Division 14 stats
Leading all time run scorer (2011-2016) - Adam Gilbride (Clontarf) - 839 runs @ 24.68
Most runs in a Division 14 season - Colm Reilly (Balbriggan) - 510 runs (2013)
Highest score - Jack Quinlan - 168 - Merrion 7 vs Wicklow County 2 - Anglesea Road - 6 July 2013
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2016) - Tomas Mount (Mullingar) - 64 wkts @ 11.09
Most wickets in a Division 14 season - Tomas Mount - 28 wkts (2013)
Best bowling - Peter Crosse - 8-9 - Wicklow County 2 vs Mullingar 3 - Aravon School - 3 Sept 2012
Most matches - Frank Lonergan (Wicklow County) - 53 - (2012-2016)
Highest team score - 321-5 - Merrion 7 vs Wicklow County 2 - Anglesea Road - 6 July 2013
Lowest team score - 21 all out - Sandyford 3 vs Mullingar 3 - St Finian's College - 29 Aug 2015
Pembroke 6 withdrew from Division 14 during the season (after being predicted as champions in our preview!)
Team of the Year (in batting order) - Colm Reilly (Balbriggan), Thejas Sreedharan (Wicklow County), Killian Molloy (Knockharley, wicketkeeper), Trevor Koen (Wicklow County), Sameer Handa (Adamstown), Pardeep Singh (Castleknock), Rajesh Adi (Knockharley), Stephen Sheldon (Wicklow County), Vinay Kumar (Adamstown), George Angel (Knockharley), Ravi Mehta (Castleknock)
Review
Runs per wicket for all teams - 18.29 Runs per over for all teams - 4.10
Balbriggan 3 - Champions - (Predicted 6th) - Batting Rating 153 - Bowling Rating 111 - RpO for 4.87 - RpO against 4.22
Balbriggan 3 won their first ever league title, and their first piece of silverware since the 1997 Minor Cup with an efficient display that saw them with a 6% lead of second place Wicklow County, and 30% over Adamstown back in third. Colm Reilly didn't have his most productive season (that was back in 2013 when he scored 501 runs), but he was still the mainstay of the team with 203 runs at 40.60. Surprisingly, only one other player passed 100 runs - Ali Bangash scored 171 runs in only three innings. That was probably down to the team only batting first twice. Incredibly, there were seven successful run chases, and only one failure when they didn't chase 197 against Wicklow County. Included in those seven chases were two ten wicket wins (one caused by an Adamstown forfeiture) and two nine wicket wins. The bowling unit wasn't quite as strong, with only John Keeler passing ten wickets - 12 at 16.67. After years's of under-achievement, Balbriggan had a fantastic season, and both parts of that stressed by the following - the 3rds were the 23rd ranked third team in 2015, but leaped five places to 18th this year. Colm Reilly has become the first Balbriggan 3 player to reach 1000 runs, and is now on 1244 at 46.07.
Wicklow County 2 - Runners up - (Predicted 3rd) - Batting Rating 108 - Bowling Rating 112 - RpO for 4.27 - RpO against 3.97
Wicklow County 2 improved their league position for the third straight year, finishing in 107th place in the league up from 116 in 2013. Their season was decent throughout, winning five of their first six, and then four of their last five to finish a huge margin ahead of third place Adamstown. A special word to Frank Lonergan who extended his Division 14 record of most appearances, which now stands at 53 since Division 14 came into being in 2011. Two allrounders formed the back bone to the team - Thejas Sreedharan scored 214 runs as 23.78 and 11 wickets at 22; and Trevor Koen was also solid with 206 at 51.5 and 11 wickets at 8.55. There were others as well. With the bat, the indominatable Johnny Joyce hit 149 runs at 29.8 and with the ball Stephen Sheldon came out on top with an impressive 15 wickets at 15.47.
