IBI CORPORATE FINANCE CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW - JULY 15TH

The seventh round of fixtures in the IBI Corporate Finance Championship are set to take place this weekend, with some fascinating battles in store following on from last weekend’s results. As yet unbeaten Pembroke attempt to round off a perfect opening half of the season as they host Civil Service. Phoenix will hope to solidify their position second in the table as they visit bottom-of-the-log North Kildare, Cork County make the trip to Inch to face North County in a battle between 5th and 6th in the table, whilst arguably the game of the round is in Terenure, where Rush are the visitors in a battle between the sides in 4th and 3rd positions respectively.

NORTH KILDARE VS PHOENIX

The first game we look at comes from The Maws, where Phoenix visit North Kildare in what on paper certainly appears as though it could be one way traffic. North Kildare however come into the game off the back of their first win of the season last weekend, and they will hope that their bowling can deliver another big performance to give them a chance of what would definitely be considered an upset. Bakhtyar Nabi was absolutely vital to the home side last weekend, as his six wickets helped roll Cork County over for just 109, with support from openers Husnain Maroof and Muhammad Zaman, and other change options in Awais Khalil and Akhilesh Sharma, North Kildare’s bowling unit is beginning to look much stronger than it has done this season. With the bat, Nabi was also a strong contributor last weekend, and whilst the top order again failed to fire, there were promising partnerships with Josh Uddin and Nurulain Boda which helped the side piece together their run chase, the form of those three in the middle order will again be vital to the side.

Phoenix meanwhile are set to be somewhat feeling the effect of this weekend’s IP20 festival, with both Tyrone Kane, Ben White and Amish Sidhu unavailable as a result. This is a blow to their bowling unit no doubt however they still have plenty of strong options, seam comes in the form of Theo Dempsey, Oli Hald and Ash Bain, with support from Anish Rana and potentially Levon Shields and Jed Wiggins to get the side through their 50 overs. With the bat whilst the loss of Kane is obviously a strain on the side, the remainder of their top 7 should be intact from last weekend. This will mean they will once again look to the likes of Shields, Wiggins, Stephen Black and Adam Chester to help put together a big total.

In the absence of Tyrone Kane, Phoenix will need a batsman to stand up and be counted in their top 6, this man could well be Jed Wiggins, with the Kiwi looking to regain some form, North Kildare’s new man Bakhtyar Nabi will likely be the key bowler looking to take his wicket.

KEY BATTLE: Bakhtyar Nabi vs Jed Wiggins

PEMBROKE VS CIVIL SERVICE

The thus-far perfect Pembroke side welcome a Civil Service side who have followed up their first win in Senior Cricket with two good batting displays against Terenure and Rush respectively. Their middle order men in Arjun Chandrasekhar and Simranjeet Singh have stood up in those two fixtures to bring them to massive totals, with the likes of Mubasher Siddique and Binson Thambi both also in good form. Their bowling will once again be led by Naveed Khan and the skipper Siddique, whilst both Dhiraj Shetty and Prasan Shah were in the wickets last weekend and will be looking to continue that form. The improvement for that pair will go some way towards filling the number of overs that were being shared around among others in the side, with Thambi and Chandrasekhar both also candidates to roll their arm over.

Pembroke have been relentless in spite of their continued lack of availability for some of their main IP and International stars. They have been clinical however so far this season, with their top three of JJ Garth, Diarmaid Tucker and overseas man Nick Stapleton all finding top gear, the middle order features skipper Theo Lawson, Aussie Will Todd and the recently returned Fiachra Tucker, giving the Sydney Parade outfit a very strong all round batting unit. With the ball Stapleton’s opening spells have been some of the most potent in the province, with other medium pace options coming in the shape of Piyush Sharma’s right arm and Zach Micklewright’s left arm. Pembroke’s spinning trio is broken up this weekend by the absence of Gavin Hoey, meaning that Donncha Tucker and his left-arm offies come into the third position to support Paul Lawson’s off-spin and Fiachra Tucker’s leg-breaks.

