Division 3 review - Team effort from Merrion

Division 3 stats

Leading all time run scorer (2011-2015) - Vijay Gopal (Clontarf) - 1514 runs @ 36.93
Most runs in a Division 3 season - Barry Archer (Balbriggan) - 614 runs (2011)
Highest score - Vijay Gopal - 157 - Clontarf 2 vs Civil Service 1 - Castle Avenue - 7 Sept 2014
Leading all time wicket taker (2011-2015) - Mark Collier (Clontarf) - 89 wkts @ 13.24
Most wickets in a Division 3 season - Mark Collier (Clontarf) - 32 wkts (2015)
Best bowling - Willie Richardson - 7-40 - Malahide 2 vs Clontarf 2 - Malahide - 21 July 2013
Most matches - Mark Collier (Clontarf) - 51 - (2011-2015)

Highest team score - 393 all out - North Kildare 1 vs North County 2 - Inch - 25 May 2014
Lowest team score - 46 all out - Pembroke 2 vs YMCA 2 - Claremont Road - 30 June 2013 and North County 2 vs YMCA 2 - Claremont Road - 20 Sept 2014

Review

Merrion 2 - Champions - (Predicted 3rd) - Batting Rating 127 - Bowling Rating 111 - Overall Rating 238

With a league record as long and distinguished as Merrion 2's, numbers don't necessarily mean as much. For the record, this was their 10th league title, their 6th in the last 30 years, and fourth in the last ten, It was also the first time that they have lifted the Division 3 title. Without wishing to sound churlish, in some respects it has been difficult to see why they were the best team in the league. Our rating system has them as the best by far, they shared the two matches against runners-up Clontarf, and beat third placed North Kildare twice. But despite having the best batting group in the division, only two players passed 200 runs - Michael Lewis and Neil Brown. Lewis had a fine debut season for Merrion, and his contribution to the 2nds was immense, with 331 runs at 66.20. Similarly, Brown was in his normal fine fettle, with 258 at 51.60. But apart from these two, no one passed 200 runs. Even more importantly, these two passed 50 five times, with only Max Neville and Robin Smith (once a piece) doing likewise. The bowling was a similar story. Nitin Sharma was immense, with 23 wickets at 14.87, a league total that has only been bettered once by a Merrion 2 bowler - Alex O'Brien in 2011 (with 24 wickets) . Normally a title winning team would need at least one other bowler taking a lot of wickets, but the only other bowler to take 10 wickets, was skipper Robbie Ensor with 14 at 22.57. Perhaps the best way to dig deeper, is to look at who was our (unofficial) Merrion man of the match for each of their nine league wins - Nitin Sharma 2, Michael Lewis 2, Neil Brown 1, Robbie Ensor 1, Shreyansh Khanna 1, Simon Morrissey 1, Max Neville 1. So whilst Messrs Sharma, Lewis and Brown did their bit, once again it was a team effort for Merrion, with seven players contributing in a major way to the nine wins.

Clontarf 2- Runners up - (Predicted 2nd) - Batting Rating 108 - Bowling Rating 118 - Overall Rating 226

It hasn't been the style of these reviews to be too critical, but as we are now on article number 14, I'm running out of different ways of saying the same thing! The problem is that it's difficult to work out exactly how much we learnt about Clontarf 2 this year. They have now come second in each of the last two years, confirming their place as one of the top three 2nd teams. They have some of the best players in Division 3, with Mark Collier, Asim Nazir and Sameer Dutt dominant. But once teams no longer to progress up the league ladder ( a decision that in fairness to Clontarf, Merrion have apparently also embarked upon for 2016), then it removes some of the excitement of a league. We knew CLontarf were on of the best two teams in Division 3 season - and we still know it. In Clontarf's defence, Division 2 is tough, and most 2nd teams have struggled, once they lose the benefits of the starring system and have to compete with first teams on a level playing field. Clontarf (quite rightly) would also contend that Division 3 is a much better environment for giving youth players a cricketing education. Rant over. Mark Collier was once again the dominant player in Division 3, winning five matches on his own, topping the wicket taking charts by a distance, and being one of only five players in the league to complete the 200 run/10 wicket double. Of the other players, only Asim Nazir also passed 200 runs (311 at 34.56). Aside from Collier's stunning 32 wickets at 11.25, Sameer Dutt was pretty decent in his first season for Clontarf, with 18 wickets at 11.33, and Shariful Islam took 17 at 10.71. The season's crucial match was the 5 wicket loss to Merrion. Adrian d'Arcy and Asim Nazir set up a decent score of 221 for Clontarf, before a masterclass from Merrion's Michael Lewis, his 106* winning the day (and ultimately the title). Arguably none of those players would have been playing for either side if they had been playing in Division 2 - which illustrates the point, whether you are in favour of 2nd teams playing in Division 2, or against it!

