IBI CORPORATE FINANCE CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW – MATCH DAY 12 (AUGUST 24/25TH)

This weekend’s IBI Corporate Finance Championship action sees three Saturday fixtures and one Sunday fixture. Saturday’s action comes from Kenure, where Civil Service pay a visit to Rush, Inch where North County play host to Cork County, and finally The Maws, where Terenure visit North Kildare, a venue where they have never lost a 50 over league fixture. Finally on Sunday, the fixture between The Hills and Railway Union takes place in The Vineyard.

RUSH VS CIVIL SERVICE

The newly crowned National Cup Champions continue their bid to win the Championship, with a home tie against Civil Service. Last week’s two victories centred around some brilliant bowling performances, and they will once again be hoping to put their visitors under pressure from the outset. Jarred Barnes and Allan Eastwood have cemented their place as the best pair of opening bowlers in the league, however with Eastwood not in the side this weekend, it’s likely one of Asher Abbasi or Alex Neary could offer support with new ball bowling options to partner the skipper Barnes, whilst the fourth seamer is Jawid Oryakhil. Nasir Totakhil’s left-arm has arguably been the pick of the spin bowlers in the province this season, and he leads a trio that could include both Nathan McGuire and Josh Doyle, who both bowl off-spin, should they be called upon. Doyle and Prasanth Viswanath have formed a powerful partnership at the top of the order with the bat, whilst McGuire at number three is proving to be a truly destructive force. Jack & Finn McGee, Hashir Sultan and Totakhil make up a middle order which has, when needed, stood up to the plate in a big way this season.

Civil Service meanwhile had a strong win last weekend, built around a fine batting performance, and will no doubt look to produce more of the same this time around. At the top of the order they’re led by Deepak Jayachandran, whilst the likes of Nilesh Joshi has featured opening the batting this term, last weekend he was partnered by seamer Digamber Mishra. Arjun Chandrasekar has been in the runs and occupies a middle order slot where the likes of Dhiraj Shetty, Asadullah Ahmadzai and gloveman Simranjeet Singh could be found. Singh in particular will have fond memories of this ground, having made a century in the game between the sides last season. With the ball, Mubasher Siddique and Naveed Khan are a solid opening pair, who will get support in the fast bowling department by Vipul Kashyap and the aforementioned Mishra. The spinners are Ahmadzai and Vivek Srinivasan, and they will need to be on song, especially in Kenure, to help keep the home side’s batting under wraps.

If Rush get off to a flier with the bat here, they could be away into the distance before Civil Service knows what hits them, if Josh Doyle bats for a reasonable length of time, the home side will have a chance to do just that. Mubasher Siddique’s opening spell for Service is likely to prove the key in restricting Doyle early in the piece.

KEY BATTLE: Josh Doyle vs Mubasher Siddique

NORTH COUNTY VS CORK COUNTY

North County are in something of a no-mans-land position in the league standings, as having fallen away from the title race, they seem to have a race to retain third place almost all to themselves. Their batting is led by the skipper Niall McGovern at the top of the order, whilst their 3/4/5 combination of Suliman Safi, Eddie Richardson and John Devane have settled into something of a well-oiled machine since Devane’s move into that position from the top of the order. This weekend sees a debut for teenager Brian Dunphy, whilst Ciaran Sheridan is the other man in the batting unit, featuring at the top of the order alongside the skipper. With the ball, Richardson will open proceedings, however neither of the brothers Abdul feature this weekend, meaning he will have a new partner. That could well come in the shape of Ashish Jain or Ghulam Muhammad. Alan Joseph Mathew is the frontline spinner in the side, which will be aiming to simply outgun the Leesiders with bat in hand.

Cork County meanwhile suffered a dose of shooting themselves in the foot last weekend, as a 42 run loss was suffered having bowled no less than 51 extras. Their bowling unit will be looking to atone for that this time around, and led by Mark Andrianatos and Thorne Prophet, they will hope some early wickets will help put the side on the right footing. That pair are supported by Sam Fenn in the seam bowling department. Their spinners are their main weapons, with Ehsan O’Sullivan and Nabeel Anjum both strong frontline options, supported by Diarmuid Carey’s left-arm offies. With the bat, Andrianatos will likely be joined at the top of the order this weekend by the skipper Ross Durity, with Benjamin Marris out of the side, whilst there’s good support in the middle order from Prophet, O’Sullivan and Syed Aiman.

North County will be relying on Eddie Richardson to get the side off to a good start with the ball and put the team on the front foot, if he can dismiss Mark Andrianatos early in the piece, it could prove to be crucial.

