Charles Dickens had no idea that his opening words of a Tale of Two Cities would be so apt for a weekend’s cricket. ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...’
It was the worst of times... Saturday saw a 200 plus run defeat ending the cup dreams for another season. Dundrum 3’s scored a daunting 275 from 40 overs. 40 overs of watching the ball disappear into hedge after hedge. One of our players arms spent so long in the hedges looking for the ball that he looked like he had started self harming with the amount of brambles that caught his forearms. Long thin red scrape marks from elbow to wrist are not the most fetching of looks. With bat in hand we looked like we were chasing 2,750 let alone 275. The fact that 72 all out seemed reasonable after we’d been 29/7 tells its own story.
It was the best of times... Sunday on the other hand saw the same side, with a few changes, win by 7 wickets, chasing 198, with one 180+ partnership as David McCarthy top scored with 76.
This week will see the same team play in the Russell Court Hotel T20 Trophy quarter-final, against one of the teams we played last weekend. Sadly, it is the team we lost by 201 runs to. At least this will be only twenty overs a side. And after all, cricket is such an unusual game and as Charles said, ‘it was an age of foolishness’ and we go into this game with hope of overturning last weekend’s result and progressing into the semi-finals.
In the rest of Leinster, Willie Clarke [Phoenix] took 7/24 to replace Mick Cotter [Terenure] as the holder of the best bowling analysis in the province, whilst Fintan McAllister’s [Malahide] maiden Division 1 century saw Malahide defeat Pembroke on the last ball of the game. Ivan Morgan [R&SPU] scored a century in Division 13, but saw his side fall to defeat despite using 9 bowlers. In Division 1 as well as Fintan’s heroics, Simranjit Singh [YMCA] scored 107 and overseas player David Rhoda [Merrion] reached 106*. N Johns [YMCA] scored 127 versus Malahide 2’s to help YMCA go from 50/6 to 244 all out. All of this came from Twitter. Don’t be afraid to tweet any outstanding performances from you or your teammates. The Fantasy Table has it’s own Twitter account, @FantasyTableLCU.
Congratulations to Pembroke Seconds and North Kildare who will contest the Tillian Cup Final after their respective semi-final victories. North Kildare had a thriller, winning by one run versus cup-specialists Clontarf, whilst Pembroke’s Faran Ahmed Khan took 4-20 as YMCA went from 90/3 to 120/9 and failed to chase 134. The figures may not be included in the fantasy tables this week. That depends on whether the cards have been submitted.
In non-LCU matches, Cork County’s Stephan Grobler continues to show his excellent form with a century against Oman. Oman have set up in Cork as part of the T20 Qualifying tournament and have been playing warm up games. Stephan’s 104 was part of a Cork total of 160. Another fine performance not recognised by the Fantasy League.
In this week’s analysis we will only be covering the major categories, plus a club-by-club top contenders.
In the fantasy league itself, Harry Tector [YMCA] has led the overall table for the previous four weeks. Whilst he has managed to retain top spot, he is now joined by M Collier [Clontarf] with both players inseparable on 901 points. Both have reached this total by different means. Harry Tector has played 4 games more and 3 wickets more, but M Collier has more wickets, catches and fifties.
Overall Point scorers – Top 50
1. 901 M Collier Clontarf
2. 901 Harry Tector YMCA
3. 878 L Prior Clontarf
4. 866 A Varma Merrion
5. 801 Paul Ryan NKCC
6. 801 R Kear Balbriggan
7. 796 T Anders Phoenix
8. 768 Craig Senior Pembroke
9. 761 N Thambi Dundrum
10. 753 A Verma Adamstown
11. 752 Robert Forrest Clontarf
12. 704 B Parchment NCCC
13. 691 H Archer The Hills
14. 690 M Nurulain Boda Castleknock
15. 683 David Carthy Rush
16. 683 Harpreet Singh Adamstown
17. 681 Padraic Flanagan YMCA
18. 679 Jono Cook Pembroke
19. 678 Jerson Santhosh Swords
20. 677 R Smith Merrion
21. 677 Ben Hoey Pembroke
22. 675 Jeremy Dunleavy Pembroke
23. 673 Munir Khan CSCC
24. 671 W Kindley Malahide
25. 665 Sam Murphy YMCA
26. 657 Manjeet Singh NKCC
27. 655 Richard Forrest Leinster
28. 654 M Lewis Merrion
29. 648 S Anderson Phoenix
30. 639 Gurmeet Singh Sandyford
31. 639 D Coffey Rush
32. 637 Achmet Carr Pembroke
33. 636 Mick Cotter Terenure
34. 634 R Tariq Clontarf
35. 633 Lorcan Tucker Pembroke
36. 624 Bill Whaley Pembroke
37. 624 S Streek YMCA
38. 623 B Speake Terenure
39. 623 R Butt Carl
40. 618 N Johns YMCA
41. 617 Neil Rock Rush
42. 615 N Sharma Merrion
43. 609 Niall McGovern NCCC
44. 608 Ravinder Singh Sandyford
45. 607 A Sahota Sandyford
46. 604 Sean Rooney NCCC
47. 602 Ryan Hopkins Pembroke
48. 594 Tomas Rooney Murphy The Hills
49. 594 Joe Prendergast Pembroke
50. 588 V Jacob Leinster
107,116 runs have been scored by 1,628 batsmen in 2015.