Civil Service’s veteran skipper and opening bowler Mubasher Siddique is likely to be the main threat early doors against the strong Pembroke top 3, he’ll be seeking to dismiss Diarmaid Tucker early in the piece to attempt to reduce the damage in the PowerPlay.

KEY BATTLE: Diarmaid Tucker vs Mubasher Siddique

NORTH COUNTY VS CORK COUNTY

Two sides currently sitting 5th and 6th in the table face off in what should be an intriguing battle, North County’s batting still appears relatively brittle once the first three wickets fall, however both Niall McGovern and Eddie Richardson showed their class with excellent half-centuries last weekend, proving they cannot be written off. John Devane and Luke Whelan are the other two in the line-up who have shown bits and pieces of form, however beyond those four the remainder of the side is full of big hitters and ball strikers for whom boundaries are the currency. With the ball, Abdul Ghaffar has continued to bowl with real pace this season, whilst Richardson is as consistent as ever, Ashish Jain bowled nicely last weekend and the addition of spinner Alan Joseph Mathew to the side is a massive boost, with no real front-line option available to the skipper Sean Sludds until his transfer.

Cork County meanwhile suffered a tough defeat last weekend when their batting collapsed against North Kildare, the whole unit will be looking to bounce back, especially the experienced man at the top in Ross Durity, and their Italian international Stefano di Bartolomeo in the middle. Matt Spanner has had some decent starts, whilst Syed Aiman has also threatened to deliver a good score, however one of those four will really need to stand up if the side is to have a chance of a decent score against this potent North County bowling attack. With the ball the Munster men will miss Byron McDonough, and given the dimensions of the ground in Inch will need their spinners to be at their very best, with both Diarmuid Carey and Abubakar Saddique’s left arm off-breaks set to be under massive pressure from the outset. Di Bartolomeo is the main seamer in the line-up and early wickets for him could well be the catalyst for a big performance for the Leesiders.

In the absence of McDonough, Stefano di Bartolomeo’s opening spell will be vital for Cork County. Having seen how important he was to lay the foundations of the innings for North County last weekend, if they Italian can dismiss Niall McGovern early on, it will give the away side cause for optimism in this fixture.

KEY BATTLE: Niall McGovern vs Stefano di Bartolomeo

TERENURE VS RUSH

This fixture has thrown up some weird and wonderful results in the past number of years, Rush’s last visit to Terenure saw them all out for 72, with Llew Johnson making a half-century. With Nathan McGuire, Neil Rock and Cian Egerton all unavailable this weekend, they will likely need similar heroics from their star overseas man again to give them a chance of posting a competitive total. He’ll get support from Finn McGee and Muhammad Saad Waseem, whilst former Terenure man Subramanya Ramnathpur is another man who could provide runs. Lower down, Jarred Barnes has played some vital innings this season, as have Andrew Doheny and Brandon Morris, so the full length of this Rush order could well be exhausted in an effort to produce a strong batting effort. With the ball, Barnes and Allan Eastwood will likely share the opening duties, with both men sure to be happy to try extract extra bounce from the mat. They will have support from Hassan Shahid, Waseem and Doheny in the seam department, whilst Morris is the only spinner in the line-up.

Terenure are without their most destructive batsman in Séamus Lynch who is on duty with Leinster Lightning, however three of their top 6, Donal Vaughan, Dónal Lynch and Raghav Grover have made centuries this season, on top of a match winning 90 from Henry Dall last weekend which shows that the batting line-up is clearly in decent form. Liam Harris at the top, and Gethin Kelleher and Sid Nair at the back end of the middle order round out the batters who even without Lynch look like a very imposing line-up. With the ball whilst Mark Thomas remains unavailable, there’s a return for Darsh Shetty this weekend, he joins Grover, Bhavic Tukrel, Dylan Cleary and Hilal Asad as the seamers in the line-up, with the spin, again in the absence of Lynch, set to come in the form of Harris’ offies.

Having taken a bagful of wickets against Rush in this fixture last season, Bhavic Tukrel will be a key man for Terenure this weekend no doubt, if he can once again dismiss Llew Johnson, it will give the home side a great chance of a victory to leapfrog their oponents.

KEY BATTLE: Bhavic Tukrel vs Llew Johnson