IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE – 24TH JUNE

The fourth round of fixtures in the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League take place this weekend, and the league table is starting to take a bit of shape! Leinster sit top and are the only unbeaten team left in the league after 3 rounds, they host the holders Balbriggan who are 2 from 3 and will be looking to leap to the top. The David-Delany powered Clontarf side host Merrion at Castle Avenue, whilst The Hills are the first side to travel to Claremont Road since the recent issues in the Irish Senior Cup. Lastly Malahide host the lowly Railway Union, who remain winless in the league in spite of their off-season recruitment drive.

LEINSTER VS BALBRIGGAN

Leinster CC are the form side in the country this season, having produced a string of impressive performances over the last number of weeks, they are all-Ireland and Leinster semi-finalists, and sit atop the tree in the league table after three weeks of cricket. Their batting has been absolutely supreme this season, and is led by their big two, Monil Patel and Joey Carroll, both of whom have been in flying form for the duration of the season so far. Their form has meant that the rest of the unit, including Bilal Azhar, Michael Hogan, Saqib Bahadur and Pete Francis have been able to build their innings around the pair, and allow the side to put together some really comprehensive run chases in the season so far. With the ball, Francis and Azhar are as potent a new ball pairing as you can find in the league, Mark Tonge and Jai Moondra are the other seamers who have been used so far this season, however in recent weeks the Rathmines side have been favouring a three pronged spin attack, with Bahadur, Avril Shukla and Dev Ranolia being the men trusted to tie their oppositions down.

Balbriggan meanwhile have had a decent start to their title defence, and already secured the first silverware of the season, they will no doubt be disappointed with last weekend’s loss in the Irish Cup at the hands of Championship side Pembroke. Bouncing back will be front of mind for the side now, and a return to the side for both Connor Fletcher and Cameron Rowe would be welcome help, with the batting looking ever so slightly thin in their absence last weekend. Their return, coupled with good form of skipper Greg Ford and Chris de Freitas ought to boost the side back to winning ways after last Sunday’s setback. Whilst it will also free up the more explosive Dylan Lues to return to the power hitting role in the middle order. With the ball, Matt Pollard and Sam Willemse’s opening partnership has gone from strength to strength and the seaming support they have in the shape of Kashif Ali and Andy Darroch give plenty of options to Greg Ford. The spin twins of Lues and Farooq Nasr continue to do their jobs in the most tidy of manners and the consistency of this attack continues to give Balbriggan an excellent chance of restricting it’s oppositions.

Leinster’s batting has been sublime this season, and Joey Carroll is well known for how well he plays seam bowling, he’s sure to be faced with the prospect of Matt Pollard at some stage in this innings, and that will be a battle which is sure to go a long way towards deciding who comes out victorious.

KEY BATTLE: Joey Carroll vs Matt Pollard

CLONTARF VS MERRION

This game pits two of the best all-rounders in the country against each other for their respective club sides, starting with Clontarf, skipper Eoghan Delany is no doubt overjoyed with the return of his younger brother David to the side in the past couple of weeks, with the Raheny Rocket-Launcher hitting the ground running with the bat and ball. Whilst he doesn’t take the new ball, he is no doubt the spearhead of the seam attack which also features Fionn Hand and Mick Granger, who have shared the new pill in the last few games, whilst John McNally’s part time seamers have also been used by the skipper in recent weeks. Another in-form all-rounder for the side is Ruan Cronje, who’s leg-spin dovetails nicely with Cillian McDonnell’s left arm orthodox to make an extremely potent duo. The final spin option is David Vincent’s off-breaks which gives this side an angle which covers almost every base imaginable for a bowling attack to wish for. With the bat, the nature of David Delany’s return to the middle order, with a match winning partnership alongside Bobbo Forrest against Malahide, showed just what teams are in for now. With the skipper and Vincent occupying the opening slots to lay a solid base, the side now looks to have a line-up capable of producing massive scores and batting it’s oppositions right out of games.

