Division 3
Champions – Cork County
League MVP – Morne Bauer [Cork County]
Finally, after reviewing 11 other Divisions, the league champions also supply the Divisional MVP. The man with the most fantasy points is Morne Bauer from champions, Cork County.
Cork County won Division 3 by the margin of 17 points over Pembroke’s second team. 10 wins from 14 games and 3 defeats, including two wins over Pembroke ensured the title would leave Leinster and head to the banks of the River Lee.
Malahide with 4 wins ended the season bottom of the table and North County joined them in the relegation zone with 5 wins, the same as The Hills, but The Hills gained 11 more bonus points to reach safety. There was only one no result all season between champions Cork County and third placed YMCA. Clontarf were closer to the top than the bottom of the table and Laois were the opposite, closer to the trapdoor than the top.
The top ten point scorers were a reflection of cricket in general, including the experienced and the youngsters heading for the top. Fiachra Tucker [Pembroke], named junior Player of the Year by Cricket Ireland is in fourth place, whilst past Irish captain Angus Dunlop [YMCA] appears in 8th. Morne Bauer [Cork County] topped the table by 72 points over youngster L. Hofmeyr [Laois] with a fine all-round display of over 400 runs and 16 wickets. The top ten point scorers in this Division were as follows.
248 players appeared in this team 8 Division, with 78 appearing just the once. M. Auret and B. Hur [both Laois], S. Smith [Malahide] and N. Akhter [The Hills] all played every possible game, whilst A. Wootton, I. Coleman and A Bilal [all Cork County] probably would have done so if their final re-fix versus YMCA had taken place.
Eight players exceeded 400 runs for the season when 19,287 runs were scored off the bat in this division. The top five run scorers were:
20 centuries were scored in Division 3, perhaps reflecting the quality of batting improving as the reviews go up the leagues. Perhaps it is better quality wickets that are used in the higher divisions. In order of highest scores the centurions were:
Three players made it to the nervous nineties without reaching three figures, Conor D’Arcy [Clontarf] (96), Morne Bauer [Cork County] (94) and M. Collier [Clontarf] (92).
74 half centuries were recorded, with 18 players making more than one. Top of the list, with 3 half centuries were four players. The list of multiple 50 scorers is:
The top 5 batting averages (with no qualifications, but innings/not outs shown in brackets) were as follows:
In order to show less of the statistically anomalies and paint a truer picture of a season long story a second batting average table is shown, which includes a minimum requirement of 320 runs. This 320 runs figure is an arbitrary one chosen to represent a 20 runs per game plus 20 runs over the season. When this prerequisite is added the table changes to this:
There were 14 batsmen who technically have an average of infinity, having scored runs and not been dismissed at all. They are shown here with their runs and number of innings: U. Khan (36/2), C. Mackey (11/2), M. Murphy (7/1) [all North County]; P. Ryan (17/1), Ian Smillie (12/1), R. Kirk (1/1) [all Clontarf]; M. Donegan (8/2) [The Hills]; H. O’Brien (7/1), O. Cotter (3/1) [both Cork County]; R. Chawla (4/2), S. Streek (1/1), D. O’Connor (1/1) [all YMCA]; Bobby Chandler (2/1) [Pembroke]; and A Ikram (1/1) [Malahide]
839 wickets fell to 120 bowlers in this Division. Cork County provide the leader in this category also. The top 5 (and ties) wicket takers were:
Similar to the batting averages, two bowling average tables are shown. The first requires no minimum number of wickets whilst the second has a minimum requirement of 16 wickets (which in fantasy point terms is the same as the 320 cut off for the batting. The top five (and ties) bowling averages (with no minimum) were as follows with the number of wickets taken in brackets also:
The top five (and ties) for the second bowling average table with the qualification of 16 wickets is as follows. If ever there was supporting evidence that bowling wins titles this table shows it with three players from champions Cork County and two from second placed Pembroke. Again the mix is of youth and experience, certainly in Pembroke:
In order of the best bowling analyses, the 14 players who took a five wicket haul were as follows, and although no player managed to do it more than once W. Richardson [Malahide] managed a seven wicket haul against Clontarf in July.
Whereas in other divisions there have been few bowlers pushed week in week out by their captains, in this division there were four bowlers who broke through the 100 overs mark. The top five bowlers in terms of overs delivered were as follows.
150 players held at least one of the 420 catches this season in this Division, but one man was dominant. Helped by holding the gloves behind a bowling attack which has already been shown to be very strong, I. Coleman had more than twice as many catches as anyone else including all of the other keepers. The top five (and ties) were as follows (players who also had a stumping are shown with an * although we do not know if they were regular keepers or not):
28 stumpings shared by 12 keepers. The top 5 and ties are:
Of all the players who batted and did not score any runs, not a single player played more than twice nor batted more than once, so it would be unfair to single anyone out.
Player Unregistered again did not play at all, showing that registration can and does work and that teams are less willing to risk a points deduction in the higher leagues.
In terms of players used, the league looks like this:
Disclaimer…. As with all of these articles, the views expressed therein of those of the author and definitely do not represent those of the Leinster Cricket Union, the wuthor's club or anyone else. They might match your views, but if they do, it is more likely to be a co-incidence than anything else. They are to be considered merely the inconsequential ramblings of a fool. Any feedback or requests for individual, team, Club or all-encompassing statistics may be sent to craig@cricket.ie.