IBI CORPORATE FINANCE CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW – JUNE 25TH

This weekend also sees a full complement of IBI Corporate Finance Cricket Leinster Championship games set to be fought out on Saturday, as we have a near immediate replay of the round 2 fixtures which took place just two weekends ago.

TERENURE VS NORTH COUNTY

Starting off in Terenure where the home side enter this game off the back of three wins across last Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday, and face an opposition in a similar vein of form. Terenure will enter this game gunning to turn the tables on the heavy 10-wicket defeat which County inflicted on them just 13 days ago, whilst their visitors will be aiming to complete a clean sweep of the three fixtures between the side so far this season.

The home side’s good run has coincided with a purple patch for star man at the top of the order Séamus Lynch, as he has made 243 runs across the last three times he’s batted in club games, his ball-striking has been magnificent of late and runs for him will be imperative in this game. Opening partner Henry Dall has looked in good touch in spite of not managing to put together a big score since the last round of the Senior League Cup, Donal Vaughan returns to the side this week compared to last weekend’s league game, whilst skipper Dónal Lynch comes into the game in good form off the back of his half-century on Tuesday evening. With the ball, Mark Thomas’ comeback has been delayed by a further week, meaning Zubair Khan and Raghav Grover will again share the new ball, with Dylan Cleary and Bhavic Tukrel the other seamers in the side, Sadiq Safi will be the spin option at the disposal of skipper Dónal Lynch.

North County roll into this game off the back of a good weekend too, with their three victories featuring centuries from Andrew Sheridan, in the league against Cork Harlequins, and Malcolm Nofal, in the Alan Murray Cup against Civil Service showing the side’s good form, whilst Sheridan produced a battling not out in the National Cup on Sunday to keep the side’s good run of form going. Their good form in the middle order is supported by John Mooney and Eddie Richardson, whilst at the top, Niall McGovern and Sean Rooney enjoyed a relatively untroubled run-chase in the last game against Terenure in their 10 wicket victory. With the ball, Abdul Ghaffar and Usman Azhar have developed a good opening partnership this season, with Eddie Richardson and John Mooney able to produce tight spells as change bowlers and keep the pressure on throughout the first 20 overs of the innings. Nofal’s left arm spin is the class angle in the Inch side’s middle overs bowling and they’ll be hoping he can produce another good spell this week.

After last weekend’s demolition job on every attack he came up against, Séamus Lynch is no doubt the most important batter in Terenure’s team this week, he’ll need to navigate the strong opening spell of Abdul Ghaffar in this game to have a chance of helping Terenure to another quick scoring innings.

KEY BATTLE: Séamus Lynch vs Abdul Ghaffar

RUSH VS LEINSTER

Rush host Leinster in a fixture which has been dominated this season by Llew Johnson so far, he opened up his time in Rush with a century against this opposition, before helping the side cruise to a 6 wicket victory with an unbeaten 80 in the first league game between the sides a couple of weeks ago. Neil Rock is back in the team for the home side again this weekend who are also boosted by a return from Allan Eastwood, he will support Jarred Barnes well early in the innings, with Daniel Coffey, Alex Neary and Asher Abbasi the other seamers in the line-up, Jack McGee and Brandon Morris will be the two men offering spin options in a side which is full of bowling options.

Leinster’s powerful trio of Ben Mitchell, Joey Carroll and Saqib Bahadur were all in the runs last week as they saw off Railway Union by a mammoth 216 runs, whilst there were some lower order runs bludgeoned by Peter Masterson and Tristen de Beer in a day which showcased just how strong Leinster’s batting can be, even in the absence of their star man Gareth Delany on international duty. With the ball, Mitchell and Bilal Azhar form a very good opening partnership, whilst Carroll and Mark Tonge are both accurate and can move the ball as first change options. With spin from Bahadur and Aviral Shukla, Leinster also boast a well-rounded attack and it could well be that which swings the game towards their favour.

