Cricket must be the only sport where the players and officials stop half way through for a meal. In these days of high performance coaches and a more “professional” approach you’d think that any break would be accompanied by protein shakes, energy bars and the latest fad in healthy foods and yet week after week we still find ourselves gorging on sandwiches and cakes and cups of tea. At least that is what I have always seen on my travels. There were always notable exceptions in the past. KBRC used to provide a salad plate, and although playing on top of that hill used to make you wish for hot soup, it was a welcome break from the endless white bread sandwiches made by the captain (or his long suffering partner).
Things have changed, and how. My two away games thus far this season have been notable (at tea anyway) for not having had a single sandwich. Civil Service contracted their teas out to Tony’s Catering a while ago and you now enter the tea room to find a buffet laid out with cold meats, salads, pasta and best of all for me, hard boiled egg halves in mayo. Lovely. My other game was in Claremont Road where again the teas are again contracted out. However their supplier is a local curry house who brings rice and curry which as Goldilocks would say is “just right”. Not too hot, not too cold, spicy without possessing the ability to rip your throat out and in quantity too. It is a fine fare to offer one guests.
Just as Irish cuisine has changed dramatically over the years, so have our teas; and thankfully not a protein-shake in sight. I wonder what other culinary delights I will come across this season.
Another notable feature this season has been the sight of officially appointed Umpires. This has been made possible by the recruitment of many more umpires through their informative and most excellent training courses. It is a welcome sight and has defused many situations were previously ill-will would have fermented during the first innings and pay-back delivered during the second innings. Another side effect is that the captains does not have to coerce his players young and old to take to the middle and suffer the slings and arrows of batsmen and fielders and be put under insufferable pressure every time the batsman plays and misses or worse still gets hit on the pads. Last season, I saw a case where the fielders went up for a wholehearted appeal for a ball that was nowhere near the batsman and in fact had hit the wicket-keepers pads. Even the keeper went up. There aren’t fewer appeals now, but rejection is easier to take when the decision is given by an official umpire. So let me express my thanks to the LCUS&A and their members.
For the technologically sound amongst us, the podcast “The Slog Sweep” is back and available for download. Already I’ve heard the new Irish Coach, John Bracewell, the Ladies Coach, Aaron Hamilton plus regulars such as Barry Chambers. Host Robbo has a new sidekick in Ryan Bailey now that Andy Leonard is in Dubai. For those who can access this podcast (which I’d thought was a fishing/angling term until last year) it is well worth an hour of your commute, lunchbreak or just of your free time (although not whilst umpiring please!). It will keep you up to date with Irish cricket and the personalities therein.
That provides a neat segway into our fantasy table as this week’s leader is Harry Tector of YMCA. Harry has leapt from 136th place last week to leader this week. A gain of 422 points suggests either he played five games in one week or that result cards were delayed in being submitted. Either way he is a deserved leader with 16 wickets, 130 runs and 4 catches.
The top 20 (and ties) point scorers
1. Harry Tector YMCA 580
2. L Prior Clontarf 478
3. S Babu Ddrm 477
4. A Verma Adam 455
5. A Varma Merr 441
6. B Singh Bhathal Merr 418
7. F Hand NC 409
8. R Kear Balb 408
9. N Thambi Ddrm 393
10. M Nurulain Boda Castle 384
11. R Wing Mal 380
12. P Jonker Grey 370
13. N McGovern NC 360
14. Manpreet Singh Grey 359
15. A Abbasi NC 355
16. Tomas Rooney Murphy Hills 353
17. Ray Stapleton Bagenal 351
18. Padraic Flanagan Trinity 349
19. V Jacob Lein 348
20. Joe (JP) Prendergast Pemb 348
21. Susheel Kumar RU 348
16 different teams are represented in this table. Relatively new clubs such as Greystones and Dundrum lie alongside the more traditional clubs such as YMCA and Clontarf. Only North County have three players in the top 21, whilst Dundrum, Merrion and Greystones have two apiece.
This week, by way of a change, the tables are done on a club by club basis. This gives everyone a chance to see who is doing well within their own club. It also gives the category tables a chance to change before we next look at then in June.
The top 5 point scorers from each club....(name, points, overall ranking).