25 players have scored more than 300 runs and the top 4 have passed 400 runs.
Runs scored – Top 50.
1. 441 H Archer The Hills
2. 414 M Lewis Merrion
3. 414 R Tariq Clontarf
4. 401 A Parkinson Merrion
5. 387 Achmet Carr Pembroke
6. 386 S Kant Trikha Carl
7. 383 A D'Arcy Clontarf
8. 382 Robert Forrest Clontarf
9. 372 R Smith Merrion
10. 369 Niall McGovern NCCC
11. 346 Richard Wing Malahide
12. 341 Paul Ryan NKCC
13. 341 N Thambi Dundrum
14. 341 R Neavyn NKCC
15. 338 Lorcan Tucker Pembroke
16. 334 B Parchment NCCC
17. 334 A Hashmi Lucan
18. 328 N Johns YMCA
19. 324 Sean Rooney NCCC
20. 317 Jack Tector YMCA
21. 310 Graham McDonnell Pembroke
22. 308 S Anderson Phoenix
23. 308 H Ramasetty Merrion
24. 304 A Taylor Phoenix
25. 302 Neil Rock Rush
26. 294 Tomas Rooney Murphy The Hills
27. 293 David Carthy Rush
28. 291 M Collier Clontarf
29. 290 S Mehdi Balbriggan
30. 286 Tom Fisher YMCA
31. 284 M Donegan The Hills
32. 283 B Speake Terenure
33. 281 S Boddu Dundrum
34. 280 T Halliday Leinster
35. 280 Andrew Poynter Clontarf
36. 277 Simranjit Singh YMCA
37. 277 Declan Moore RCCC
38. 273 B Singh Bhathal Merrion
39. 271 W Kindley Malahide
40. 270 Sam Murphy YMCA
41. 268 V Jacob Leinster
42. 264 Fintan McAllister Malahide
43. 263 Masud Ahmed Phoenix
44. 262 Ryan Hopkins Pembroke
45. 260 K Khan R&SPU
46. 260 Stephan Grobler CCCC
47. 258 Craig Senior Pembroke
48. 258 N Shahzad Phoenix
49. 257 Safdar Ali NCCC
50. 256 N Rooney NCCC
Bowlers have taken 5,580 of the 6,059 wickets to fall and there have been 479 other dismissals, such as run out, handled ball, timed out etc... 1,034 bowlers have captured at least one wicket and 207 bowlers have yet to get their first wicket.
Wicket taken by bowlers – Top 49
1. 28 A Varma. Merrion.
