IBI CORPORATE FINANCE CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW – MATCH DAY 13 (AUGUST 31ST)

A massive day of action in the IBI Corporate Finance Championship this afternoon sees four fixtures taking place, with the potential that all of the league standings could be confirmed, should results go the right way.

In Park Avenue, Railway Union host Cork County, knowing they must have a big win to keep their league title hopes alive, however, in Inch, Rush will be crowned Championship winners if they can pick up 24 points against North County. Terenure sees our game of the day action, as they host The Hills in what is the final edition of the last chance saloon for the home side, whilst finally in Kilcock, North Kildare will be looking for a win against Civil Service to maintain the position they gained over Terenure last weekend.

RAILWAY UNION VS CORK COUNTY

Railway Union go into this fixture knowing they must outscore Rush by at least 2 points to keep the title race going into next weekend's showdown in Kenure, and they will be looking to their batters to put Cork County to the sword in this fixture. They are captained by Rob O'Brien in the absence of Philippe le Roux, whilst Hedayat Khogiani takes over behind the stumps. Ashil Prakash & Srihan Karpe will be key to the batting line-up alongside that pair, whilst there's also a return to the side for the coach Kevin O'Brien, who will likely feature in the middle order alongside Sankeerth Karpe and their boundary-clearing big hitters Fakhar Zaman & Zaman Safi. With the ball, Liam McCarthy leads the attack however the side are without Sean O'Brien and Mark Canniffe this weekend, meaning he'll be supported by Sumit Kumar and Zaman Safi primarily. The spin options come in the shape of Fakhar Zaman and Srihan Karpe, whilst Ashil Prakash can prove to be a useful operator should conditions call for him.

Cork County meanwhile are led this weekend by wicket-keeper Benjamin Marris in the absence of regular skipper Ross Durity, and he will likely feature at the top of the order alongside Mark Andrianatos. Syed Aiman, Abdul Ghaffar & Ehsan O'Sullivan will all occupy positions in the middle order, with the side also without Thorne Prophet, who's a regular strong performer in the unit with both bat and ball. The seamers will therefore be spearheaded by Andrianatos, who will in all likelihood share the new ball with Hamdullah Safi with Sam Fenn as the most likely first change option. Nabeel Anjum's leg-breaks have been on the up throughout this season, and he's set to prove to be a crucial bowler in particular in Park Avenue, with support in the spin department coming from Ehsan O'Sullivan.

Liam McCarthy is Railway's key bowler today in the absence of some of their stronger performers in recent weeks, and his opening spell could well set up the game for them. If he can knock over his Munster Reds team-mate Mark Andrianatos cheaply, it will give the home side a massive advantage early on.

KEY BATTLE: Liam McCarthy vs Mark Andrianatos

NORTH COUNTY VS RUSH

Rush travel to North County knowing that if they score a 24 or more point victory they will already be confirmed as league champions for the 2024 season. The local derby will be no easy assignment however, and they will need their batting to be on-song from the outset. Fortunately their batting has been in brilliant form of late, with Prasanth Viswanath and Josh Doyle leading the way at the top, followed by Nathan McGuire and Hashir Sultan, with the McGee brothers of Finn and Jack also offering good batting depth to the unit, having both produced some extremely important innings' at times earlier in the season. With the ball, Allan Eastwood returns to the side to partner Jarred Barnes in their opening spell, whilst Asher Abbasi and Alex Neary are the next two seamers in the line-up. Their spinners have been high-quality all through the season, and once again in Nasir Totakhil, supported by Doyle and McGuire, they will hope to have the opportunity to tie their opposition down and put them under big pressure.

North County meanwhile come off the back of a thumping victory last weekend, and will once again be looking for their batting to unit to pile on big runs on their home ground. Brian Dunphy made the most of his first opportunity at the top of the order last time out, whilst Suliman Safi and Eddie Richardson will follow at number 3 and 4, whilst John Devane's new lease of life at number 5 saw him once again leading the charge in last week's innings, which the Inch outfit will be hoping to see more of this time around. With the ball, Richardson is rejoined by Abdul Ghaffar with that pair likely to share the opening duties and reprise one of the stronger partnerships in the league this weekend. The other seamer in the side is Ashish Jain, with County looking to be hoping to get a full complement of overs out of both Alan Joseph Mathew's offies and Johan George's leg-spinners. Luke Whelan continues behind the stumps, with he and Terenure gloveman Séamus Lynch locked in a brilliant battle for this year's Ralph Satchwell Cup.

