Division 16 stats
Leading all time run scorer (2011-2016) - Terry Bruton (Ashbourne) - 613 runs @ 55.73
Most runs in a Division 16 season - Sunil Kant Trikha (Carlow) - 528 runs (2015)
Highest score - Sunil Kant Trikha (Carlow) - 156 - Carlow 1 vs Bagenalstown 3 - Carlow RFC - 7 June 2015
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2016) - Stephen Hadley (Bagenalstown) - 36 wkts @ 15.19
Most wickets in a Division 16 season - Aj Malhan (North Kildare) - 33 wkts (2015)
Best bowling - Mark Rutledge (Merrion) - 6-9 - Adamstown 5 vs Merrion 8 - Corkagh Park - 10 Sept 2016
Highest team score - 440-6 - Carlow 1 vs Bagenalstown 3 - Carlow RFC - 7 June 2015
Lowest team score - 34 all out - Ashbourne 2 v Bagenalstown 3- Ashbourne- 16 July 2016
Most Matches in Division 16 (2011-2016) - Robbie O'Neill (Bagenalstown) - 20 (2015-16) and Tushar Verma (Adamstown) - 20 (2015-2016)
And so begins our reviews of the 2016 Open Competitions league season. There will be tears and heartache, laughs and happy memories - and that is just from the writer. A couple of notes to help explain our reviews this year.
Each team has a bowling rating and a batting rating (as was used last year). This is the team's runs per wicket for and runs per wicket against when compared to the average across that league. An "average team" would have ratings of 100 for bowling and batting. And as the game changes, we have also included the run rate across each division, and the run rate scored and conceded by each team.
The reviews now make extensive use of our new Data Centre. All statistics for the last six seasons can be found at http://www.cricketleinster.ie/data-centre/players.
We have also added a team of the year, based on the top five bowlers (on average, minimum 10 wickets), the wicketkeeper with the most dismissals, and then the top batsmen to fill the eleven (on average, 200 runs and 5 innings minimum)
Team of the Year (in batting order) - Stephen Hadley (Bagenalstown), Sateender Pal Singh (Merrion), Ravi Kiran Kosgi (Merrion), Amardeep Dhiman (Merrion), Harshit Bansal (AIB), Shalin Sanghvi (AIB), Mandeep Singh (Adamstown), Bruce Thompson (AIB), Dermot Cousins (Civil Service, wicketkeeper), Syed Baryalay (Bagenalstown), Mark Rutledge (Merrion)
Review
Runs per wicket for all teams - 17.67 Runs per over for all teams - 4.22
AIB 1 - Champions - (Predicted 2nd) - Batting Rating 135 - Bowling Rating 138 - RpO for 4.86 - RpO against 3.48
There was a feeling that AIB were bound to be promoted this season. They had a very solid first year in 2015, and were unlucky to start their league life at the same time as Carlow and Ashbourne. This year they had no such problems, and quietly went about their way. The first nine games were won, and despite a slight hiccup or two towards the end (defeats to Civil Service and Merrion) a handsome win in their final match against Adamstown confirmed the Division 16 crown. Impressively, a squad rotation system meant that 24 players were used, with no one playing more than eight of the twelve games, and twenty players playing in at least four. That lack of reliance on any particular players was reflected in the stats - seven topped 100 runs, with Bruce Thompson leading the way with 258 at 51.60. With the ball, five took at least ten wickets, with Ashwani Tomar coming top with 14 wickets at 10.29. A very solid year, and with plenty in the tank, AIB 1 will be a handful in 2017 as well.
Merrion 8 - Runners up - (Predicted 1st) - Batting Rating 175 - Bowling Rating 96 - RpO for 5.33 - RpO against 4.55
It was only a matter of time before the success that the Merrion machine has brought to other teams, came to Merrion 8. 2015's relegation from Division 15 was forgotten about, although it must be said that the squad had little else to think about for the first half of the season. On July 23, the team had won one, lost one, and had a walkover in their favour. But the rest of the season brought lots of cricket and lots of success, with seven wins and a loss from there on in - not quite enough to overtake AIB at the top. Merrion's approach was based very much on a regular team, with ten players playing at least seven matches, and hence there were some big run and wicket hauls. Three of the top run scorers in the divison were Merrion players - Sateender Pal Singh (224 at 27.33), Ravin Kiran Kosgi (250 at 41.67) and best of all Amardeep Dhiman (305 at 101.67). The bowling was much weaker than the batting, although there were still some decent returns. Sudheer Kumar Bommala was second in the division with 16 wickets at 12.25 and Mark Rutledge took 15 at 10.07 including a Division 16 all time best of 6-9. An eighth team may never have the opportunity to go up the leagues, but Merrion 8 are the only 8th team in the land and lead the way for others.