2. 24 R Kear, Balbriggan
3. 23 Harry Tector, YMCA
4. 22 L Prior, Clontarf
5. 21 Padraic Flanagan, YMCA
6. 20 M Collier, Clontarf - Jerson Santhosh, Swords - S Streek, YMCA & Willie Clarke, Phoenix
7. 19 A Verma, Adamstown - Jono Cook, Pembroke - N Sharma, Merrion - N Qureshi, Castleknock - &- Conor Gibbons, Malahide
8. 18 M Nurulain Boda, Castleknock - D Coffey, Rush - Z Rasheed, Knockharley - Joe Prendergast, Pembroke - & - P Carty, Merrion
9. 17 Tom Anders, Phoenix - Bill Whaley, Pembroke - Muhammad Saleem, Clontarf - &- Kieran Vulker, Pembroke
10. 16 Craig Senior, Pembroke - Harpreet Singh, Adamstown - Gurmeet Singh, Sandyford - A Sahota, Sandyford - S Ullah, AIB - James Smith, Terenure - Adam Ellison, Rush - JJ Garth, Pembroke - Loui Hofmeyr, NKCC - K Brennan, Terenure - A Abbasi, NCCC -&- N Yadav, R&SPU
11. 15 Jeremy Dunleavy, Pembroke - B Thambi, Dundrum - T Koen, Wicklow - P Rout, Terenure - S Babu, Dundrum - M Gopal, Clontarf - Balbir Singh, Castleknock - Manjinder Singh, Lucan - N Rajwar, DUCC - A Kumar, Sandyford - Harry Balbirnie, Pembroke - Ben Crowley, Pembroke - Colin O'Neill, Bagenalstown -&- Alex Cusack, Clontarf
12. 14 18 Players
In the field dismissals, catches plus stumpings (where applicable)
1. 23 16+7 - Sam Murphy, YMCA
2. 21 15+6 - Richard Forrest, Leinster
3. 20 18+2 - Robert Forrest, Clontarf
4. 16 13+3 - Neil Rock, Rush
5. 14 10+4 - H Habib, Adamstown - 9+5 - Lorcan Tucker, Pembroke
6. 13 11+2 - Mick Cotter, Terenure - 8+5 - R Smith, Merrion
7. 11 11+0 - J Grassi, NCCC - 9+2- Sean Rooney, NCCC - A Zibran Shovon, Pembroke - 8+3- Nic Pretorius, The Hills - 6+5- Fintan McAllister, Malahide
8. 10 10+0 - David Carthy, Rush - Diarmuid Lynch, Terenure - P Bhardwaj, Dundrum - Charlie Kavanagh, Pembroke - 6+4 - R Shoebridge, Malahide
9. 9 9+0 - N Thambi, Dundrum - 8+1- S Kurian, Dundrum - 7+2- M Donegan, The Hills - Gerard O'Brien, R&SPU - 5+4- A Taylor, Phoenix - A Battan, Clontarf
10. 8 8+0 - Craig Senior, Pembroke - D Rice, Wicklow - Jeff Short, Merrion - B McDermott, Clontarf - 7+1- Danny Hogan, Pembroke - B Emerson, AIB - 6+2- Amardeep Singh, Malahide
11. 7 7+0 - L Prior, Clontarf - M Collier, Clontarf - Tom Anders, Phoenix - Faran Ahmed Khan, Pembroke - Jack Balbirnie, Pembroke - B Speake, Terenure - Sid Nair, Terenure - L Bester, Merrion - B Cotter, Clontarf - K O'Connor, DUCC - S Sarfraz, Longford - R Gopalakrishnan, Phoenix - T Dunne, Leinster - R Iype, Swords - 6+1- G Lynch, Terenure - P Byrne, R&SPU - 5+2- F Page, Malahide - R McGovern, YMCA - 4+3- Dave Nugent, CSCC - 3+4- J Moffatt, Greystones
Round up from other categories.
1,808 players have appeared for games, although 243 of these have played just one game so far. L Prior, Clontarf has played the most games with 18.
Achmet Carr, Pembroke, has had the most innings with 16, albeit without a single not out.
B. Thomson, AIB, has the most not outs with 6 and has not yet been dismissed in any of his 6 innings. He has scored 212 runs.
Peter Auret, Slieve Bloom, has the highest score with 184, which is 28 ahead of anyone else. Only two players have passed 150 runs in 1 innings.
61 Centuries have been recorded by 56 batsmen. Five batsmen have scored 100 twice.
Jack Tector-YMCA; Simranjit Singh-YMCA; H Archer-The Hills; S Kant Trikha-Carl and A Hashmi-Lucan.
283 batsmen have scored 370 fifties. 215 have done so once, 52 twice and 13 thrice. Only three have done so four times - T Halliday-Leinster; S Anderson-Phoenix; and Paul Ryan-NKCC.
985 ducks have been experienced by 747 batsmen. 215 players have suffered just the once, but 169 have done so twice and a further 13 thrice. Only three have managed to get four ducks - I Sabir-R&SPU: Declan Ryan-Greystones: and V Mohanan-Clontarf.
Three players have scored over 100 runs without being dismissed, but only B.Thompson, AIB, has over 200. Of those who have been dismissed, D. Rhoda, Merrion, has a stand alone average of 237.00. Three others are averaging over 150 including David Drane, Greystones.
25,937 overs have been bowled with two bowlers past the 100 over mark. N Sharma-Merrion and S Streek-YMCA have sent down 104 overs. Ouch.
Mick Cotter – Terenure, has been toppled from the best bowling analysis as Willie Clarke, Phoenix, took 7/24 over the weekend. He wasn’t even umpiring himself. Congratulations to Willie and Mick will undoubtedly be trying to take that back. Three bowlers have seven wickets in a game and 9 have taken six wickets in an innings. 46 other bowlers have taken five wicket hauls.
