IBI CORPORATE FINANCE CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW – JULY 22ND!

The 8^th round of fixtures in the IBI Corporate Finance Championship takes place this weekend, and unlike the Premier League, the Championship did see a result this weekend. Although no positional change occurred in the table, Pembroke extended their lead at the top with victory over Civil Service at Sydney Parade.

CIVIL SERVICE VS PHOENIX

The return fixture in the Phoenix Park derby sees Civil Service host their near neighbours this weekend, having run them close on the first day of the season, and put up several extremely good batting performances since then, they will surely feel confident of another good show. Their efforts in recent weeks have been built around their middle order being strong, with Arjun Chandrasekar contributing a big score against Terenure, before Simranjeet Singh made an unbeaten century in the near loss against Rush. As well as that pair, Binson Thambi and Srikanth Boddu have both been in good form this season. With the ball, the main pair of Mubasher Siddique and Naveed Khan will be important once again, with support from Aamir Bafanda and Dhiraj Shetty set to make up the majority of the overs between the bowling unit.

Phoenix will be without their Danish international Oli Hald, as he is also engaged in the World T20 qualifiers, whilst Ben White is on Ireland duty at the same tournament, the bowling unit however remains quite strong, with Tyrone Kane, Theo Dempsey and Ash Bain the seamers, whilst Amish Sidhu and Levon Shields will be the two most likely spinners in the side. With the bat, Kane and Shields will take on main roles, with Stephen Black, Jed Wiggins and Adam Chester others who the side will look to for big contributions, especially in the absence of the big hitting Hald.

In the absence of Hald and White, Amish Sidhu is the man who Phoenix will hope can manufacture some wickets for the away side this weekend, his bowling in the middle overs, especially to the in-form Simranjeet Singh, will be vital to the side’s chances of keeping Service to a manageable batting effort.

KEY BATTLE: Simranjeet Singh vs Amish Sidhu

CORK COUNTY VS PEMBROKE

Pembroke visit The Mardyke for the return fixture against Cork County, with good memories of their last visit to the ground, as JJ Garth made his second century in as many days in a mammoth batting effort. He and Diarmaid Tucker will likely open the batting again, with Nick Stapleton, Theo Lawson, Fiachra Tucker and Danny Hogan to follow as Gavin Hoey misses out this weekend through injury. With the ball, Pembroke bring their usual three pronged spin attack, with Donncha Tucker deputising for Hoey, to complement the usual pair of Fiachra Tucker and Paul Lawson. Greg Hollins takes the gloves, whilst the seam attack features the main man Stapleton, supported by Zach Micklewright and Piyush Sharma.

Cork County are without their premier all-rounder, Stefano di Bartolomeo who is on international duty with Italy, meaning there will be an extra bowling burden on opener Byron McDonough, as well as their spinners, Abubakar Saddique, Diarmuid Carey and Nabeel Anjum, who will all be hoping to extract some turn from The Mardyke pitch. With the bat, Ross Durity, Matt Spanner and Syed Aiman in the top three will need to aim to build on any platform which they lay this weekend, with the absence of di Bartolomeo being a real hammer blow to the middle order, McDonough will be a man looking to fill that hole with his powerful ball-striking.

With di Bartolomeo missing, there’s really a big onus on Cork County to take wickets with the new ball, if Byron McDonough can dismiss Diarmaid Tucker early in the piece, it will allow the side to try to build some momentum.

KEY BATTLE: Byron McDonough vs Diarmaid Tucker

TERENURE VS NORTH KILDARE

Terenure welcome North Kildare to Dublin 6 for what is a vital game for both sides, the home team will be looking to exert some pressure upwards onto 2^nd placed Phoenix, with three different centurions in the top 6, Donal Vaughan, Raghav Grover and skipper Dónal Lynch, as well as Henry Dall and Séamus Lynch both having produced big scores this season, Terenure are a side who particularly at home look to be a side which can run up huge scores. With the ball, Mark Thomas and Kripesh Shetty return, along with Hilal Asad and Grover in the seam department, Séamus Lynch and Liam Harris continue as the spinners, with Gareth Morgan returning behind the stumps.

North Kildare are a new prospect with the impact of Bakhtyar Nabi on the side in their fixture against Cork County recently, he displayed a game changing ability with both bat and ball in that fixture and will obviously be key again. Husnain Maroof is another man who will be seeking to make an impact in both disciplines, with Yashraj Mate, Akhilesh Sharma and Mohammed Zaman backing that pair up with the ball. With the bat, Badeeu Zaman, Josh Uddin and Samran Patel will look to support the two all-rounders in the side.

Returning to the side this weekend, Mark Thomas will be hoping to play a lead role with the ball for Terenure, if he can dismiss Samran Patel early in the piece, it will open up an end for the Terenure bowlers to really attack.

KEY BATTLE: Mark Thomas vs Samran Patel

RUSH VS NORTH COUNTY

The Fingal derby rounds off this set of fixtures, with Rush facing their near neighbours North County. The home side are devoid of Neil Rock this weekend as he’s on Ireland duty, meaning Finn McGee comes into the side and takes the gloves. With the bat, Nathan McGuire, Llew Johnson and Cian Egerton are the main men in the side, with support from Jack McGee and AJ Neary. With the ball, Jarred Barnes and Allan Eastwood lead the way, with support from Andrew Doheny and Egerton, skipper McGuire and Brandon Morris are the two spinners in the side.

North County welcome Simi Singh back into their side for the first time since his debut, an addition which strengthens their batting and bowling hugely. Niall McGovern, John Devane, Luke Whelan, Ben McBride and Eddie Richardson make up the rest of the batting unit. Meanwhile, Richardson and Singh are supported in the bowling attack by Abdul Ghaffar & Sattar and spinner Alan Joseph Matthew. Forqan Hassanzada comes back into the side and will offer another pinch hitting style as well as taking the gloves for this tie.

The main man for Rush this weekend is sure to be Llew Johnson, who’s powerful early hitting will seek to get the side off to a flying start. If Eddie Richardson can dismiss the Kiwi early on, it will give County the upper hand and a massive chance of victory.

KEY BATTLE: Llew Johnson vs Eddie Richardson