YMCA will look back on 2012 with a sense of disappointment despite a second place finish in the Senior league.

The Claremont Road side continued their recent policy of high profile recruitment and there's no doubt that on paper they boasted the strongest squad in the region. Alas as other sides both inside and outside cricket have found out that the best players don't necessarily translate into the best teams.

Injuries, availabilty problems and the cursed weather combined to make it a difficult campaign but one which did bring a trophy - albeit just the Alan Murray T20 Cup - Leinster's version of soccer's league cup.

They won 7 of the 11 games in league action that beat the weather which guaranteed a second place finish - well adrift of Leinster. They lost a thrilling Irish Senior Cup tie to eventual winners The Hills on fewer wickets lost, while the same opponents were convincing victors in the Senior Cup.

Reinhardt Strydom topped the batting stakes with 432 runs at 36.00 - he finished 3rd overall in the Leinster aggregates, and the speed with which he scored those runs led for calls for him to be reintroduced into the Irish Twenty20 set-up.

Simmi Singh scored the two centuries at the club as he made 401 runs at 33.42 - 6th overall in the LCU - while Alan Lewis made 14th spot with 313 runs at 31.30. Trent Johnston made 272 runs at 38.86 - if we add in his stats for the Irish Cup that goes up to 396 runs at 49.50. Albert van der Merwe made 253 runs at 31.63.

The bowling was severely hampered by Johnston only being allowed to bowl sparingly - just 39 overs in total, which saw him take 11 wickets at a fraction over 11.

Strydom topped the bowling charts as well - including Irish Cup games his return was 22 wickets at 18.68, with Van Der Merwe behind him on 16 wickets at 27.19.

These two were the only YM bowlers to make it into the top 20, although Simmi Singh with 14 wickets at 18.07 and Yaqoob Ali with 12 wickets at 21.83 are both worthy of a mention.

While the club has a recruitment policy at the top, it should be pointed out they also have invested in a flourishing youth section which is the envy of many if not all the clubs in the country.

Two of those products had performances to be very proud of during the season. Wicket-keeper Lee Cole finished second in the wicket-keeping department with 19 dismissals - including 8 stumpings - the most in the league.

15 year old Jack Tector also recorded the best figures in senior cricket in Ireland during the season - he took an amazing 8 for 40 as YM defeated Clontarf in one of the most incredible games of the season.

There's no doubt that YM will once again be there or there abouts in 2013, and I for one wouldn't be surprised if they claim one of the truly major trophies.