Two bowlers, L Bingham-DUCC and S Swain-Adamstown have bowling averages of 0.00. L Bingham took 4/0 and S Swain has one wicket for no runs from 3 overs. If a qualifying mark of 10 wickets is applied then Ray Stapleton, Bagenalstown would top although his average of 3.62 has gone up with the addition of 3 more wickets. Next would be S Daniel, Dundrum on 7.23.
Now on the Club-by-Club...
Points, Rank, Name.
Adamstown
753 10 A Verma
683 15 Harpreet Singh
550 68 A Yadav
AIB
544 74 S Ullah
369 260 D Iqbal
334 317 C Curley
Ashbourne
356 279 L Ali
331 323 J Conway
299 394 T Bruton
Bagenalstown
520 91 N Srimal Jasinghe
464 140 Ray Stapleton
410 197 S O'Neill
Balbriggan
801 5 R Kear
417 188 E Ahmed
410 197 S Mehdi
Cabinteely
541 78 V Jain
351 287 A Abdullah
258 490 H Singaraju
Carl
623 38 R Butt
556 64 S Kant Trikha
370 257 M Islam
Castleknock
690 14 M Nurulain Boda
525 86 N Qureshi
480 125 Balbir Singh
Cork County
420 185 Stephan Grobler
274 438 Morne Bauer
214 619 S Joshi
Clontarf
901 1 M Collier
878 3 L Prior
752 11 Robert Forrest
Civil Service
673 23 Munir Khan
554 65 A Shapon
492 112 M Syfuzzaman Khan
Dundalk
248 520 Z Ud Din Babar
247 524 L Mathew
234 557 A Pike
Dublin University
457 149 P Kingston
447 154 N Rajwar
394 216 W von Behr
Dundrum
761 9 N Thambi
576 52 S Daniel
570 55 B Thambi
Greystones
496 107 Manpreet Singh
487 116 P Jonker
486 118 Eoin Lenehan
Halverstown
457 149 N Case
419 186 J Threadgold
390 226 B Ashmore
Knockharley
557 63 Z Rasheed
436 168 Tahir Rasheed
427 178 Tayyab Rashid
Laois
429 176 R Mehraj
374 247 Z Shauket
365 263 N Anwar
Leinster
655 27 Richard Forrest
588 50 V Jacob
503 102 J Carroll
Longford
396 214 Ashir Javed
394 216 F Khan
379 243 D Javed
Lucan
488 114 Manjinder Singh
484 121 A Hashmi
479 126 A Ashraf
Malahide
671 24 W Kindley
546 70 Richard Wing
530 83 R Strydom
Merrion
866 4 A Varma
677 20 R Smith
654 28 M Lewis
Mullingar
380 240 F Nasr
307 371 T Mount
272 446 Willie O'Neill
North County
704 12 B Parchment
609 43 Niall McGovern
604 46 Sean Rooney
North Kildare
801 5 Paul Ryan
657 26 Manjeet Singh
542 77 Loui Hofmeyr
Pembroke
768 8 Craig Senior
679 18 Jono Cook
677 20 Ben Hoey
Phoenix
796 7 Tom Anders
648 29 S Anderson
531 81 Willie Clarke
R&SPU
495 109 D Singh
470 131 K Khan
462 143 Jitendra Singh
Ring Commons
527 84 Declan Moore
328 331 Anto Coates
201 665 C Murtagh
Rush
683 15 David Carthy
639 30 D Coffey
617 41 Neil Rock
Sandyford
639 30 Gurmeet Singh
608 44 Ravinder Singh
607 45 A Sahota
Slieve Bloom
425 179 Peter Auret
270 452 Q Khan
236 552 A Rauf Rana
Swords
678 19 Jerson Santhosh
487 116 M Jacob
430 175 A Jacob
Terenure
636 33 Mick Cotter
623 38 B Speake
559 62 James Smith
The Hills
691 13 H Archer
594 48 Tomas Rooney Murphy
544 74 M Donegan
Tyrellstown
131 955 V Reddy Gaddam
129 968 B Rao
121 1007 Farooq Mohammad
Wicklow
539 79 T Koen
499 105 D Rice
435 171 Damian Joyce
Wexford Wanderers
370 257 S Shaikh
356 279 N Anjum
133 941 T Murray
YMCA
901 1 Harry Tector
681 17 Padraic Flanagan
665 25 Sam Murphy