The Hills
League position: 3rd, with 7 wins, 5 defeats and two no result
Cups: won in the first round and lost in the second round of the Leinster Senior Cup; won rounds two and three, lost in round four of the Irish Senior Cup
Total matches: 17 (total players used 18)
Batting
Total runs: 3,443 (371 extras) from 143 innings (27 not out) in 799.2 overs at 4.3 runs per over
Scores of 20-49 - 40; fifties - 16; hundreds - 1
Leading run scorers:
Baumgart, Mike - 577 @ 44 with 6 scores 20-49, 4 fifties, no hundred
Bray, Jeremy - 550 @ 50 with 4, 4, 1
Sorensen, Max - 466 @ 39 with 3, 4
van der Merwe, Albert - 309 @ 26 with 4, 2
Calder, Darrell - 217 @ 20 with 4, 1
Dwyer, Mark - 209 @ 23 with 3, 1
Modes of dismissal: b - 19; lbw - 17; c wkt - 15; st - 9; c&b - 3; c - 45; ro - 8
Bowling
Total runs conceded: 3,057 (346 extras) from 138 completed innings in 734.3 overs at 4.2 runs per over
Individual hauls of 4 wickets or better - 4
Leading wicket takers:
Sorensen, Max - 33 @ 18 with 2 4+ hauls at economy of 3.9
Shoukat, Nazeer - 19 @ 24 at 4.2
Bray, Jeremy - 16 @ 28 at 4.0
van der Merwe, Albert - 15 @ 27 with 1 4+ haul at 3.3
Clinton, Luke - 14 @ 32 at 4.2
Dwyer, Mark - 11 @ 22 at 4.8
Clinton, Joseph - 11 @ 22 with 1 4+ haul at 3.9
Modes of dismissal: b - 34; lbw - 18; c wkt - 19; st - 4; c&b - 7; c - 51; ro - 10
Fielding
Wicketkeeping: O'Donnell, Peter - 10+2; Calder, Darrell - 9+2
Outfield catches: van der Merwe, Albert - 10; Bray, Jeremy - 7; Dwyer, Mark - 7; Sorensen, Max - 7; Baumgart, Mike - 6
Comments
This was a side that was expected to challenge for league and cups, but suffered seven defeats to ten wins. What went wrong? International commitments and injuries contributed to the late season league decline, but the warning signs were already there.
Three players scored over half the runs, and three players (two the same) took half the wickets. Adding in a sixth player gets over 60% of the runs and wickets. So five players weren't doing enough. Chopping and changing the batting order didn't help, but changing keeper mid season did (no disrespect to George).
Expecting Mal Byrne, Joseph Clinton and Mark Dwyer to be lead players for the seconds in Division 2 and to make significant contributions to the firsts was obviously just too big an ask (again, no disrespect to those three).
One thing intrigues me: The Hills batsmen were out bowled 19 times and lbw 17; but their opponents were bowled 34 times and lbw 18. Why this huge discrepancy? Do The Hills batsmen tend to walk across their stumps? A couple certainly do (no names, no pack drill), but so do quite a few of their opponents. It might be a case of a trip down to the Inch for appealing practice.
For each side is presented a summary of team and individual performances, plus a few comments. Statistics are derived from all matches (League, Leinster Senior Cup, Irish Senior Cup) in which there was at least one innings completed (including two no results).
