2019 Open Division 7 review – Bagenalstown 1 dominate Team of the Year

Open Division 7 stats

Leading all time run scorer (2011-2019) - Jinto Mathew (DLR County/Dundrum) - 1705 runs @ 27.95
Most runs in a Division 7 season - Declan Moore (Ringcommons) - 589 runs (2017)
Highest score - Sanjay Saharan - 196 - Merrion 5 vs Malahide 4 - Bird Avenue - 6 Jun 2011
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2019) - Jinto Mathew (DLR County/Dundrum) - 119 wkts @ 15.89
Most wickets in a Division 7 season - Manpreet Singh (Greystones) - 33 wkts (2019)
Best bowling - Rajiv Diwan - 7-7 - Adamstown 2 vs North Kildare 2 - The Maws - 4 Jun 2018
Most matches - Alan Murphy (Wexford Wanderers/Malahide) (2011-17) - 74

Team of the Year

Review
In Open Division 7, 51 games were played, one match was a walkover, and two other games were not played for various reasons (including rain)
Runs per wicket for all teams - 19.06 Runs per over for all teams - 4.35 - Division Competitiveness 78%

Bagenalstown 1 - Champions - (Pos in league - 48 (2018 - 47)) - Batting Rating 150 - Bowling Rating 138 - RpO for 4.94 - RpO against 3.78 - Youth %age (by appearances) 5.6% - Average age of team 33.3

One of the great all round performances in a league season from Zeeshan Mumtaz, propelled Bagenalstown 1 to the league title, keeping the Carlow team in Leinster's top 50 for the second season in a row. The allrounder was only 12th player in the last nine seasons (at all levels) to have taken at least 28 wickets, and scored over 400 runs in a league season, and the only one to do this at any level in 2019. Mumtaz has the highest number of runs of someone who has taken at least 20 wickets in a Division 7 season, and is the second player from Bagenalstown to get the 20 wicket/400 run double - after Nadun Jasinghe in Division 8 in 2014. Mumtaz only made his Cricket Leinster debut in June 2018 (scoring a century on debut for Bagenalstown 3), and so in his first full season, makes his first Team of the Year. His full return was 449 runs at 37.42 along with 28 wickets at 10.57. The season consisted of five wins, followed by losses to Merrion and Sandyford before an unbeaten run to the end of the season. September 14th dawned with Bagenalstown needing four points from their final match to ensure the league was won, a mark that was achieved when they reached 71 runs when chasing Swords' 111, on their way to winning by 5 wickets. Bagenalstown were absolutely not a one player team though, and an incredible five players made the Team of the Year. Reflecting their all round strength, those stars were spread amongst batting and bowling. Abdul Sattar had a slightly odd season, playing a full season (11 matches) for Bagenalstown 1 over the season, but only six of which were in the league. But in those six, he was pretty useful, with 13 wickets at 9.62. Shozab Ali Taj was solid all year, being the keeper with most dismissals in Division 7 (13 in total), as well as scoring 224 runs at 24.89. Marcel Bruns made the Division 7 Team of the Year in both 2016 and 2017, so perhaps his performances this season are perhaps no surprise, and he clocked up 210 runs at 35, and Sunny Charles scored 208 run at 34.67 to make his second award (after Division 7 in 2017). The biggest omission amongst that quintet is undoubtedly Nadun Jasinghe who has been brilliant for the team since 2013, being second to Bernard O'Mara in the run scoring charts (with 2391 at 31.46) as well being the leading wicket taker with 125 wickets at 16.70. But his 2019 record was not quite good enough with bat nor ball to make our representative team - he had 309 runs at 28.09 and 22 wickets at 17.73. In what was a very strong bowling attack (eleven teams were bowled out, and no one got to 200), two others were worthy of mention - Azaz Ahmed took 22 wickets at 12.45 and Khurram Mumtaz took 11 at 16.91. A final word to a record breaking day in August. Mismatches can occur for all sorts of reasons in cricket, but records are records, and as cricketers much of our existence is governed by them! Against Laois 2, the team ran up 453-5 (there were five 50s but no one got more than Nadun Jasinghe's 86), before Laois were bowled out for 53. The total is the highest recorded in a Cricket Leinster match since 2011, and the margin of 386 runs (DLS) likewise.

