IBI CORPORATE FINANCE CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW – ROUND 3 (25TH MAY)

The third round of fixtures in the IBI Corporate Finance Championship is where the league will almost certainly start to take an awful lot more shape, as there suddenly becomes pressure on some teams to pick up wins, whilst others will be feeling the chance to really cement themselves as title challengers even as early as this stage at the end of May.

Railway Union are the first Dublin based side to travel to The Mardyke this weekend, with Cork County also hosting Balbriggan in the Irish Senior Cup on Sunday, Terenure travel to The Hills to face Jeremy Bray’s charges, there’s a local derby in Kenure where North County are the visitors to Rush, whilst finally in the Phoenix Park, North Kildare travel to face off against Civil Service.

Cork County vs Railway Union

Railway Union travel to Cork this weekend without a couple of key men, as neither Rob O’Brien or Philippe le Roux are in the side this weekend. O’Brien has been the staple of the batting unit in the league so far this season, with much of the good work being done around him as a base, in his absence the visitors will need someone to step up to the plate. Hedayatullah Khogiani made a century last weekend in the Irish Senior Cup, and will be the man most likely to fill the void left by the teenager in this fixture. If he can do so, it will allow the rest of the unit, including the likes of Ashil Prakash, Liam McCarthy, Fakhar Zaman and Kevin O’Brien – who is listed to captain the side this weekend – to play with freedom and move the side towards a competitive batting effort. With the ball, Sean O’Brien has been in really good rhythm for the side, and alongside Liam McCarthy they make up a robust opening partnership which could cause Cork County some issues, McCarthy also has the added advantage of this being his home ground for InterPro cricket, with the Munster Reds opening bowler almost sure to be able to use some local knowledge to his benefit. Elsewhere in the bowling unit, Zaman Safi is the third seamer, whilst Srihan Karpe will likely be used for his fine off-breaks as the primary spin option.

Cork County suffered at the hands of a chastening come-from-behind effort by Rush on Match Day One, and haven’t taken the field in the guise which would usually field in Leinster competitions since. They do still however boast a decent side with Ross Durity, Benjamin Marris, Mark Andrianatos & Thorne Prophet all very capable batters in the top four, whilst the return of Marris has allowed Syed Aiman to slide down to number 5 and use his boundary striking ability in that role instead, something which they may have missed in the absence of last season’s overseas man Stefano di Bartolomeo without this switch in the balance of their line-up. Their bowling unit last time out saw Prophet taking the new ball alongside left-armer Hamdullah Safi, with Andrianatos backing that pair up as first change, Sam Fenn’s medium pacers are steady if unspectacular however a reliable fifth bowler is crucial in this league and that is exactly what he provides more often than not. The spinner in the side is likely to just be Nabeel Anjum with Diarmuid Carey currently unavailable.

Railway will be hoping to get in amongst the Leesiders’ batting nice and early to capitalise on their lack of cricket played so far this season, if Liam McCarthy can knock over Ross Durity early in the piece it will give the side an opening and allow them to put Cork County under some major pressure.

KEY BATTLE: Ross Durity vs Liam McCarthy

The Hills vs Terenure

The Hills play host to Terenure in a league fixture for the first time since 2015, and Skerries has been far from a happy hunting ground for the men from Dublin 6 in League competitions, they have won just once here in either the Premier League or Championship since their arrival into Senior Cricket in 1981. However it’s not all doom and gloom for the away side, the closest 50 over game between the two sides since that victory in 2001 in this fixture was actually the last one, when The Hills won by 36 runs in the Senior League Cup. Henry Dall made 97 in that game and will be a key man with the bat for Terenure once again, alongside Séamus Lynch who’s ball-striking will go toe-to-toe with The Hills’ bowling unit. Raghav Grover and Darsh Shetty have settled into the middle order and will have the vital role of ensuring the strike keeps ticking over throughout the bulk of the innings, whilst skipper Dónal Lynch and left-hander Sid Nair are the two who will be tasked with finding the boundary late in the piece. Their last two fixtures have seen two improved performances, primarily based around the bowling and opener Dylan Cleary was the star of the show in particular last weekend, taking 4/13 in the National Cup victory over Glendermott, whilst Mark Thomas’ 3/33 was the key to the team getting over the line against Civil Service the week before. That pair supported by Raghav Grover, who’s upturn in form is another boost for the side, Kripesh Shetty and spinner Abdul Shokoor Amiri give a strong bowling unit that will look to tie The Hills down early on.

The Hills meanwhile are captained by Nicolaj Damgaard this weekend in the absence of Tómas Rooney-Murphy, and the explosive Dane will be looking to lead by example at the top of the order with the bat. He is the home side’s answer to what Séamus Lynch will provide for Terenure, and if both are on-song this weekend this could be a brilliant contest to watch. Elsewhere in The Hills’ batting unit, Brandon Kruger has shown signs that he’s on the verge of a massive score at some stage this season, making several really strong starts and some decent scores without quite turning it into something big, Nathan Rooney’s ball-striking is another massive plus for the home side, whilst Yaseen Sherzad and Andy Kavanagh in the middle order will be key to helping the Skerries men finish out their innings strong. With the ball, Muzamil Sherzad and Cian Nulty are the two primary seamers in the side in the absence of the skipper Rooney-Murphy, and left-armer Matthew Weldon who is missing due to exams, meaning there’ll be some more pressure on the left-arm spin of Damgaard, as well as Kruger’s offies and finally support from Febin Manoj, with the teenage spinner coming into the side for the first time this weekend in Open Competitions.