KEY BATTLE: Eddie Richardson vs Mark Andrianatos

NORTH KILDARE VS TERENURE

The final Saturday game sees two sides desperate for a win face off in The Maws, and it’s the home side who ought to carry more confidence into the game, having edged out Terenure in the reverse fixture. The home side will be looking to Husnain Maroof and Abid Taniwal with the bat to produce some explosive contributions and give their side a chance of putting up an unassailable batting effort. That pair are supported at the top of the order by Josh Uddin, Waqar Azmat and Sayed Medhi Shah, whilst both Badeeu Zaman and Azhar Syed have been in more prominent batting roles in recent weeks. With the ball, Taniwal and Maroof will likely share the opening duties, with both capable of delivering good swing bowling, before the spinners of Syed and Bakhtyar Nabi will look to go to work, they have further support in the shape of Abdul Aryan and Mohammad Zaman, whilst a return for Imran ul-Haq would also strengthen the bowling unit.

Terenure meanwhile have responded to their batting woes in recent weeks by loading their line-up with batters. Henry Dall and Donal Vaughan will likely be the pair at the top of the order, whilst Sid Nair and Séamus Lynch continue at 3 and 4. It would be no surprise to see a shuffling of the deck between numbers 5 and 9, with Gethin Kelleher, Gareth Morgan, Raghav Grover, Jinal Khatri and Dónal Lynch set to feature in those positions in some order. This batting load-up sees the pick of the bowlers from last weekend Nawaz Khan dropping out of the team, meaning there will be more pressure on their frontline trio of seamers, spearheaded by Dylan Cleary with support from Raghav Grover and Kripesh Shetty, whilst Jinal Khatri’s leg-spin and Henry Dall’s off-breaks are likely to both prove crucial on a North Kildare wicket which has been extremely conducive to spin this season.

North Kildare will be all too aware of the dangers that Terenure boast in their bowling attack, and no doubt will be sending Husnain Maroof out at the top of the order with the intention of winning the battle against Terenure’s premier seamer Dylan Cleary, if Cleary can knock the left-hander over cheaply, it could get his side right into the game early on.

KEY BATTLE: Husnain Maroof vs Dylan Cleary

THE HILLS VS RAILWAY UNION

The Hills’ victory last weekend appears to have put them safely into the top five and secured Premier League cricket for them next season, however there’s no doubt they will still be aiming to finish the season out strongly. With the bat, Brandon Kruger has been a key man for the side all season, once again producing crucial runs last weekend, whilst Will Archer has made the position at number four his own in recent weeks. Nicolaj Damgaard could potentially be a more dangerous prospect with bat in hand now that their fate is slightly more certain, whilst Andy Kavanagh and the skipper Tómas Rooney-Murphy round out their batting unit. With the ball, Sean McNicholl and Matthew Weldon lead the way, with support from Rooney-Murphy and Cian Nulty in the seam bowling department. Kruger and Damgaard’s right and left arm off-spin options respectively offer them some really excellent control in the middle overs, whilst Febin Manoj’s mystery spin has been a real bonus this season as a wicket-taking option.

Railway Union come into this fixture almost unchanged from last week’s victory over Terenure, with runs from Philippe le Roux in his new role at the top of the order alongside Ashil Prakash. Rob O’Brien appears at number three and has also been in good form of late, with their middle order including Hedayat Khogiani, Srihan Karpe, Liam McCarthy and big-hitting Fakhar Zaman, have all contributed to some extremely solid batting efforts this season. With the ball, Karpe was the hero last weekend taking five-for, and his off-breaks lead the spin bowling, whilst Fakhar Zaman is another player who produces spinning deliveries. Their seamers are led by Liam McCarthy, with the new ball generally taken by Sean O’Brien. Zaman Safi is the third seamer in the side, which is all they opt to go for this weekend, as Mark Canniffe drops out to be replaced by the leg-breaks of Hamza Maan.

Brandon Kruger has been in brilliant form this season, and there’s no doubt Sean O’Brien will have a target on his head when running in to bowl his opening spell.

KEY BATTLE: Brandon Kruger vs Sean O’Brien

IBI CORPORATE FINANCE CHAMPIONSHIP

MATCH DAY 12 – AUGUST 24/25^TH

ALL 12 NOON STARTS

At Kenure, Rush vs Civil Service, August 24^th

At Inch, North County vs Cork County, August 24^th

At The Maws, North Kildare vs Terenure

At The Vineyard, The Hills vs Railway Union