Llew Johnson has taken a really liking to Leinster’s attack in their fixtures thus far this season, and as such he’s the man who they will be most keen to dismiss in the away side’s batting innings. Ben Mitchell has had the golden arm for Leinster in their big games so far this season, and he’ll be the man who they’ll be hoping can see the back of Johnson cheaply this time around.

KEY BATTLE: Llew Johnson vs Ben Mitchell

NORTH KILDARE VS CORK HARLEQUINS

Harlequins once again make the trip to The Maws and will be hoping to exorcise some of the demons from their last trip to the ground, where the home side were propelled to a 164 run victory, thanks in the main to an incredible spell of 7/14 from Abdul Sattar. It will be that man again who’s leading the bowling attack in this fixture, whilst Wasif Ali is again in the side to support him, Yaseen Sherzad also returns. With the bat, the powerful Kaustab Pawar is now supported by Monil Patel, Waqar Azmat and Murtaza Sidiqi, whilst Husnain Mahroof will be looking to carry his powerful form from the second team into the 1^st XI.

The away side suffered yet another heavy defeat last weekend at the hands of North County, there were some green shoots of hope as each member of the top 4 made a start of at least 17. Quins have four bowlers who performed well, however they are quickly learning at this level that the standard of a side’s 5^th and 6^th bowler is vitally important, and support for the main four men, Seanan Jones, Matt Brewster, Adam Hickey and Brandon Kruger is going to prove crucial to any chance they have of gaining some results in the league this season.

With the weight of runs for Kaustab Pawar in his first three appearances of the season, he’ll be the man NK are looking to for runs in this fixture again. For Quins, Matt Brewster will be taking the new ball and will be tasked with the uphill task of dismissing the Kilcock side’s overseas man, if they cannot knock him over cheaply, it could be another long day in the field for the Cork men.

KEY BATTLE: Kaustab Pawar vs Matt Brewster

RAILWAY UNION VS CORK COUNTY

Finally in Park Avenue, Cork County visit Railway Union, the reverse fixture saw Railway put together a strong performance, with four wickets for Hamza Maan, three for Alan Joseph Mathew followed up by half-centuries for Hashir Sultan and Kenny Carroll in a consummate all-round performance. They will again be looking to many of the same line-up to produce a similar outcome in this fixture, with Liam McCarthy also coming into the side compared with that day. Ross Wynne takes the gloves in place of Ciaran Divney who is unavailable, whilst Mark Canniffe and Sean O’Brien both fill slots which have been left vacant by the absence of Shakir Afridi and Kashif Shah from the regular side. Alan Joseph Mathew and Liam McCarthy are likely to be the key bowlers for the side in this fixture, whilst Kenny Carroll and Ashil Prakash will be two men looking to put together big runs at the top of the innings for the home side.

Cork County fell foul to a Séamus Lynch lead barrage last week against Terenure, as their bowlers failed to keep the scoring rate down at any stage, however Byron McDonough and Francois Mostert showed enough between them to be able to indicate they could certainly trouble their hosts this weekend, whilst the spin of Ehsan O’Sullivan, Nabeel Anjum and Diarmuid Carey is likely to play a key part on this slower surface in Park Avenue. Those conditions are likely to also suit medium pacer Sukphal Singh. With the bat, Ross Durity made some good runs in the face of a collapse last week, whilst keeper Cormac Hassett has shown enough so far this season to make a number of appearances for the Munster Reds. Mostert is a classy left-handed operator who is sure to make his mark on the league when he gets a chance to spend some time in the middle, and is a player which bolsters the Leesiders’ middle order significantly.

After his quick burst in Terenure last weekend, Byron McDonough showed enough ability to cause problems for the best of the batters in this league, his opening spell to Kenny Carroll will be vital in the direction in which this game takes, with the Railway veteran almost certain to attempt to take on the paceman early-doors.

KEY BATTLE: Kenny Carroll vs Byron McDonough