...with modern technology we can churn out virtually everything that needs to be known about our top performers.
But do they tell the full story?
At first glance we would expect the NCU Premier Section averages to reflect the all too familiar pattern of North Down and Waringstown players dominating both batting and bowling statistics with Instonians players making some inroads on the Big Two. But while 
North Down took the first three positions in the batting aggregates and four positions in the top ten, only the Waringstown pro Ijaz Ahmed made the top ten and there were no Instonians players in it. Of course not all the purists go for aggregates so switching to batting averages all should be revealed. And sure enough with three Waringstown and three North Down batsmen in the top ten that should restore faith in the numbers. But then again when do batting averages come into play in the hurly-burly of limited overs cricket?
Overall it was a very wet season but 22 centuries would seem to indicate plenty of batsmen found the conditions OK not least Ryan Haire who hit three centuries and John Stevenson who hit the highest score of the season 163 not out against Cliftonville in the senior cup. North Down batsmen certainly dominated with big Davy Kennedy (58.69) topping the averages and Ryan topping the aggregate (835 runs) but spare a thought for Neil Russell who finished 8th in the aggregate runs table with 586 notches but was dropped at one stage in the season! They set high standards in Comber!
At the other end of the scale senior citizen Bumper Dale topped the 'Ducks' table with six. However, that shouldn't worry Billy too much as he made the top ten in the bowling averages along with four other Instonians bowlers.
Obviously the wet season was reflected in low bowling averages but five Instonians bowlers in the top ten takes some understanding, especially when the top ten included no North Down bowlers and only the Waringstown pro!
And while some skeptics might point to the fact that the 15 wickets qualification is far too low and that none of the Instonians bowlers averaged more than 1.6 wickets a game, the statistic tells its own story albeit Instonians failed to break the Big Two dominance.
Perhaps all is revealed in the top wicket takers, but while North Down had three bowlers in the top ten, amazingly there were no Waringstown and no Instonians bowlers in the top ten!
Who said wickets win matches?
The top bowler in the premier section was Civil Service North's Kiwi professional Ewen Thompson who took 57 wickets with North Down's Marty Moreland on 42. Despite's his team's fight for survival Ewen also topped the bowling averages and the strike rate table. Strike rates and economy rates are often regarded as the most useful stats to judge bowling prowess so it is no surprise to see the top bowler figure again in this table but once again there were no North Down players in the top ten of this table despite their great season.
Three pros (Ijaz Ahmed, Taimur Khan and Regan West) dominated the economy rates just ahead of the evergreen Uel Graham, but overall the pros didn't dominate NCU cricket as much as some critics would have us believe according to the statistics. Only three made either the top batting or bowling averages, and they fared little better in the aggregate tables of runs and wickets.
Have local players finally turned the tables on the overseas pros?
You can do anything with figures but the experts that compile these statistics need to look at the qualification for its tables given that 200 runs for batting and 15 wickets for bowling are insignificant entry points. Also why not include the Irish Senior Cup performances like the North-West to give a realistic overview of individual performances over a season? Statistics are great to see and well done to all concerned in compiling them, but while statistics never lie, they never tell the whole story either!
That said, well done Davy Kennedy, Ryan Haire, Ewen Thompson, Ijaz Ahmed and Peter Shields (wicket-keeping) who topped the various tables as there's no doubting they all had tremendous seasons.
