CRICKET/Weekly column: The chief statistician for Leinster cricket, that doyen of facts and figures Gerry Byrne, has just brought out his mid-season list of averages, highlighting in nowhere-to-hide black and white the individual performances of the province's top players.
Bowing to public demand, I have decided to submit the top five of these meticulously compiled averages in today's column, although I must admit, as interesting and debate-provoking as cricket averages are, they can never tell the full story and we must not assume after looking at these lists that Conor Armstrong, Andre Botha and Ian O'Herlihy are necessarily the best batsman, bowler and wicket-keeper around.
For example, Jeremy Bray, who ranks only ninth in the averages (48.3), is the man I would choose to bat for my life. His consistency at the top of the order, high scoring rate and wide range of shots make him a class performer at this level.
YMCA's Wayne Murray is by far the best keeper I have seen this year and yet he comes in just fifth in the table.
The fact that YM do not have an extensive seam or pace attack means Murray does not get much opportunity to snaffle thin edges. That said, he does spend most of his time standing up to the stumps so this, coupled with the quickest hands in Leinster since Keith Bailey, means he does get plenty of stumpings (eight so far).
The averages do get it right occasionally, however - Botha is my bowler of the season so far (as his 17 wickets at an average of less that nine and with an economy rate of 2.27 conveniently highlight).
Botha has also managed to bring his class into the international arena, where his tight lines and nippy quicker ball have created trouble for Test and County cricketers as well as Leinster's club players.
Ireland squad for ECC European Championships in Holland (July 18th-22nd): Jason Molins (capt, Phoenix), Jeremy Bray (Phoenix), Andre Botha (North County), Peter Gillespie (Strabane), Andrew White (Instonians), Kyle McCallan (Cliftonville), Trent Johnston (Clontarf), Naseer Shoukat (Rush), Stephen Ogilby (Cheshire League), Dominick Joyce (Merrion), John Mooney (North County), Paul Mooney (North County), Adrian McCoubrey (Essex CCC, Cliftonville), Gordon Cooke (Brigade).
Ireland will play the ECB on Sunday, July 18th; Holland on Tuesday, July 20th; Scotland on July 21st and Denmark on July 22nd. The tournament will produce rankings for the ICC Trophy World Cup qualifier to be held in Ireland in July, 2005.