Josh Doyle's success at the top of the order could well put together a big total for the away side, however he will first need to negotiate Eddie Richardson's fiery opening spell. Whoever comes out on top between that pair early in the Rush innings is likely to have put their side into an extremely strong position.

KEY BATTLE: Eddie Richardson vs Josh Doyle

TERENURE VS THE HILLS

Terenure's final home game of the season sees them desperate for a victory, and will see yet another shake-up in their batting order. This means their key-man Séamus Lynch moves back to what is widely known to be his best and preferred position at the top of the order, where he is accompanied by left-hander Henry Dall. Sid Nair, Dónal Lynch and Dónal Vaughan make up the 3/4/5, ahead of Gethin Kelleher and Raghav Grover. The only change from last weekend sees Nawaz Khan returning to the line-up to bolster the seam bowling unit, and he will likely bowl first change following on from their opening bowlers who are led by Dylan Cleary and Grover. Kripesh Shetty is the slightly quicker option in the side, with the bowlers rounded out by Jinal Khatri's leg-breaks. The other option in the bowling department is Henry Dall's offies, which saw him claiming four wickets last weekend.

The Hills meanwhile are once again down a couple of their more experienced players this weekend, however they do welcome back Nicolaj Damgaard to the side to boost both batting and bowling. Andy Kavanagh and Brandon Kruger will likely feature at the top of the order, whilst it would be no surprise to see the skipper Tómas Rooney-Murphy returning at number three. Muzamil Sherzad & Cian Nulty are two big-hitting all-rounders who could also see themselves featuring further up the order this weekend. With the ball, Sean McNicholl, Matthew Weldon, Nulty and Rooney-Murphy provide a strong seam-bowling quartet, with Damgaard's return seeing he and Kruger provide the two spin bowling options. Lorcan Woodhouse is the man tasked with the duties behind the stumps this weekend in the absence of regular gloveman Mubeen Ali.

Séamus Lynch has been one of the most dangerous batters in the PowerPlay for a number of seasons, and his return to the top of the order could be key for Terenure in that regard. If he can get on top of Sean McNicholl's opening spell, it will give Terenure the major boost they need.

KEY BATTLE: Séamus Lynch vs Sean McNicholl

NORTH KILDARE VS CIVIL SERVICE

Finally in Kilcock, North Kildare's battery of all-rounders take on Civil Service in what could be a brilliant game, with two of their previous encounters this season seeing 7-wicket hauls taken by Civil Service bowlers. With the ball, North Kildare will be looking to Husnain Maroof and Abid Taniwal to get them off to a strong start, whilst Bakhtyar Nabi and Azhar Syed have both been bowling excellently in recent weeks and contributed hugely to them bowling Terenure out for just 80 last weekend. With the bat, Maroof and Taniwal are two of their big-hitting middle order men who could cause some damage, with the likes of Sayed Medhi Shah & Badeeu Zaman playing more circumspect roles. Josh Uddin and Waqar Azmat are two more men likely to feature in the top order that could put the side onto the front foot early doors.

Civil Service meanwhile have batted extremely well for much of this season, and will be hoping to do so once again this weekend as they hunt for a victory that could potentially see them leapfrogging Terenure and jumping into 7th place in the table. They have some real class in Arjun Chandrasekar and Nilesh Joshi in their top order, whilst Kushal Narang comes into the side behind the stumps and is a man well capable of clearing the boundaries. Asadullah Ahmadzai and Vipul Kashyap fill two of their all-rounder roles and could be key later in the innings. With the ball they are without Naveed Khan, meaning Digamber Mishra will likely partner Mubasher Siddique, whilst Ahmadzai and Vivekanandan Srinivasan will go toe-to-toe with the North Kildare spinners in what could be an excellent battle.

Asadullah Ahmadzai has been a real find for Civil Service this season, and his bowling on North Kildare's spin friendly decks could be the key to this game. If he can dismiss Abid Taniwal, it will give the away side a fighting chance of keeping North Kildare to a manageable batting effort.

KEY BATTLE: Abid Taniwal vs Asadullah Ahmadzai

IBI CORPORATE FINANCE CHAMPIONSHIP

MATCH DAY 13 – AUGUST 31^ST

ALL 12 NOON STARTS

At Park Avenue, Railway Union vs Cork County

At Inch, North County vs Rush

At Terenure, Terenure vs The Hills

At The Maws, North Kildare vs Civil Service