Division 13 review - Part 2

Over a quarter of all matches in Division 13 didn't take place this season - mainly due to the weather. It left something of a disjointed feeling to many sides' season, with Railway Union 6 and North Kildare 3 only completing eight matches each, and Laois 3 only seven.

Division 13 stats

Leading all time run scorer (2011-2015) - Adam Ellison (Rush) - 827 runs @ 25.06
Most runs in a Division 13 season - Muhammad Navid (Merrion) - 588 runs (2013)
Highest score - Anto Coates - 203 - Ringcommons 1 vs Rush 4 - Kenure - 8 Sept 2012
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2015) - Sajesh Sudarsanan (Dundrum) - 53 wkts @ 15.02 and Adam Ellison (Rush) - 53 wkts @ 22.66
Most wickets in a Division 13 season - Stuart Gallagher (Halverstown) - 36 wkts (2012)
Best bowling - Robin Chalissery - 7-6 - Ringcommons 1 vs Sandyford 3 - Marlay Park - 13 May 2012
Most matches - Adam Ellison (Rush) - 48 - (2011-2014)

Highest team score - 380-6 - Ringcommons 1 vs Rush 4 - Kenure - 8 Sept 2012
Lowest team score - 14 all out - Sandyford 3 vs Ringcommons 1 - Marlay Park - 13 May 2012

Review

Phoenix 5 - Champions - (Predicted 4th) - Batting Rating 104 - Bowling Rating 133 - Overall Rating 237

It is perhaps a touch dangerous to read too much into a single incident, when the very nature of a cricket season means that there are perhaps 4000 deliveries that a team would be involved in over the five months, with anything between 30 and 40 players pushing a team in one direction or other. But to hell with the danger, Phoenix's season changed for the better on August 1st. Up until then, there was a distinctly middle of the table feel to a team that we predicted would come in the middle of the table. Then an allrounder by the name of Arsalan Mehmood joined the club, and Phoenix's season was transformed. Arsalan, played five of Phoenix's last six games, and they won them all, with Arsalan taking 16 wickets at a very healthy average of 5.69. In fairness to Phoenix, they also won the one match he missed, when Pembroke were beaten by 7 wickets (Mohammed Younas took 3-8, finishing with a very healthy 14 wickets at 9.50 for the year). Phoenix's excellent bowling attack was completed by Akarsh Nalawade who had 16 wickets at 13. The batting was a little less explosive, and unusually for a title winning team, only one player passed 200 runs, with Arsalan Raffique scoring 250 runs at 125 before he moved up the teams. It was Phoenix 5's first league title since 1983.

Laois 3 - Runners up - (Predicted 6th) - Batting Rating 113 - Bowling Rating 113 - Overall Rating 226

It is difficult to work out whether Laois had a season to forget, or one that they will remember for ever. On the last day of July, it must have felt that it was to be a season to be erased from memory. At that stage Laois has the slightly amazing return of played 0, won 0, lost 0. Four matches had been called off due to the weather and another couple for other reasons. They managed to take to the pitch on May 17 against North Kildare, but the match was abandoned after 20 overs of the second innings. But whilst the first two thirds of the season was to be forgotten, the final five weeks were full of excitement, as Laois won five of their last seven to move to second place. With such a truncated season, personal performances were a bit thin on the ground (or at least those connected to the accumulation of runs and wickets were). Only Fintan Moore passed 200 (with 274 at 68.50), whereas no bowler managed 10 wickets.

Dundrum 3 - 3rd - (Predicted 5th) - Batting Rating 122 - Bowling Rating 103 - Overall Rating 225

There must be a certain amount of disappointment around Dundrum 3 this winter. They performed admirably, finishing two places higher than we thought they would, in a very healthy 3rd place. It was the highest place that Dundrum 3 have finished in the league ladder, with the 99th place seeing the team breaking into the top 100 for the first time. A cursory glance leads to the though that it could have been so much better. "Only" three matches were lost, and it is likely that one win from any of those three would have won them the league. The one that got away was the match against Swords 2 in late May. Chasing only 134 to win, the strong Dundrum batting line up failed on this occasion, with star player Sibu Daniel nearly seeing Dundrum home with 41*. Daniel had a fine season, hitting 165 runs at 20.62 along with 23 wickets at 10.04. The lack of another front line bowler was what probably cost Dundrum - Sachin Dev and Deepu Jose both took 11 wickets, but not at a low enough average to trouble the opposition. The batting was the real strength, with Paras Bhardwaj top scoring with 373 runs at 33.91. Shiju Kockappu also scored well with 282 at 35.25. BUt although the batting was the team's strength, it was that failure in Swords that cost them.