Sandyford 1 - 2nd - (Pos in league - 49 (2018 - 54)) - Batting Rating 98 - Bowling Rating 123 - RpO for 4.32 - RpO against 3.73 - Youth %age (by appearances) 0% - Average age of team 31.1

2019 seems to have been something of an odd season for Sandyford 1. I'd be fairly sure that for the 23 player squad, it felt anything but odd. After a tough 2018, they bounced back well, finishing in the same 49th spot in the league that they had finished in 2016 and 2017. And they overtook Greystones to be the 26th highest 1st team in the league. They were one of two teams to beat Bagenalstown all year, but yet never put together a run of more than three wins on the trot. And whilst Bagenalstown were full of players having amazing seasons, Sandyford just went about their business and got the job done - without anyone really excelling. That may well be a positive - think what they could do if players played out of their skins. The one player on the Team of the Year was Narasimha Dixit who in his debut season in the province, took 16 wickets at 10.63. Bhupinder Nizer wasn't too far behind with 16 wickets at 12.44 and it becomes apparent that Sandyford had at last five bowlers who were equally adept at this level. Next on the list comes Shiyas Basheer (no one has played more for Sandyford 1 in the last nine seasons) with 15 wickets at 18, then Vinay Iqbal with 13 at 11.86 and Abhiskeh Pandey with 13 at 19.15. Although we rank Sandyford's bowling as second to Bagenalstown's, no one went for less than their3.73 runs per over. The batting wasn't quite up to the same standard though, and perhaps if there had been more runs, there would have been a league title going to Marlay. The match at home to DLR County seems the obvious match - no one scored more than Nakul Kansara's 27*, as they totalled 159 ao and lost by three wickets. Abhishek Pandey was the leading run scorer, but with only 264 runs at 24, with the two others to pass 200 runs being Vignesh Ravi Sankar (248 at 31) and Kansara (221 at 24.56). At this early stage it looks as if they would need their best league finish since 2014 to stay in Division 6 next season, and more runs are needed if that is to happen.

DLR County 2 - 3rd - (Pos in league - 50 (2018 - 53)) - Batting Rating 110 - Bowling Rating 106 - RpO for 4.65 - RpO against 4.27 - Youth %age (by appearances) 9.1% - Average age of team 33.5

It's no surprise that DLR County 2's season was once against dominated by "Mr Division 7", Jinto Mathew. Mathew has been a constant in Division 7 since 2014, and is the leading run scorer and leading wicket taker in the Division. But the surprising thing for 2019 is that despite a decent season for Mathew, it wasn't record-breaking, and there wasn't too much support either. But despite that, the team still improved on their first attempt in the league in 2018. And it was stronger than any league finishing position that Dundrum 2 had. Since the Dundrum/Cabinteely merger, the club continues to evolve, and of the eight players in this squad that played more than half the games, four were previous Dundrum players, two were ex-Cabinteely, and two played for neither. So to summarise, despite a season in which it looks as if they may have played beneath their ability, DLR County 2 still achieved their highest ever league position. Mathew was the leading wicket taker with 18 at 17.78, but remarkably only one other bowler got to 10 wickets - Jithin Mundiyanickal with 11 at 12.55. Eight bowlers took at least three wickets in an innings, but only two of those eight played in half of the team's games. Only two players got to 200 runs - Mathew with 261 at 29 and the team's one member of the Team of the Year, Arjun Chandrasekar who scored an excellent 386 at 48.25.

Greystones 1 - 4th - (Pos in league - 51 (2018 - 52)) - Batting Rating 118 - Bowling Rating 111 - RpO for 4.42 - RpO against 4.28 - Youth %age (by appearances) 4.6% - Average age of team 34.2

A brilliant season by Manpreet Singh took Greystones to 4th place, and a one place improvement on 2018. A slew of records fell to Manpreet, which not surprisingly earned him a place on our Team of the Year, his fourth such honour. His total of 33 wickets in the season is a new Division 7 high, breaking Susheel Kumar's 2012 record of 27 for Leinster (which was also broken by Zeeshan Mumtaz this year). He was the 11th person to do the 30 wickets/300 run league double since 2011, and only the second below Division 5 (North Kildare's Ajayveer Malhan was the other in Division 16 in 2015). He is the second player to do the 20 wicket/300 run double for Greystones, after Eoin Lenehan's exploits for Greystones 2 in Division 11 in 2013. The bare figures are 320 runs at 40 and 33 wickets at 10.03. One further note. Against Merrion 5 he became the 16th player to be stranded on 99* since our records began in 2011, one of three times it happened in 2019 (Andrew Poynter of Clontarf and Tom Anders of YMCA were the other two). Greystones were the opposite of DLR County - much of what they did was impressive from a statistics perspective, we have them rated as the second best team in the division, and yet they finished fourth. Two more players made the Team of the Year - one for the first time and one for the fourth. John Fitzsimons keeps flying the flag for those of us in our 40s with his first TotY since 2015, and an all round 292 runs at 36.50 and 12 wickets at 19.50. At the other end of the scale, Harry Kirk put together his first really impressive season with 201 runs at 50.25. Three more bowlers contributed to the attack - Martin Potts took 17 at 19.06, Michael Kirk took 12 at 23.5 and Ramu Akula took 10 at 13.70.