Adamstown 4 - 3rd - (Predicted 1st) - Batting Rating 108 - Bowling Rating 84 - RpO for 4.70 - RpO against 4.26
Perhaps a minor disappointment for Adamstown 4, who have entered league cricket for three seasons, and have now finished 108th in the league every year. There will be no complaints though - they were a long way behind the two leaders, and although the batting was as strong as Wicklow County's, the bowling was much weaker. An awful start to the season saw them still winless in mid July, before a late rally saw four wins in July and August. The weakness of the bottom of Division 14 meant that was enough to grab third place. The runs were provided by Rozeen ahmed (197 at 28.14), Sameer Handa (163 at 27.17) and Vinay Kumar (217 at 36.17). But as mentioned, it was the bowling where the problems lay - only Handa took ten or more wickets (12 at 14.5), and he went at 4.66 an over.
Railway Union 5 - 4th - (Predicted 5th) - Batting Rating 123 - Bowling Rating 145 - RpO for 3.82 - RpO against 3.61
Our 2016 season preview saw Railway Union 5 as dark horses. But no one had any idea as to how dark we were talking - to be honest the lights went out. When they played they were brilliant, losing twice all season - one of which was to Balbriggan. But remarkably in a league in which all the other teams managed to complete at least nine matches of the twelve, Railway only played six. Of the other six, some were down to scorecards not being submitted, there was a walkover given, game not refixed and a couple rained off. All of which is a long way of saying that there is not too much to report on the stats front. One man stood head and shoulders above the others, with Nick Jagoe leading batting and bowling lists with 198 runs at 99 and 9 wickets at 12.
Castleknock 3 - 5th - (Predicted 4th) - Batting Rating 83 - Bowling Rating 76 - RpO for 3.98 - RpO against 3.96
A season which was pretty much as was predicted from Castleknock 3. In three of the last four seasons, the team has finished 110th in the league, so not a season to be writing home about, but not a season to force you into exile either. They beat the two teams below them - Knockharley and Civil Service twice each, and lost to everyone above them in the table, so can't really be complaining about their final position. Slightly amazingly, they batted first in every single one of the eleven matches played. Unfortunately only twice did they manage to set more than 160 - 174 in a losing cause against Adamstown, and 183 when narrowly beating Knockharley. Five players passed 100 runs, but only Pardep Singh (200 at 22.22) got over 150. And with the ball, only the ever dependable Ravi Mehta got into double figures - 10 wickets at 15.90
Knockharley 3 - 6th (Predicted 2nd) - Batting Rating 89 - Bowling Rating 77 - RpO for 3.59 - RpO against 4.73
A massive disappointment for Knockharley. With the club very much going in the right direction, Knockharley 3 put in a shift to forget, finishing in their lowest league postition in the last six years - 111th. Of the ten games played on the pitch, eight were lost, and an initial glance reveals that the bowling attack couldn't take wickets nor control the run rate. Closer inspection reveals that wasn't quite the case. Raj Adi (10 wickets at 17.9, RpO 3.44) and George Angel (10 wickets at 14.3, RpO 3.04) both had decent season, so the problems must have been elsewhere. Only two teams were bowled out for under 150, and both of those were right at the beginning of the season, and after that team scored with abandon. Roy Shivmangal only played four matches, scoring a very solid 155 runs at 51,.67, with Raj Adi having a fine allround season - he also scored 239 runs at 39.83.
Civil Service 4 - 7th (Predicted 7th) - Batting Rating 77 - Bowling Rating 126 - RpO for 3.59 - RpO against 3.74
After 2015's promotion, 2016 was always going to be difficult for Civil Service 4, and that was how it proved. The season started in excellent fashion with a big win over Railway Union, but from then on in, there was only one more win - a consolation victory over Knockharley. The bowling definitely wasn't the problem - only Railway had a better bowling attack. And with Adam Darnell (11 at 16.64), Steve Livsey (11 at 19.73) and David Nugent (10 at 8.60), there was no shortage of attack leaders. But the batting was a different story. Four batsmen passed 100 runs for the season, but none of them were able to go on past 125 runs. On the team front, they were bowled out for under 110 five times.
The full Division 14 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here