Individual Performances: LHK Insurance T20

Joe Morrissey lofts the LHK Insurance [Alan Murray] T20 Trophy for 2017

Some statistics from the LHK Insurance [Alan Murray] T20 Competition this year. First of all there were 52 matches played over the four weeks of the competition. The weather was kind and only a few were determined by DLS and none were rained off entirely. Perhaps surprising for a format that normally produces close results there were only four matches from the whole tournament that could be counted as having a close finish [<10 runs and 1/2 wicket wins]. 

In terms of individual performances, there were five instances of 5 wicket hauls, two of these by Joe Carroll [Leinster], including the best figures of the tournament 5/6 against Malahide. 

There were three hundreds, including a remarkable 152 by Lorcan Tucker for Pembroke v Balbriggan in 59 balls [11*4 and 14*6]. In all there were 57 individual scores of more than 50. 

Twenty one players got 10 or more wickets in the tournament. As might be expected, players from the teams that got to the Finals Day dominated the list with Shariful [Ropu] Islam from Clontarf top of the leader board with 18.  closely followed by Paul Lawson [Pembroke] with 17. Special mention though for Ben White [Phoenix] who took 13 wickets in fewer matches. Four players made over 300 runs. The table is headed by Lorcan Tucker [360], followed by Andrew Poynter [338] from Clontarf, Arslan Anwar [334] from Leinster and Jamie Brown [312] from Merrion. Fourteen players got 200 or more runs. 

In T20 cricket it is the runs per over that really count and there were ten players [threshold 20 overs] who came in at less than a run a ball.  

Fourteen players scored more than 200 runs [the threshold for the Strike rate] with Brad Barnes having the fastest scoring rate. 

A final note about the wicket keepers. Three took 10 or more victims: Lorcan Tucker [12], Brad Barnes [11] and Cormac Hassett [10] from Cork County. But it was the performance of Barnes that took the eye. Standing up to nearly every bowler and a constant threat, daring the batsman to advance down the wicket, he set a standard for aggressive keeping, ideally suited to the T20 format. 

Whatever you might think about the format there is likely to be more T20 cricket in the future. New competitions are springing up across the world and it creates a large part of the global income for the sport. Looking at other countries one sees the emergence of specialist players who favour and excel at the shorter game. No doubt the same will happen in time in Ireland - but perhaps not yet.