Terenure’s maestro Séamus Lynch has been threatening to go really big in some of his knocks this season, and one feels he could once again get his team off to a flier and put The Hills right onto the back-foot, it’s more than likely he’ll end up facing up to Muzamil Sherzad, and with The Hills’ seamer having the ability to bowl some sensational deliveries, he could be the best chance of stunting Terenure’s power man at source, if Lynch wins the PowerPlay yet again, Terenure will be in the driving seat.  

KEY BATTLE: Séamus Lynch vs Muzamil Sherzad

Rush vs North County

Rush host North County in a game which already may well shape how close the pair are come the end of the season, the home side are off the back of two victories and could put two full wins between themselves and the Inch men with a victory in this fixture. Their batting has yet to really catch fire as yet, with Jack McGee’s half-century last weekend just about seeing them sneak home against Burndennett. Josh Doyle is as yet to really catch fire, whilst Rahmat Sahaq and Hashir Sultan are two players who firmly live and die by the sword in the middle order. Nathan McGuire missed last week’s fixture however he returns for this local derby and his return at the top could see Jack McGee sliding down and offering a bit more balance through the middle. Gloveman Finn McGee is also an excellent batsman and his half-century on the first weekend of the season is a massive part of why Rush are two from two in the league. With the ball, the bounce which the opening pair of Allan Eastwood and skipper Jarred Barnes can get out of their home wickets gives the side a real help, with their lengths being key to cutting out the number of boundaries hit straight and therefore reducing the overall totals. After them, Asher Abbasi has been a good performer so far this season but he misses out, whilst Alex Neary is likely to take on the third seamer role. Nasir Totakhil and Josh Doyle are an excellent spinning pair, arguably the best in the league when bowling in tandem, and will be the key men in tying down County’s free scoring middle order.

North County meanwhile are also into this game off the back of a victory last weekend, and will have their sights firmly set on lowering Rush’s colours to tighten up affairs at the top of the table. Niall McGovern, John Devane and Suliman Safi are a strong top three who will be up to the challenge of Rush’s opening pair, and that will be vital as their two key all-rounders in Eddie Richardson and Simi Singh will be hoping to have the game nicely teed up before they enter the fray with the bat, lower down, Alan Joseph Mathew and Abdul Sattar are two men who are more than capable of clearing the boundaries, and there’s no doubt that County will feel they are very well equipped to produce a performance with the bat that could see this game falling in their favour. With the ball, Richardson and Abdul Ghaffar are as dangerous an opening pair as you’ll find in the Championship, whilst Sean Sludds and Sattar are another fine pair of seamers who hold their lines and lengths with metronomic accuracy and allow the side to build real pressure. The spin department however is where they really come to the fore, with Mathew and former international Singh both extremely high class mystery spinners, either capable of producing a match winning spell, and that could prove to be a crucial area of the game when they bowl as a pair.

Singh and Mathew’s spell will no doubt be crucial with ball in hand for County, however arguably more important for them is to dismiss Josh Doyle early in the piece, the Aussie has had several starts and looked threatening, so this could well be his time, he will need to negotiate his way through Eddie Richardson’s opening spell however if he is to get the big score Rush crave from him

KEY BATTLE: Josh Doyle vs Eddie Richardson

Civil Service vs North Kildare

Civil Service progressed to the second round of the National Cup without having to lift a finger last weekend, and no doubt the week off will have made them even hungrier to bounce back from an agonising defeat to Terenure in the first round of the Leinster Senior Cup. A return for Naveed Khan boosted their bowling stocks that day, and he along with Mubasher Siddique make a strong opening pair. Asadullah Ahmadzai has proved to be a big addition with both bat and ball this season, and his spin will need to be on the money again this weekend. Their major fifth bowler problem appeared to have been somewhat alleviated as well in their last fixture, with Digamber Mishra bowling well as well as Aamir Bafanda, seeing them finish out their bowling innings far more strongly than they have in recent times. With the bat, as mentioned already Ahmadzai looked composed and showed an ability to pick his times for when to attack and consolidate well in their last fixture, however if they are to see off North Kildare they will need a better start from the likes of Nilesh Joshi, Junaid Altaf and Simranjeet Singh if they are to avoid placing all the burden of scoring runs onto their middle and lower order which are far better suited to big-hitting to finish out an innings.

North Kildare meanwhile travelled to Templepatrick last weekend and were on the wrong end of the result, however they did appear to be trialling a slightly different batting order which very nearly panned out right in their favour. Josh Uddin, Nurulain Boda and Badeeu Zaman took on roles in the top three, clearly seeming to aim to be disciplined and exclusively punish the poor deliveries. If that three can take the innings slightly deeper this weekend, it will allow their newly compiled 5/6/7 of Abid Taniwal, Waqar Azmat and Husnain Maroof to be somewhat gung-ho in their approach, and find the boundary as often as possible using their primary ball-striking ability, this was exemplified by Taniwal’s 29 ball 65 last weekend, and that in itself is possibly enough of a reason for the side to stick with the tactic into the league this weekend. Taniwal and Maroof will no doubt be the key men with the ball once again, with most of North Kildare’s successes this season coming from either of their left-arm men or the spin of Bakhtyar Nabi, which proved to be an excellent addition in the middle of last season.

Civil Service’s off-spinner Asadullah Ahmadzai could have a massive battle on his hands this weekend in bowling to Abid Taniwal, with whoever comes out on top in the middle overs of North Kildare’s batting innings likely to be on the winning side in this fixture.

KEY BATTLE: Asadullah Ahmadzai vs Abid Taniwal

IBI CORPORATE FINANCE CHAMPIONSHIP – MATCH DAY 3

All 12:00pm starts

At The Mardyke, Cork County vs Railway Union

At The Vineyard, The Hills vs Terenure

At Kenure, Rush vs North County

At Civil Service, Civil Service vs North Kildare