk up some wins, a much needed commodity down Terenure way.
Carlow owe their odd position due to many matches against 1st team opposition in recent years, albeit opposition of a fairly low quality (in the general scheme of things). Whilst they play enough matches to qualify for our table, a more realistic position will be found once they play a higher standard team. If such oddities persist, the experiment of including such teams may have to be curtailed.
To summarise the 2018 table
| Year (Pos) | Year (Pts) | Team | Played | Points | Rating | |
| 1 | - | 0.12 | Waringstown | 40 | 4483 | 111.14 |
| 2 | +2 | 10.29 | Merrion | 41 | 4367 | 107.40 |
| 3 | +3 | 12.54 | CIYMS | 39 | 4152 | 107.39 |
| 4 | -2 | 5.02 | Clontarf | 39 | 4036 | 104.39 |
| 5 | +2 | -0.56 | YMCA | 35 | 3266 | 94.21 |
| 6 | +2 | 2.91 | Brigade | 32 | 3010 | 94.07 |
| 7 | +3 | 5.08 | North County | 36 | 3291 | 92.27 |
| 8 | -3 | -6.53 | The Hills | 36 | 3224 | 89.55 |
| 9 | -6 | -9.47 | Instonians | 35 | 3121 | 88.33 |
| 10 | +1 | 2.53 | Pembroke | 38 | 3358 | 87.61 |
| 11 | +5 | 9.29 | Civil Service North | 37 | 3151 | 84.40 |
| 12 | +2 | 2.63 | Carrickfergus | 32 | 2633 | 82.28 |
| 13 | - | -4.77 | North Down | 33 | 2575 | 78.83 |
| 14 | -1 | -4.70 | Coleraine | 32 | 2461 | 77.72 |
| 15 | -6 | -12.82 | Donemana | 30 | 2260 | 76.17 |
| 16 | -1 | -3.01 | Leinster | 35 | 2607 | 74.49 |
| 17 | +1 | 2.20 | Phoenix | 37 | 2776 | 74.37 |
| 18 | -1 | -4.11 | Muckamore | 36 | 2447 | 68.62 |
| 19 | +7 | 14.53 | Malahide | 30 | 2015 | 66.43 |
| 20 | +5 | 10.40 | Strabane | 33 | 2076 | 63.54 |
| 21 | -2 | -3.13 | Eglinton | 33 | 2089 | 63.29 |
| 22 | +2 | 8.05 | Bready | 33 | 2028 | 62.09 |
| 23 | -3 | -5.80 | Railway Union | 29 | 1709 | 58.94 |
| 24 | -3 | -3.30 | Ardmore | 29 | 1685 | 57.43 |
| 25 | +9 | 11.35 | Rush | 34 | 1901 | 55.91 |
| 26 | -3 | 0.22 | Lisburn | 37 | 2050 | 55.90 |
| 27 | +15 | 20.22 | Holywood | 37 | 1932 | 52.22 |
| 28 | - | -0.31 | Balbriggan | 30 | 1507 | 49.70 |
| 29 | - | -0.42 | Cork County | 34 | 1692 | 49.28 |
| 30 | -3 | -2.78 | Woodvale | 38 | 1810 | 47.23 |
| 31 | +5 | 2.89 | Downpatrick | 41 | 1884 | 45.59 |
| 32 | -2 | -1.63 | Armagh | 31 | 1418 | 45.27 |
| 33 | -1 | -1.80 | Fox Lodge | 34 | 1516 | 45.03 |
| 34 | -1 | -0.53 | Derriaghy | 41 | 1815 | 44.26 |
| 35 | NE | NE | Limerick | 17 | 744 | 43.78 |
| 36 | +7 | 11.25 | Bangor | 37 | 1609 | 43.11 |
| 37 | NE | NE | Cregagh | 35 | 1470 | 42.39 |
| 38 | +9 | 13.72 | Templepatrick | 31 | 1196 | 39.00 |
| 39 | +5 | 7.80 | Ballyspallen | 37 | 1376 | 37.20 |
| 40 | -9 | -10.76 | Dublin University | 12 | 445 | 36.08 |
| 41 | -2 | -1.29 | Knockharley | 16 | 528 | 33.71 |
| 42 | NE | NE | Cliftonville Academy | 15 | 498 | 33.17 |
| 43 | NE | NE | Civil Service Dublin | 12 | 383 | 31.09 |
| 44 | -9 | -14.10 | Donacloney Mill | 32 | 940 | 29.67 |
| 45 | +3 | 8.08 | Ballymena | 32 | 931 | 29.41 |
| 46 | -1 | -0.12 | Lurgan | 35 | 1008 | 29.07 |
| 47 | +5 | 14.02 | Glendermott | 30 | 831 | 28.00 |
| 48 | +2 | 10.28 | Killyclooney | 31 | 819 | 26.70 |
| 49 | NE | NE | Laois | 13 | 316 | 24.95 |
| 50 | -9 | -11.62 | Newbuildings | 33 | 762 | 23.10 |
| 51 | -11 | -14.16 | Terenure | 29 | 607 | 20.68 |
| 52 | NE | NE | County Kerry | 20 | 397 | 20.18 |
| 53 | -16 | -18.71 | Laurelvale | 35 | 709 | 20.06 |
| 54 | NE | NE | Carlow | 11 | 146 | 13.23 |
| 55 | -2 | 1.82 | North Kildare | 15 | 199 | 13.01 |
| 56 | NE | NE | County Galway | 12 | 144 | 11.97 |
| 57 | -3 | 0.64 | St Johnston | 29 | 312 | 10.88 |
| 58 | -20 | -25.96 | Drummond | 30 | 324 | 10.70 |
| 59 | -10 | -9.33 | BISC | 26 | 242 | 9.31 |
| 60 | -4 | 7.77 | Saintfield | 32 | 280 | 8.85 |
| 61 | NE | NE | Monaghan | 15 | 131 | 8.70 |
| 62 | -4 | 10.01 | Burndennett | 28 | 183 | 6.53 |
| 63 | NE | NE | Cork Harlequins | 11 | -7 | -0.67 |
| 64 | -13 | -18.56 | Donaghadee | 25 | -66 | -2.62 |
| 65 | -8 | -2.65 | Bonds Glen | 28 | -95 | -3.45 |
| 66 | -6 | 13.46 | Cooke Collegians | 24 | -237 | -10.00 |
| 67 | -8 | -14.67 | Larne | 23 | -423 | -18.38 |
| 68 | NE | NE | Belfast Superkings | 15 | -316 | -21.07 |
| 69 | NE | NE | Ards | 14 | -391 | -27.96 |
| 70 | NE | NE | Dunmurry | 14 | -418 | -29.86 |
| 71 | NE | NE | Victoria | 15 | -483 | -32.22 |
| 72 | NE | NE | Drumaness | 12 | -489 | -40.71 |
| 73 | -12 | -12.23 | Dundrum (NCU) | 27 | -1228 | -45.47 |