Although no league titles were won it has been an exceptional season for the YMCA 2nds, 3rds & 4ths.
All 3 teams came runners-up in their respective leagues and thus gain promotion.

The 2nd XI squad was strengthened by the return of Andrew Walker & David Robinson, who gave the team a more competitive edge. New-comers Travis Partridge, Yaqoob Ali & Salman Ali also gave the team a more experienced look. Add in Waz Armstrong, David Streek, Simon Wilson-Moore, Johnny Harte, Ehtesham Ahmed, Chris Minch and Sean Mcauley and we should have done better.

A good cup run saw the team beat Mullingar 1sts, Civil Service 1sts (a league above us) before losing to Merrion 2nds in the semi-final.

The league performances were much improved from 2010, winning 9 of their 14 league games. Big wins against Railway (twice) and eventual winners Merrion were the highlights. North Kildare, Malahide (twice), Mullingar (twice), Laois were also accounted for.
The lowlights were losses to Laois (D/L) in persistant rain and North Kildare at home. Phoenix, our boggy side beat us twice. Even the final match of the season, versus Merrion for the title, was disappointing as the team could not defend a competitive target (which should have been enough) having made cardinal errors of not batting their full allocation of overs and then dropping some easy catches.

Top run scorers were Travis Partridge 365 runs @ 33.18 (inc. 2x100s), David Streek 330 (2x50s) @ 23.57, Simon Wilson-Moore 276 @ 23.00 and Andrew Walker 202 @ 25.25. There were some vital knocks from others during the season, however only 3 x 100s and 5 x 50s were completed throughout the entire season which is not really enough.
The bowling was where we won most games and particularly with the spin duo of Yaqoob Ali 40 wkts @ 11.35 and Jonny Harte 16 @ 13.50. These 2 had big summers and were backed up by the seamers of Umar Jehangir 23 wkts @ 18.57 and Waz Armstrong 16 @ 17.19.
Of the younger players Lee Cole impressed behind the sticks, James Smith looked the part opening the bowling and Jack Tector showed his potential as a genuine all-rounder.
Next season Div 3 and a much tougher proposition.


The 3rd XI  to follow....