IBI CORPORATE FINANCE CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW – JULY 9TH

This weekend sees a full round of fixtures in the IBI Corporate Finance Cricket Leinster Championship, with five teams now having won either three or four games apiece, the next few games are set to be crucial in the shape which the league table takes as we near the halfway stage of the season.

NORTH KILDARE VS NORTH COUNTY

North Kildare suffered defeat for the first time this season last weekend, bringing to the end a four game winning streak for the side who currently sit at the top of the table, this week they will be looking to their two main men, Kaustabh Pawar and Monil Patel to get them back on track with the bat, after they suffered something of a collapse in last weekend’s defeat against Railway Union. That pair will require support from other members of their batting unit in the shape of Yaseen Sherzad, Waqar Azmat and Husnain Mahroof, all of whom have been relatively short on runs in their respective contributions for much of this season. With the ball has been NK’s main strength, in particular at home where veterans Manjeet Singh and Imran ul-Haq have been making the most of the helpful spinning conditions for their side. Devansh Bansali has also been in good form supporting fellow seamers Muzamil Sherzad and Abdul Sattar and those three will need to be on form to keep North County’s top order quiet through the PowerPlay.

North County meanwhile have been extremes at either end of the scale in the main this season, with their three wins all being extremely comfortable, with their two defeats coming as a result of poor batting collapses. A good start is the key for them and with the good form that Malcolm Nofal is in at the moment, getting past him at number three will prove to be a big challenge for the home side, however even if they do, the County middle order of Eddie Richardson, Andrew Sheridan, Jonno Andrews and John Mooney are a powerful unit which could put together a big score in the right circumstances. With the ball, the turning nature of the North Kildare pitches, Malcolm Nofal will likely enjoy the bowling conditions, whilst the seamers in the side will relish searching for any sideways movement in the pitch with the new ball. Abdul Ghaffar has been bowling excellently with the new ball this season however will be without his regular opening partner in Usman Azhar for this game, meaning Eddie Richardson will almost certainly take the new ball alongside Ghaffar.

The key man in this game is Kaustabh Pawar, his dominant batting style has pushed North Kildare into competitive positions in their fixtures so far, if Eddie Richardson can knock him over cheaply early in their innings, the chances of North Kildare making a big score will be lessened greatly.

KEY BATTLE: Kaustabh Pawar vs Eddie Richardson

RUSH VS CORK COUNTY

Rush and Cork County face off as two sides who will be desperate to put together a string of results in order to prevent any chance of being cut away from the top 5 in the table. Rush’s batting has full use of its two main weapons this weekend in Llew Johnson and Neil Rock, and will be hoping the pair can combine to put themselves into a good position against the Leesiders this weekend. Saadat Gull and Eoghan Conway are two reliable performers who will also look to contribute, whilst Jarred Barnes will provide good lower order hitting in the side. With the ball, the side are without Allan Eastwood, however Barnes and Daniel Coffey have been in good form this season and the pair of seamers will be supported by Alex Neary and Andrew Doheny whilst young spinner Brandon Morris has bowled well and will be important in tying down the Cork County middle order batsmen.

The County batting line-up boasts a number of explosive players in Cormac Hassett, Benjamin Marris, Francois Mostert and Sukphal Singh, each of them has been in the runs at one point or another this season and although it’s only led to one victory thus far, they have shown more than enough to prove they are better than their results so far have shown. The ability of those four to bat in the style which suits them hinges around Ross Durity, who will attempt to occupy the crease and bat as deep into the innings as possible, giving his side a base from which to bat around. With the ball, Byron McDonough and Mostert provide an excellent opening partnership, both of whom will relish the pace and bounce which can usually be found in the Kenure pitches. Sukphal Singh will be the other seamer in the side which will otherwise rely on spin for much of it’s bowling, as Ehsan O’Sullivan’s off-breaks and Nabeel Anjum’s leg-breaks will be the next pair of bowlers called upon for the visiting side.

Cork County’s innings will rely on Ross Durity’s ability to occupy the crease for a long period of time, as a result the opening spell of Daniel Coffey to the left-hander will be important as if Rush can take his wicket early in the piece, it will go a long way towards weakening the spine of their visitors batting.