Adamstown
A Verma 455 4
Harpreet Singh 242 99
A Yadav 230 114
Mubeen Ahmad 197 161
Varun Sharma 190 172
AIB
S Ullah 239 100
A Srikanthan 179 205
K Dhanasekaran 151 284
D Iqbal 140 331
B Thompson 109 474
Ashbourne
L Ali 169 233
T Bruton 130 375
S Ahmad 107 486
J Conway 91 580
S Imran 74 699
Bagnalstown
Ray Stapleton 351 17
N Srimal Jasinghe 310 38
Mohammad Ismail 273 66
R Duffin 252 91
S O'Neill 235 107
Balbriggan
R Kear 408 8
E Ahmed 269 73
John Mooney 233 110
Duane Harper 203 150
C Nulty 189 174
Cabinteely
V Jain 270 70
A Abdullah 162 255
B Varghese 145 308
H Singaraju 122 409
T Manzoor Khan 76 678
Carl
R Butt 151 284
M Islam 95 555
Ismail Mohammed Two 63 787
S Kant Trikha 51 890
Muhammad Younus 51 890
Castleknock
M Nurulain Boda 384 10
K Narang 289 50
N Qureshi 284 56
F Khalid 280 58
Pardeep Singh 231 113
Civil Service
Naveed Khan 308 39
Owen Butler 256 87
M Siddique 256 87
N Rahman 236 104
V Ranade 233 110
Clontarf
L Prior 478 2
M Collier 287 53
R Tariq 232 112
Robert Forrest 218 130
Stephen JP Moreton 210 137
Cork County
S Grobler 187 181
M Saddique 84 621
A Wootton 76 678
J Rietschel 68 755
M Bauer 57 842
Dublin University
Padraic Flanagan 349 18
W von Behr 339 24
N Rajwar 274 65
D Kapoor 194 166
W O'Neill 181 199
Dundalk
L Mathew 197 161
A Pike 197 161
G Armstrong 121 419
Conan Martin 113 452
P Osborn 104 503
Dundrum
S Babu 477 3
N Thambi 393 9
S Boddu 330 27
Jinto Mathew 329 29
B Thambi 289 50
Greystones
P Jonker 370 12
Manpreet Singh 359 14
E Lenehan 343 22
Sinto John 330 27
Martin Potts 248 94
Halverstown
J Threadgold 110 468
N Case 103 512
D Ryall 89 593
S Gallagher 81 639
B Ashmore 66 763
The Hills
Tomas Rooney Murphy 353 16
H Walser 335 26
K Phillips 279 59
A Kavanagh 272 67
Matt Sorensen 268 75
Knockharley
S Wilson 112 458
E Craik 102 516
Mahbabur Rahman 81 639
R Rahman 71 727
Tayyab Rashid 70 733
Laois
R Mehraj 188 178
K Sabrie 168 239
U Raees 167 240
M Ramazan 164 249
M Sheraz 153 277
Leinster
V Jacob 348 19
J Carroll 287 53
Richard Forrest 279 59
M Rule 270 70
Conor O'Gorman 239 100
Longford
F Khan 289 50
S Sarfraz 238 102
H Raza 223 123
Ashir Javed 174 221
Rahman Arshad 170 230
Lucan
A Walia 265 78
Manjinder Singh 237 103
Daljit Singh 224 121
A Hashmi 221 126
A Ashraf 214 134
Malahide
R Wing 380 11
G Stewart 336 25
N Boyne 316 34
W Kindley 301 44
F Page 271 68
Merrion
A Varma 441 5
B Singh Bhathal 418 6
N Sharma 321 32
S Stanton 311 37
P Siddireddy 295 48
Mullingar
F Nasr 202 152
P Mount 198 158
T Mount 193 167
D Ashley 125 395
C Sweeney 115 445
North County
F Hand 409 7
N McGovern 360 13
A Abbasi 355 15
B Parchment 306 41
Sean Rooney 305 42
North Kildare
A Malhan 259 85
Paul Ryan 235 107
L Hofmeyr 185 186
Wasif Ali 175 219
R Neavyn 173 224
Pembroke
Joe Prendergast 348 19
Steven Roughan 263 81
Craig Senior 211 135
Ryan Hopkins 180 203
Jono Cook 177 213
Phoenix
D Dismore 316 34
Masud Ahmed 299 45
S Anderson 276 62
M Scott 266 77
A Taylor 265 78
Ring Commons
Declan Moore 254 89
C Murtagh 109 474
Player Unregistered 103 512
A Coates 85 614
Dylan Staunton 65 766
Railway Union
Susheel Kumar 348 19
M Raza 252 91
B Kumar 243 98
E Connolly 229 115
K Khan 228 118
Rush
David Carthy 340 23
D Coffey 296 47
Lynal Jansen 275 64
E Conway 270 70
K Rehman 247 96
Sandyford
A Sahota 329 29
Q Chohan 279 59
A Kumar 246 97
V Iqbal 199 155
Gurmeet Singh 122 409
Slieve Bloom
Peter Auret 286 55
D De Silva 169 233
Q Khan 128 385
R Shahzad 122 409
A Ahmed 113 452
Swords
A Jacob 198 158
Sibu Jose 69 750
Roy Mathew 64 772
R Chalissery 60 803
A Nair 60 803
Terenure
M Cotter 264 80
B Speake 258 86
James Smith 221 126
K Brennan 186 182
D Van Zyl 152 280
Wexford Wanderers
S Shaikh 75 691
James Redmond 74 699
N Anjum 59 826
P Craft 52 879
Alan Murphy 44 957
Wicklow
T Koen 236 104
D Rice 163 251
J Hogan 108 478
J van der Spuy 102 516
Damian Joyce 99 536
YMCA
Harry Tector 580 1
S Streek 324 31
Aviral Shukla 320 33
Y Kashyap 316 34
Sam Murphy 307 40
So that is a quick snapshot of the early pacesetters in each club. Will the same names dominate throughout the season or will we see new names surging ahead?
Taking a brief look at the point scoring categories, and bonus categories, the leaders are as follows:
Matches played 9 A Abbasi, North County & S Streek, YMCA
Runs scored 270 R Wing, Malahide
50’s scored 2 14 players
100’s scored 1 15 players
Wickets taken 16 Harry Tector, YMCA.
5 wicket hauls 1 29 players
Catches held 8 Sam Murphy, YMCA
Stumpings 5 Sam Murphy, YMCA
In categories which garner ‘nil points’ there are also leaders.
Fantasy points per game 152.00 M. O’Brien, Malahide
Highest Score 184 Peter Auret, Slieve Bloom
Highest Batting Average 131.00 H. Fernando, Ca