Adamstown 5 - 3rd - (Predicted 3rd) - Batting Rating 106 - Bowling Rating 106 - RpO for 4.55 - RpO against 4.30
Without wishing to be unduly harsh on Adamstown 5, it was a so so season. They were predicted to be not quite good enough to challenge the top two - and that is how it turned out. Their batting was ok, their bowling was ok - but that just wsn't quite good enough. However, they consolidated their place as the 10th best 5th team around (of eleven - Civil Service are the 11th), and as has been repeated often, the club have grown so quickly that it is a remarkable achievement to have five teams in such a short history. And as long as the team improves, something good is happening, with Adamstown 5 finishing in 122nd place in the league ladder, up from last year's 125th. The team probably had litte to complain about, winning the eight games against the teams below them, and losing the four against the two teams above them - 3rd seems about right. Shankar Gopalakrishnan (214 runs at 23.78) and Mandeep Singh (286 runs at 40.86) led the way wit the bat, whilst Hekmatullah Safi was the only bowler with more than ten wickets - 14 at 12.21.
Bagenalstown 3 - 4th - (Predicted 5th) - Batting Rating 98 - Bowling Rating 113 - RpO for 3.82 - RpO against 3.81
Bagenalstown 3's second season in the league brought a five place improvement in league position (128th to 123rd) and 4th in Division 16 as opposed to 8th place in 2015. So a great improvement, and one not to be sniffed at. The first half of the season was much better than the second, winning five of the first six matches until July, but then only winning two from six from then on. Youth player Robbie O'Neill was the only player to pass 200 runs, with 202 at 20.25. As can be seen above, the bowling was much stronger than the batting, and that was entirely down to Stephen Hadley - the league's leaading wicket taker. He took 21 wickets at 9.05, becoming the leading Division 16 of all time as well (although that is only 2015 and 2016). The influence of grounds on stats should not be ignored, but can be misleading. Overall Hadley took 21 wickets at 9.05, but playing in McGrath Park he mustered 12 wickets at 9.92, much worse than his performances away from home.
Balbriggan 4 - 5th - (Predicted 8th) - Batting Rating 75 - Bowling Rating 90 - RpO for 3.87 - RpO against 4.48
A great result for Balbriggan 4, finishing in 5th place in their first league season, well above the 8th place predicted. There is the odd rider to that statement though. Only seven games were played on the pitch, with the team winning two of those seven games. The batting struggled (the 6th best in the division) being bowled out for 102 or less on four occasions and not surprisingly, no one scored more than Raj Shrimpi's 113 runs in two innings. The bowling was much better, with Balbriggan bowling out the opposition on four occasions (scores ranging from 164 to 85), but no one got to ten wickets - Zamir Hassan being the best with 9 at 13.22. Hopefully they get to play a full season in 2017!
Civil Service 5 - 6th (Predicted 6th) - Batting Rating 66 - Bowling Rating 127 - RpO for 3.33 - RpO against 3.62
Another side that didn't have much of a season, with only eight matches being completed. Civil Service 5's first win didn't come until July 17th, and a couple more followed before the season was out. As with Balbriggan, the season was a little barren for the players, Malkeet Singh was the undoubted star of the show, being the only player passing 100 runs (144 at 28.8) and also being the leading wicket taker (9 at 13.22). The majority of teams in Division 16 are there to offer people the chance to play cricket, and as such league position is not always vital. It would have perhaps been nice for Service to overtake Adamstown 5 to become the 10th best 5th team in the province, but it wasn't to be.
Greystones 4 - 7th (Predicted 4th) - Batting Rating 67 - Bowling Rating 63 - RpO for 3.30 - RpO against 5.16
A tough year for Greystones 4, who struggled with bat and ball and didn't manage to win a match on the field all season, losing ten in the process. However, they finished 126th in the league - the same position as in 2015. Paul Lomgstaff led the way with the bat, being the only player to pass 100 runs in the season with 196 at 21.78. Not a single bowler put together much of a season - the leading wicket taker was youth player Joshua Hatton with 8 wickets at 26.50. As with Civil Service, winning is not everything, and 28 players were given the chance to play league cricket.
Ashbourne 2 - 8th (Predicted 7th) - Batting Rating 82 - Bowling Rating 81 - RpO for 4.00 - RpO against 4.54
There is no point in shying away from the fact that walkovers were a problem in Division 16. No side was at fault more than any other, but it did mean that many sides had only a part season. Ashbourne 2 only played seven matches, and as with the others in the bottom half of the league table, that gave little chance for players to put togetehr a full season. 28 players played, but one stood head and shoulders above the others. Terry Bruton became the leading Division 16 run scorer of all time, this season's contribution being 207 runs at 103.50. Andrew Robertson supported with 155 at 25.83. Darragh Morrissey was the one bowler to get to ten wickets, taking 10 at 20.8.
The full Division 16 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here