North Kildare 1 - 3rd - (Predicted 4th) - Batting Rating 102 - Bowling Rating 99 - Overall Rating 201

North Kildare achieved their main objective, and will be playing their cricket in Division 2 in the 2016 season. Presumably they would have preferred to have run away with the Division 3 title, rather than finishing third, and receiving an invite after Merrion and Clontarf turned down promotion. But such are the biases against 1st teams in Division 3 and 4 that they deserved it none the less. The season was characterised by close finishes, with The Hills matches being won and lost by 4 runs and 18 runs, and no less than four 4 wicket results - two losses and two wins. In looking at the season as a whole, a few of those losses look disappointing - with the two defeats to Leinster particularly galling, and The Hills winning their only match of the season against North Kildare. Paul Ryan and Manjeet Singh were magisterial, with Ryan being the top run scorer with 478 runs at 39.83 (along with 14 wickets at 26.79) and Manjeet being top wicket taker with 20 wickets at 17.95 (along with 331 runs at 25.46). Rob Neavyn also passed 200 runs (262 at 21.83) but failed to hit a 50 at the top of the order. Three others had good seasons with the ball, with Imran ul Haq's 13 at 13.15 being impressive. Wasif Ali took 17 at 21.67 and Louis Hofmeyr, 16 at 21.69.

Laois 1 - 4th - (Predicted 8th) - Batting Rating 105 - Bowling Rating 101 - Overall Rating 206

After a raft of player departures last winter, ,any feared the worst for Laois, including this column, which predicted they would come 8th. That proved wide of the mark, with a top four finish, and a team that we have ranked as the joint 3rd best in the division. Whilst fourth was a pretty decent finish, it could have been even better, as they lost the last three games of the season (to North Kildare twice and to Pembroke). Three wins would have left them with the same number as title winners Merrion. Probably even more impressively, it was Laois' highest finish in the league in the last five years, coming in at 20th, once place better than in 2013, the previous best. So an impressive season. all the more surprising in that there were very few superstars. Whilst nine batsmen passed 100 runs, only Rashid Mehraj had a season that he would have been happy with - 241 runs at 30.12, with Mohammed Ramazan also passing 200 - 228 at 20.73. There were six 50s ( and one 100) scored by the batsmen, and all but one of those 50s came in winning performances. It's a simple problem to solve - if more batsmen score 50s, then you win more games. The bowling was a similar story, with Zeeshan Shauket filling the Rashid Mehraj role with an impressive 22 wickets at 15.55. Amir Khan came next with 16 wickets at a fraction under 21, and then another three bowlers took between 10 and 12 wickets. A really good Laois season, that you feel could be bettered next time.

Leinster 2 - 5th - (Predicted 7th) - Batting Rating 100 - Bowling Rating 106 - Overall Rating 206

Like the other three teams who won six Division 3 matches last year, Leinster can look at the season with a fair amount of satisfaction - or can breath a sigh of relief at just avoiding relegation. At times, Leinster looked like a quality side, especially in their two wins against North Kildare, or their 8 wicket win away to our pre-season favourites Pembroke. There were also a few performances that should be forgotten about, such as being bowled out for 105 against Laois, or 140 against Clontarf. The bowling was the side's strength, with stalwarts such as Gavin Gilmore (5-24 vs Pembroke, the best ever by a Leinster bowler in Division 3 match) and Rob Kenealy (17 wickets at 15.76) performing well. Finn Conaty pipped Kenealy though, with the slightly better figures of 17 wickets at 13.71, including one of the dramatic spells of bowling in any match in the province this year - 5-23 in 4 overs at home to North Kildare in May. With Malik Mohammed and Malcolm Rule also taking 13 wickets at well under 20, Leinster should have had a bowling attack worthy of challenging for the title. That they didn't is obviously due to the batting. It wasn't that bad, with nine 50s and two 100s, but the first two matches of the season saw all out totals of 140 and 105, and the last two saw a 95 ao and a 76 ao. A total in one of those matches could have meant runners up spot in the league. Only two players passed 200 seasonal runs, with Danny Coad hitting 290 at 41.43 and Richard Forrest, 279 at 46.50.