KEY BATTLE: Daniel Coffey vs Ross Durity

RAILWAY UNION VS CORK HARLEQUINS

Railway Union enter this game second in the table and having ended North Kildare’s winning run last weekend, confidence will be high. Liam McCarthy skippers the side which is nearing its full strength again, just Ciaran Divney is absent from their usual side, with Ross Wynne taking the keeping duties once again. With the bat, Kenny Carroll will be aggressive at the top of the order and look to give the side a dominant start, whilst the middle order of McCarthy, Philippe le Roux, Hashir Sultan and Fakhar Zaman are players who are full of boundary hitting ability and will look to capitalise on a good start for their side. With the ball, McCarthy and Alan Mathew will lead the way with the new ball, with plenty of options available throughout the side after that pair, Sean O’Brien, Mark Canniffe and Hashir Sultan offering various seam options, whilst there is spin available from Zaman and Hamza Maan.

Cork Harlequins have endured a baptism of fire in the Championship, having lost five from five so far this season the importance of a good result grows every week that goes by. With the bat, Brandon Kruger is their main man, and his boundary heavy style at the top of the order will look to get them off to a good start. Matt Brewster and Shivam Kislay are two middle order players who will look to translate previous good form in Munster over into this competition, whilst Umer Hassan Khan showed some ability late in the innings last weekend and Quins would welcome more boundary hitting from him. With the ball, Seanan Jones and Brewster will be key at the top of the innings, whilst Kruger and Adam Hickey’s off breaks will aim to provide control in the middle overs, both will relish the spin-friendly wickets in Park Avenue.

With Kenny Carroll returning for Railway this weekend, he will be aiming to lay down a marker at the top of the innings. Seanan Jones will be the man aiming to take his wicket with the new ball and the battle between the two will set the tone for the innings, and potentially the match.

KEY BATTLE: Kenny Carroll vs Seanan Jones

TERENURE VS LEINSTER

The two sides in Dublin 6 face off for the second time in 8 days, with the Alan Murray Cup tie between the sides last Friday resulting in a big win for Leinster, the Rathmines side will come into the game full of confidence that they can overturn their local rivals. Ben Mitchell was in good form with the bat that day and will look to carry his explosive style and form into this game. Bilal Azhar at the top of the order has shown vast improvement this season and will also be aiming to get the side off to a fast start. In the absence of Saqib Bahadur, Joey Carroll is the key man in the middle order who will need to get amongst the runs to help the side to a good total. With the ball, it will be the same top three of Azhar, Mitchell and Carroll who will provide the main seam options for the side alongside teenagers Mark Tonge and Devan Keenan. Unusually, Leinster have tended to do without a spinner in games where Saqib Bahadur has been unavailable, and although their team is yet to be confirmed, it’s likely they will yet again continue with that approach into this weekend’s game.

Terenure have won their last three league games after a rocky start to the season, this is in no small part down to the form of their bowling unit, with seamers Zubair Khan, Raghav Grover and Mark Thomas all in excellent form in recent weeks, Grover in particular impressing last weekend with his four wicket spell. Whilst spinner Sadiq Safi was to the fore the week before with a six-wicket-haul against North County. Between those four, supported by Dylan Cleary’s medium pace, they boast a bowling attack which generally takes wickets and is consistent enough to challenge any batting unit. With the bat, Séamus Lynch and Henry Dall at the top of the order have proven to be an excellent opening pair, with Lynch’s powerful boundary-laden innings’ complemented nicely by Dall’s more patient method, both supplying the ideal foil for the other to flourish. In the middle order, Raghav Grover, Sid Nair and Dónal Lynch provide the boundary hitting options that will hope to capitalise on a good start from their opening pair.

With Séamus Lynch in such strong form, particularly at home for Terenure in recent weeks, he is the key wicket in the PowerPlay for the home side, Bilal Azhar will be the bowler who attempts to extract swing early in the piece to take the wicket of Terenure’s premier batsman and give Leinster the upper hand in the game.

KEY BATTLE: Séamus Lynch vs Bilal Azhar