Swords 1 - 5th - (Pos in league - 52 (2018 - 57)) - Batting Rating 88 - Bowling Rating 106 - RpO for 4.55 - RpO against 3.95 - Youth %age (by appearances) 0% - Average age of team 35.5

Merrion 5 - 6th - (Pos in league - 53 (2018 - 49)) - Batting Rating 86 - Bowling Rating 82 - RpO for 3.73 - RpO against 4.92 - Youth %age (by appearances) 21.3% - Average age of team 33.2

Technically this was Merrion 5's worst finish since 2013, but in reality there is not a whole lot of difference between their best ever finish (46th in 2016) and their worst (55th in 2013), so this year's effort is pretty much what you'd expect from this team, who continue to be the pre-eminent 5th team, by a gap that remains frankly astonishing. It is probably worth discussing the implications of such a gap. It wasn't always the same - back in 2011, Merrion 5 were only nine places ahead of Leinster 5, but in the following six seasons there was a rapid falling away by other clubs, so that by 2017, Clontarf were the next best some 37 places behind. In the last couple of seasons, Clontarf 5 have been clawing Merrion back, with the lead currently only being 23 places at the end of the 2019 season. But how can it be? For Merrion to keep having a 5th team at such a high level, they have to constantly be able to keep players happy, when they could play for all other clubs at a much higher level. But yet players stay at Anglesea Road, presumably for no other reason than they enjoy the club and all that it offers! Only four matches were won all season. and only one of those was after June, but as always, there are enough positives there to comment on. Vicky Dalwani joined the club at the start of the season and worked his way up the teams (finishing on the 3rds). His stay on the 5ths was relatively short, playing five matches before July. The performances in those matches were fairly useful though, making our Team of the Year with 10 wickets at 10.8 and 168 runs at 33.60. Merrion 5ths were honoured by having several Merrion legends playing for them over the season, and the batting and bowling lists were both led by players of such pedigree. Mark Little was leading wicket taker with 11 wickets at 16.55 and Robert Stanton was leading run scorer with 231 at 19.25. The batting was under powered, but the bowling also offered some tantalising glimpses of the future. Three 15 year olds were in the wickets, with Oisin Bhoja taking 4-28 against Terenure, James Light taking 3-39 against Bagenalstown and Ted O'Kelly 4-14 against Laois.

Terenure 2 - 7th - (Pos in league - 54 (2018 - 48)) - Batting Rating 84 - Bowling Rating 106 - RpO for 3.83 - RpO against 3.91 - Youth %age (by appearances) 28.9% - Average age of team 26.1

Terenure 2 had finished in 48th place in the league for the last three seasons, a position that would have meant they would have been Division 7 champions in 2019. It wasn't to be though. But there is more than a hint that this team is now going in the right direction. The youngest team in this division has plenty of reasons to be upbeat, none more so than Dylan Cleary, who whilst starting to make his way in the 1st team, continued learning his craft for the 2nds. In a team that struggled, his 22 wickets at 12.91 stand out as an exceptional performance. Slightly oddly, Terenure 2 were only two points from leapfrogging Merrion into 6th place, but had three games that weren't played - against Bagenalstown, Laois and Swords. If any of those had been played, the season would have had a much more positive tinge. No other bowler got to ten wickets, but Aidan Doyle is worth of a mention, the 17 year old taking nine over the season including 3-39 against Sandyford. The batting was a similar enough story, with Sidharth Nair a lone force with 208 runs at 23.11. Another 17 year old, Séamus Lynch scored 145 runs at 48.33 in the first half of the season, before moving up to the 1sts from June onwards.

Laois 2 - 8th - (Pos in league - 55 (2018 - 58)) - Batting Rating 83 - Bowling Rating 45 - RpO for 4.35 - RpO against 6.47 - Youth %age (by appearances) 9.2% - Average age of team 35.5

A new chapter in the history of Laois CC, who over the winter moved their home over 10kms eastwards from Togher to Stradbally. Such a move always brings teething problems, and Laois 2 had a tough year on the pitch, which proved to be winless. Rain aborted their best chance of a win, when after scoring 230/9 against Terenure, they had the Dublin side 72-5 when the rains came. And there were also three other near misses - Swords sneaked home by 1 wicket early in the season, and Merrion and DLR County both had three wicket wins. And who knows, if those four matches had been won, the end of the season (when it looks as if falling morale led to a series of big losses) could have been so different. Against all that, only once in the last five seasons have Laois 2 finished higher in the league, and next year's challenges are likely to be more realistic. Amir Khan was the top run scorer with 195 runs at 48.75, whilst the bowling was led by Noman Raees with 7 wickets at 20.57.

The full Division 7 batting averages can be found here, whilst the bowling averages are here