Pembroke 2 - 6th (Predicted 1st) - Batting Rating 98 - Bowling Rating 93 - Overall Rating 191

Unfortunately, the biggest disappointment of the year. We predicted they would win the league, and although that was based on not more than a hunch, Pembroke hadn't finished worse then 4th place in Division 3 (or equivalent) in the previous four seasons. Although the side has experienced relegation from Division 2 in 2014, it was thought that the team would have enough to compete at the top of Division 3, but that was not the case. In 2014 Bill Whaley and Graham McDonnell dominated the team, and once again it was these two who were head and shoulders above their teammates. Whaley completed the 200 run/10 wicket double for the 2nds for the second successive year, totalling 234 runs at 23.4 and 19 wickets at 15.79. McDonnell scored 321 runs at 45.86, showing once again that the former Ireland youth player is a cut above this level. But there wasn't too much support from the rest of the squad, with no one else passing 200 runs, and no one else taking more than ten wickets at less than 20. Aaron O'Neill (13 wickets at 20.38) and Harry Balbirnie (13 at 22.15) did ok with the ball, but it was the lack of more strike bowlers that did for the Broke. However despite all that, Pembroke were only a couple of wins away from a top two place - the 2 run loss to Phoenix alone would have moved Pembroke to third if they had found that one lusty blow.

Phoenix 2 - 7th (Predicted 6th) - Batting Rating 99 - Bowling Rating 109 - Overall Rating 208

Bad luck is a phrase that has been used repeatedly in this review. As is always the case with Division 3, there is very little between those at the bottom and the top. Phoenix would have presumed that six wins would have cemented their place in the first season back in Division 3, but it wasn't to be. It was Phoenix 2's best finish in the league in the last five years, but yet will be tinged by disappointment. As with Pembroke above, the thinnest of margins would have made a massive difference to the season - amongst a few big defeats to the top teams, there was also a 1 run loss to Pembroke. That one run was the difference between 4th place in the league and relegation. We rated the Phoenix bowling attack as the third best in the league, so it is safe to say that it was the batting where the problems lay. 15 year old Ian Anders took a very decent 10 wickets at an average of 13, and Vish Vaidyanathan led the way with 15 at 16.93. To be honest, the batting doesn't look too bad as Sayed Mehdi Shah top scored with 288 runs at 22.15, captain Adam Chester hit 258 runs at 32.25, and Matt Scott nudged and nurdled his way to 232 runs at 58 - including the team's only hundred of the season. However it doesn't feel fair to be too critical - two extra runs in that Pembroke match, and we would be talking about a Phoenix team that had gloriously come fourth.

The Hills 2 - 8th (Predicted 5th) - Batting Rating 73 - Bowling Rating 71 - Overall Rating 144

After close shaves in the last few seasons, The Hills failed to avoid the drop this year - a drop which many neutral observers could see coming. It was a tough season, and it is probably not fair to dwell on it too much. The sole win came at the beginning of September, and by then the relegation was already confirmed. Only one player Tomas Rooney Murphy passed 200 runs, but as he was one of the players who dropped down from the 1sts, he only got to play three matches - returning 211 runs at 70.33. The side's batting started in a fairly positive fashion, with the team passing 175 in each of the first five matches. After that, it was downhill, and they only passed 150 once from there on in. That fine servant of The Hills' cricket, Nadeem Akhtar was once again a massive contributor - he was the leading wicket taker with 12 wickets at 21.17. The team will regroup and come back stronger.

Division 3 batting averages 2015 (Qualification 100 runs)

Division 3 Bowling averages 2015 (Qualification 6 wickets)