As Phoenix strive to improve their precarious position in Section B of the Senior League at the expense of Railway Union at Park Avenue tomorrow, perhaps the team will be inspired by Jeremy Bray's splendid form with bat and ball. Bray not only heads the current Leinster batting averages, but he is in third place in the bowling averages and is also the province's top all-rounder. His aggregate of 589 runs in 10 matches make him top scorer and includes one century and five 50s for an average of 58.90. He has taken 21 wickets - best performance seven for 22 and one five-wicket haul - at 12.71 runs each, and he has held five catches. Not surprisingly, he is over 400 points clear of second placed Henderson Wallace of Leinster in the all-rounder ratings.
Malahide's Michael Morson is a close second (421 runs, average 52.63) in the batting, followed in third place by Bray's Phoenix team-mate Jamie Carnegie, who has scored 355 runs for an average of 50.71.
Wallace and the evergreen Matt Dwyer of The Hills share the bowling honours, having taken 28 and 22 wickets apiece for an average of nine. Henderson captured his haul of wickets in 10 matches, while Dwyer has played two less.
David McGeehan (Malahide), Damien Poder (Merrion) and Mark Jones (Leinster) have each held nine catches. And once more Dara Armstrong, now of Malahide, looks set to head the wicket-keepers' slot, with 18 catches behind and eight stumpings, followed by Bruce Hughes of Merrion, with 20 victims.
Two YMCA stalwarts, Angus Dunlop and Alan Lewis, are on the verge of personal batting milestones. Dunlop needs only four more runs to reach the 2,000-run mark for Ireland, while Lewis is a similar figure short of 10,000 runs in Leinster cricket.
Brendan "Ginger" O'Brien of Railway Union, capped 52 times between 1966 and 1981, has set a new record for catches held in Leinster cricket. His haul of 239 catches in 668 matches (many of them as a wicket-keeper) exceeds by one the previous record of 238 in 477 games set by another former international, Gerry Duffy of Leinster.
Meanwhile, Fintan Synott has become Old Belvedere's all-time top bowler. He has captured 854 wickets in 526 matches, thus beating the previous record of Alec O'Riordan, who achieved 849 dismissals in 372 matches.
Stu Daultrey, honorary appointments secretary of the Leinster Cricket Umpires Association, hopes to retire at the end of the season. "Like that old Paul Robeson song, all my trials, Lord, soon be over," he declares. Given the misery of this frightful summer, I know the feeling, Stu.
