Division 5
Champions – YMCA 3
League MVP – B. Gilmore [Malahide]
It would have been appropriate in this had been the fourth instead of the fifth division, as the top three teams all came from D4. YMCA won the division comprehensively, losing only one game and finishing 17.85% ahead of R&SPU and with Merrion filling out the podium places.
YMCA won 12 out of 14 games and one game was a no result. R&SPU and Merrion had identical records, winning 8, losing 5 and suffering 1 no result each. The difference in their final positions came down to bonus points with the team from Cold Blow Lane gaining 13 more than the Anglesey Road outfit’s 35.
Bonus points were also the deciding factor at the other end of the table with Sandyford’s 25 bonus points not matching the net 37 earned by Leinster. The gap between them would have been larger but Leinster also suffered a 5 point deduction for a breach of 3.4 of the General Playing Regulations, which seems to be a starring issue. However, it did not affect the final table and Sandyford filled the second relegation position. Beneath them both and with only four wins came Laois.
Four of the top six point scorers all came from YMCA with Sam Murphy, Kamal Merchant (and congratulations to Kamal on his “Coach of the Year” award from Cricket Ireland for his amazing work with the YMCA youngsters who won 9 trophies in 2013 including an amazing U11 All-Ireland win), P. Flanagan and Harry Tector all featuring. However, as readers of the previous columns would know, the winner does not come from the league champions. In this division it was a player from fourth placed Malahide who tops the fantasy points table. Even more astonishingly he did so without taking a single wicket, or indeed bowling a single ball. In fact, this division was lead by players who are definitely specialists. As well as Brian Gilmore [Malahide] topping the table without bowling, second placed Sam Murphy [YMCA] also did not take any wickets with the ball in hand and P. Flanagan [YMCA] took fourth place whilst scoring only 47 runs in 12 matches, but taking 24 wickets. The top ten point scorers in this Division were as follows.
249 players appeared in this 8 team Division, with 66 appearing just the once. 5 players managed to appear in every game, including our MVP, Brian Gilmore [Malahide]. The others to make every game were: R. Staunton & I. Muhammad [both North County], M. Sheraz [Laois] and Paul Delany [Leinster]. Three Sandyford players played in every game possible, but as Sandyford had one ‘no result’ this meant 13 games, not 14; Anto Burke, R. Padmanaban and P. Peethambaran.
Brian Gilmore [Malahide] was the only batsman to pass 500 runs in the division, but a further 4 players managed in excess of 400 runs. The top five run scorers were:
8 centuries were scored in Division 5 with M. Mughal [Laois] being the sole player to make more than one. In order of highest score the centurions were:
There were 3 players who got close to three figures, but failed to raise their bats with U. Suraj getting close twice:
70 half centuries were recorded by 41 players, with 15 players making more than one. Top of the list, were two players from Park Avenue, U. Siraj [R&SPU] managed 6 half centuries in 10 innings and K. Khan [R&SPU] also scored 6 in two less innings. The batsmen scoring more than one were:
In the first of two batting average tables the leader is A. Ward [Leinster] with an average of 87.00 with 87 runs from his only innings in this Division. The top 5 batting averages (with no qualifications, but innings shown in brackets) were as follows:
When a minimum requirement of 320 runs is applied the names somewhat change although K. Khan [R&SPU] and Sam Murphy [YMCA] remain:
There were 19 batsmen who technically have an average of infinity, having scored runs and not been dismissed at all. Most notable amongst them is D. O’Connor [YMCA] who played in 11 games, but only reached the middle with wood in hand twice and was not dismissed. The full list of names are shown here with their runs and number of innings: J. Blakeney (88/1) [Merrion]; D. O’Brien (47/3) [Sandyford]; A. Shehabeddin (39/1) [Malahide]; E. Grehan (38/1) [R&SPU]; S. McDonald (31/1) [Merrion]; Stephen Keane (28/1) [YMCA]; C. Mulvaney (18/1) [North County]; D. Carroll (15/1) [R&SPU]; S. Cherian (14/1) [Sandyford]; N. Raees (13/1) [Laois]; Howard Askew (13/2) [Malahide]; C. Marias (13/1) [R&SPU]; B. Makwana (11/1) [R&SPU]; H. Sultan (8/1) [YMCA]; D. Staunton (4/1) [North County]; D. O’Connor (1/2) [YMCA]; K. Murphy (1/1) [Malahide]; M. Sludds (1/1) [North County]; and S. Uddin (1/1) [Laois].
774 wickets fell to 119 bowlers in this Division. 21 bowlers took one wicket whilst the other 98 took more than the solitary wicket. Tied for fifth place amongst bowlers were two of the elder statesmen of Leinster cricket who continue to feature in wicket taking lists many years since they first appeared in the last century. I will also emphasise that this list only includes wickets taken in this division. Conor Gibbons, of course also appeared in the overall round up as a player who took 34 more wickets in Leinster cricket than he scored runs. In this division he got by with 4 runs and 20 wickets. Anto Burke on the other hand scored 9 runs. They are specialists indeed. The top 5 (and ties) wicket takers were:
The top five (and ties) bowling averages were as follows (with the number of wickets taken in brackets also). There is no minimum requirement for this category.
When a cut off of 16 wickets is applied the averages table is dominated by YMCA players:
In order of the best bowling analyses, the 7 players who took a five wicket haul were as follows, although only the aforementioned Anto Burke [Sandyford] managed to do it more than once and also had the divisional best analysis. When he’s hot, he’s very hot!
No bowler was made to bowl over 100 overs this season in this division, although many of the bowlers in this list would remember the time of no restrictions on overs and bowling unchanged for 25 overs in each and every game. The top six bowlers in terms of overs delivered were as follows.
121 players held at least one of the 270 catches this season in this Division. Leading this category is usually keepers and this division is no different. The top five (and ties) were as follows (players who also had a stumping are shown with an * although we do not know if they were regular keepers):
20 stumpings were snapped up by 11 keepers, regular or otherwise. The top 5 and ties are:
Ger O’Brien played just 4 games and R. Watkins just the 6 games.
In terms of players used (including Player Unregistered), the league looks like this:
Disclaimer…. As with all of these articles, the views expressed therein of those of the author and definitely do not represent those of the Leinster Cricket Union, the author’s club or anyone else. They might match your views, but if they do, it is more likely to be a co-incidence than anything else. They are to be considered merely the inconsequential ramblings of a fool. Any feedback or requests for individual, team, Club or all-encompassing statistics may be sent to craig@cricket.ie.