During the lockdown cricket season the "Western Analyst" on Twitter delved into some statistics from the Western District Cricket Union (WDCU) to look at the top performers in the West Premier League since it's inception. *
Cricket lends itself to plenty of statistics to peruse. So who from Dumfries featured in this particular WDCU 'Hall of Fame"?
Alan Davidson swings into the WDCU Bowling Hall of Fame for Dumfries
Al was ranked at 7 (SEVEN!) in the eight bowlers ranked in the bowling 'Hall of Fame'. Six Dumfries bowlers got a mention.
He was 3rd amongst all Premier League bowlers for the total number of wickets (130). However two from Nunholm were in the top three with Niall (Alexander) just beating him for second place with 132 wickets.
They were followed by Scott Beveridge (106 dismissals), Chris McCutcheon (81 wkts) and demonstrating his effectiveness during his league seasons for Dumfries, Pat Druce with 60 wickets.
But it was only Al that was named in the lists for bowling average (16.22) and strike rate (25.59) to show, on average, a wicket taken after every four overs.
Mr Economical in the bowling economy stats was Stuart Alexander with just 3.21 runs conceded per over. Now, if only the batters were good enough to get a bat on the ball that so often went past the outside edge from Sally's bowling.
Chris Bellwood was the league's 5th top run scorer
Nine Dumfries players were named in the batting statistics. Chris Bellwood was the fifth top run scorer in the league with a total of 1854 runs. He also got into the century maker table with two centuries.
Also amassing runs were Scott Beveridge (1701 runs, 11th top scorer), Alan Davidson (1267), Andrew Dawson (1234), and Stuart Corbett-Byers (1091).
For batting contribution and effectiveness the two Aussie Josh's ranked in the batting averages; Josh Geary (36.8 runs/innings) and Josh Forsyth (35.92).
And in an interesting stat for consistency and impact Gears scored 50plus every four innings (3.42 innings), as did Jesse Smit (every 4.0 innings), and Tommy McBride was not far behind with a fifty every 5th innings (4.80 innings).
The complete set of statistics tables produced can be found here
WDCU Premier League statistics tables
Photo: Alan Davidson bowling in the Scottish T20 Club Semi- Final at Nunholm in 2019
Source - twitter.com/analystwestern
* This covered the period from the start of the WDCU Premier league in 2012, after the Scottish National Leagues (SNCL), up to and including season 2019.
**Note on the averages: "If you spot any errors please let me know as this has been complied alone from multiple sources and incomplete knowledge of players."
WDCU Premier League Hall of Fame (on 2012-19 statistics)
Bowling Statistics
Wickets (dismissals)
132 - Niall Alexander (including 2019 stats for Uddingston)
130 - Alan Davidson
116 - Scott Beveridge
81 - Chris McCutcheon
60 - Pat Druce
Averages (runs conceded per wicket)
16.22 - Alan Davidson
Strike rate (balls delivered per wicket taken)
25.59 - Alan Davidson
Economy Rate (runs conceded per over)
3.21 - Stuart Alexander
Batting Statistics
Most runs
1854 - Chris Bellwood
1701 - Scott Beveridge
1267 - Alan Davidson
1234 - Andrew Dawson
1091 - Stuart Corbett-Byers
Batting Average (runs per innings)
36.80 - Josh Geary
35.92 - Josh Forsyth
Consistency (number of innings per score of 50 plus)
The lower the better
3.43 - Josh Geary (a score of fifty plus every four innings)
4.00 - Jesse Smit (ditto)
4.80 - Tom McBride (every fifth innings)
Centuries (2 or more)
2 - Chris Bellwood
Bowling Rankings
1. RM Haq (Cly)
2. CD de Lange (Cly)
3. JAR Blain (West)
4. S Chaudhary (Pres)
5. Muhammad Awais (Cly/Udd)
6. Hamza Tahir (Fer/Poloc)
7. AK Davidson (Dum)
8. RT Lyons (EK/Udd)
Batting Rankings
1. RD Berrington (Cly/Green)
2. MM English (Fer)
3. MHW Papps (Ayr)
4. SS Bandekar (Green)
5. C Nel (Poloc)
6. L van Wyk (Ayr)
7. SM Sharif (Cly)
8. CS MacLeod (Udd)
9. J Snyman (Poloc)
10. BARS Priyadarshana (Udd)