Cricket Leinster : Modern Batting Records 1995 - 2011

I wrote an article for the Cricket Leinster web site recently in relation to players who have scored over 2,000 runs or taken 200 wickets during the period 1995 to 2011 inclusive.  That period, as I said at the time, was a random one, and was chosen because it covered the period that I have been doing the averages for Divisions 1 and 2 (as they are now called) in Leinster Cricket.

In that article I commented on the changes that have occurred in Leinster Cricket during that period, with the result that batsmen have been scoring more runs per season on average while bowlers have been taking less wickets per season.

I am now attaching to this follow up article a list of those batsmen who during this period scored over 2,000 runs. These are set out in order of those who scored the highest aggregate of runs over this period, though I have also included averages and other elements of relevance such as Hundreds and Fifities.  I would again remind you that the randomness of the period means that they do not reflect the overall career figures of these players, but merely the figures during that period

The start of the list shows those that scored over 5,000 runs in this period. No fewer than 13 different players reached this figure, and one indeed, Andre Botha, has exceeded 10,000, and another, Jeremy Bray, is only marginally short of that. The importance of this figure of 5,000 runs is that a player who has reached this figure, with an average of not less than 22.00, will always figure in the list issued each year of the leading batsmen for Leinster. Up to the end of 2010 the number who have met this criterion came to 63, of which 12, or some 20%, are players who are still playing. When we look at the bowlers in the next article, it will be interesting to compare the number of current players in that list.

The number of players who have exceeded 2,000 runs in this period totals 80. The importance of the figure of 2,000 is that players who have exceeded that figure, and have an average of not less than 20.00, appear every year in the current section of the career figures, provided they are still playing. There are about 8 in that list of 80 who would not have the average requirement for the criteria of inclusion but I have left them in as the crucial requirement for this piece is simply the amount of runs.

In setting out this list I have included the clubs they played for. I have not used CYM/Terenure other than for those on the list who would have played both before and after the change of name. Apologies if I omitted a club in the case of those who have played for more than one club in the period.

Players who have scored over 2,000 runs in the period 1995 to 2011