Swords 2 - 4th - (Predicted 2nd) - Batting Rating 102 - Bowling Rating 115 - Overall Rating 217

On the surface, 4th place seems like a successful season for Swords 2. In reality though, it is the lowest league position they have finished since their first year in 2013. Their bowling was the second strongest attack in the division with Manoj Jacob taking 12 at 9.92 and Jerson Santhosh 12 at 11.25. The batting was a disappointment though - no one scored more than 112 runs.

North Kildare 3- 5th - (Predicted 8th) - Batting Rating 114 - Bowling Rating 90 - Overall Rating 204

Another team that had a rain ruined season (their first match to be completed was a loss to Dundrum 3 on June 13th). But once the sun started to shine (or at least in the break between the showers), North Kildare put together a decent run, winning five matches on the bounce, enabling them to finish in their best league position since 2012. As can be seen from the ratings above, the bowling struggled some what. In fact, closer inspection of the team's performances reveals that the season was very much built around three players. Tehseen Hashmi was the star with bat and ball, hitting 376 runs at 53.71 in addition to 16 wickets at 12.44; Behzad Majeed hit 239 at 34.14; and Muddasir Zeb took 13 at 17.85. In each of the five matches that North Kildare won, either Hashmi or Majeed were both top scorer and had the best bowling figures in each innings - apart from two bowling performances.

Dublin University 3 - 6th (Predicted 3rd) - Batting Rating 81 - Bowling Rating 113 - Overall Rating 194

As is always the way, any Dublin University side struggles for consistency, although this is never as big a problem for the staff/postgrad dominated third team. However, 2015 was a below par performance after finishing 97th in the league in 2014. This season saw a drop to 102nd, mainly due to the problems with the batting. Seven times they were bowled out for under 150, and despite a few stellar performances (their 287-4 against a threadbare Railway attack was the highest total in the league all year), the batting line up struggled. No one passed 200 runs, with Ashish Bharvirkar coming top with 185 at 37. The three pronged bowling attack was better - joint third in the division by our reckonings. Nitin Rajwar led with 20 at 8.95, the ever dependable Kevin Threadgold took 17 at 12.41 and Conor Hamilton took 12 at 14.17.

Pembroke 6 - 7th (Predicted 7th) - Batting Rating 84 - Bowling Rating 76 - Overall Rating 160

The one "success" in our predictions for this year was Pembroke 6, who finished in their expected 7th place. It has been a tough few years for the 6ths, and it is probably best not to dwell on their season too much. Their one success all season was in the Park Avenue derby, when Railway set 198. At 6-2, it wasn't look too rosy, but Craig Senior (74*) and David McCarthy (76) added 174 for the 3rd wicket to virtually see Pembroke home. It was the highest partnership for Pembroke 6 since we started recording all partnerships - beating the previous record by the same two batsmen in July 2014. Conor Prendergast was the leading batsman by a long way, being the only one to score more than 171 - 315 runs at 35. The bowling was the real problem, and although three bowlers took 10 or 11 wickets, that is never enough to succeed over a season - a few 15+ wicket bowlers are needed.

Railway Union 6 - 8th (Predicted 1st) - Batting Rating 86 - Bowling Rating 56 - Overall Rating 142

There's no getting away from the fact that it was a tough old year for Railway Union 6. We predicted (on little more than a hunch) that they would improve a bit on last year's 100th place on the ladder. Instead, they lost their footing, and tumbled to 105th. With the weather, a walkover and matches not being refixed, Railway only took to the pitch seven times, so there were never going to be any records broken. Ivan Morgan was the stand out performer with 320 runs at 45.71 and 12 wickets at 19.92 - a Herculean return considering everything. The bowling was the real problem - there were 12 scores of 200 or more in Division 13 all year, and five of them were against Railway.

Division 13 batting averages 2015 (Qualification 100 runs)

Division 13 Bowling averages 2015 (Qualification 6 wickets)