It was quite the comedown from the highs of 2023 as the defending champions saw themselves involved in the bottom four relegation battle.

A few vital wins early on eased the pressure and they finished seventh, scoring heavily in the final few weeks of the campaign when there was little at stake.

There's no doubt of the quality and strength in depth at Shaw's Bridge, but with so many strong teams in the top flight of the NCU, there is little margin for error.

The batting saw five different batsmen score 8 hundreds (including three in the one game), while seven of them managed a combined 19 fifties.

Cade Carmichael (2 hundreds, 4 fifties) led the way with a total of 832 runs at 39.62, which saw him 5th in the overall NCU aggregates. Others in the top 20 were skipper Nikolai Smith - 11th with 671 at 31.95 (5 fifties), and Ollie Metcalfe in 13th as he made 651 at exactly 31. 

Neil Rock scored 526 at 43.83 in the 12 games that his Irish commitments allowed (2 hundreds, 1 fifty), while Andy White (480 at 34.29) and Robert McKinley (464 at 42.18 - 2 hundreds, 3 fifties) passed the 400-run mark.

The bowling saw five players pass the 20-wicket mark, usually a decent indicator of a settled and succesful bowling unit.

Andy White once again led the way with the ball, taking 37 wickets at just over 22, to finish 5th in the overall NCU aggregates, just one place and wicket ahead of Cian Robertson, who claimed 36 wickets at 19,36.

James Magee chipped in with 26 wickets at 26, while Ben Rose claimed 22 at 29.25. Completing thr quintet was James Lambert who collected 20 at 23.30.

As always, Instonians have a youth section that is the envy of many, and their ethos has always been to give youth a chance.

Getting the balance right is essential for success, and if they can harness a winning formula then who would bet against 2025 seeing them in the top half of the table once again.

TOP RUNS

# Name Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 4s 6s
1 C Carmichael 24 23 2 832 131* 39.62 753 110.49 2 4 115 25
2 Nikolai Smith 25 23 2 671 92* 31.95 720 93.19 - 5 59 23
3 O Metcalfe 23 23 2 651 153* 31.00 746 87.27 1 3 79 17
4 N Rock 12 12 - 526 108 43.83 434 121.20 2 1 51 28
5 A White 24 21 7 480 115* 34.29 590 81.36 1 1 58 2
6 R McKinley 13 13 2 464 109 42.18 681 68.14 2 3 40 4
7 Jack Dickson 18 17 1 354 95 22.12 544 65.07 - 2 28 17
8 A Ly 21 15 2 207 29 15.92 443 46.73 - - 17 1
9 B Rose 17 16 3 188 35* 14.46 170 110.59 - - 16 7
10 Cian Robertson 20 13 4 179 33 19.89 197 90.86 - - 19 4
11 James Lambert 18 11 4 59 13 8.43 70 84.29 - - 4 2
12 S Gould 11 9 3 40 10* 6.67 46 86.96 - - 3 1
13 L Gamage 2 1 1 17 17* - 21 80.95 - - 2 1
14 R Craigan 5 4 2 12 9 6.00 41 29.27 - - 2 -
15 B Walsh 10 4 1 9 5 3.00 23 39.13 - - 1 -
16 J Magee 21 6 4 6 2* 3.00 22 27.27 - - - -
17 J McClurkin 4 2 - 6 4 3.00 16 37.50 - - - -
18 R Ellerby 2 2 - 5 3 2.50 9 55.56 - - - -

TOP WICKETS

# Name Mat Overs Mdns Runs Wkts BBI Ave Econ SR 5WI wds nbs
1 A White 24 176.1 19 822 37 7-38 22.22 4.67 28.57 1 11 -
2 Cian Robertson 20 179 22 697 36 4-21 19.36 3.89 29.83 - 8 1
3 J Magee 21 124.5 9 676 26 3-21 26.00 5.42 28.81 - 29 4
4 B Rose 17 104 5 648 22 4-5 29.45 6.23 28.36 - 7 -
5 James Lambert 18 74 2 466 20 4-41 23.30 6.30 22.20 - 14 2
6 C Carmichael 24 143.1 8 766 16 2-20 47.88 5.35 53.69 - 27 -
7 B Walsh 10 45.5 - 259 10 3-30 25.90 5.65 27.50 - 8 -
8 R McKinley 13 24.1 1 121 6 2-13 20.17 5.01 24.17 - 7 1
9 R Craigan 5 13 1 64 3 3-37 21.33 4.92 26.00 - 3 1
10 L Gamage 2 9 - 53 1 1-21 53.00 5.89 54.00 - 3 -
11 R Ellerby 2 14 - 78 1 1-48 78.00 5.57 84.00 - 4 -
12 F Pearson 2 4 - 33 - 0-7 - 8.25 - - - -
13 Nikolai Smith 25 7 - 66 - 0-20 - 9.43 - - 7 -