The visitors Merrion boast the other in-form all-rounder in the province in Sam Harbinson, the Tasmanian native has shown every inch of his worth to his new side this season since the 50 over campaign has gotten underway, with several match-winning performances already under his belt earning him a Leinster Lightning cap within a month of his arrival in the country. As with Tarf however it is far from a one-man show for the Anglesea Road side, the ever consistent John Anderson waltzed passed 9000 senior runs last weekend and is starting to look in good form again, whilst the class of Stephen Doheny and Jack Carty has been clear for all to see for the past couple of seasons, with Doheny arguably the prized wicket within this side. With the ball, Harbinson has had the knack of collecting vital wickets, and has good support from Muhammed Sinan and Max Sorensen in the seam department, Oisin Bhoja has managed to wrestle his way into the side to bowl off-spin alongside Tom Stanton in recent games, whilst no doubt the option of Daniel Forkin and Sebastien Dijkstra to complement either of those two would be equally enticing for skipper Dom Joyce to choose from.

No prizes for guessing the key battle in this game, they are likely to both bowl to each other at some stage in the game, and you can almost guarantee that whichever of Sam Harbinson and David Delany has a bigger impact on the game will see their side come out on top in this fixture.

KEY BATTLE: David Delany vs Sam Harbinson

YMCA VS THE HILLS

Claremont Road hosts it’s first game for two weeks as The Hills make the trip through the tunnel and across the East-Link to face YMCA, and they are at full strength this weekend, with Jonathan Tall returning to the league line-up having missed last weekend’s game. That means the same batting line-up which faltered against Merrion will likely face up this weekend, hoping to make amends for last weekend’s poor showing against the red ball. Murray Commins returned to a move conventional position for himself in the opening slot, alongside Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin, whilst Bhavesh Lakhotia faces up at number three. Those are tasked with laying the base for Mark Donegan, Nicolaj Laegsgaard, Nathan Rooney and the skipper Andrew Kavanagh to build on. With the ball, Laegsgaard and Jonathan Tall have began to form a formidable spin bowling partnership, with the pair consistently taking wickets and being miserly in their economy rates. Sean McNicholl and Tómas Rooney-Murphy have both had excellent bowling performances in recent weeks, and the pair of seamers, supported this week by left-armer Matthew Weldon round off a strong five man attack for the Skerries side.

YMCA on the other hand will be hoping to see their batting unit put together a slightly better performance this weekend, with last week’s victory by 8 runs over Malahide almost in spite of their batting. Four men managed to pass 20 however a highest score of just 42 meant they could only muster 169, Tim Tector and Adam Rosslee are the two current Lightning players in the side, and they will need to lead the way for the home side with the bat in this fixture, whilst they’ll look to Ash Burton and Henry Thompson to also contribute in some manner, the batting unit is bookended by Jack Tector at the top and Rory Anders at number 7, in two players who have previous strong form but have struggled to transfer that into major contributions so far this season. With the ball, Mikey O’Reilly and Reuben Wilson is an opening pair that several of their oppositions would be nothing but envious of, whilst they can also call on Olly Riley and Burton’s seamers, last weekend saw a debut for leg-spinner Garrick Greeff, who no doubt will be an option the side looks to use more often in the absence of quality spin in their side.

With how well he’s bowled in recent weeks and the relative frailty of YMCA’s top order, Sean McNicholl will no doubt be looking to get in and amongst their hosts early on, if he can dismiss Tim Tector early in the piece, the home side will be on the back foot straight away.

KEY BATTLE: Tim Tector vs Sean McNicholl

MALAHIDE VS RAILWAY UNION

The winless Park Avenue side face another tough task this weekend, and their bowlers are set to be firmly up against it. In the seam department, their main man Liam McCarthy is supported by Sean O’Brien and Stuart de Klerk, and a fast start will be key for the skipper to help his change bowlers as much as possible. The spinners in the attack remain more or less the same, with Alan Joseph Matthew, Brandon Kruger, Hamza Maan and Fakhar Zaman all providing right-arm options which will seek to tie the batsmen down and take wickets. With the bat, the new-found reliance on Riley Mudford hasn’t shown much sign of stopping, with the Kiwi remaining in fantastic form this season, Punya Mehra and Kenny Carroll are two men who will be aiming to regain their form of earlier in the season to help their gloveman to put together a decent total.

Their hosts meanwhile have a settled, well rounded and balanced batting unit which has a clear and obvious game-plan. Jamie Grassi and Hunter Kindley at the top will seek to set the game up as much as they can for their middle order to blast them to whatever score they could possibly need in the second half of their innings. Younas Ahmadzai is in simply outrageous form and last weekend aside has looked the premier batsman in the league, whilst the return of Matt Ford alongside him is hugely welcomed by the home side. Ali Frost, Fintan McAllister and Andrew Sheridan round off a strong batting unit, arguably one of the best in the league, that will seek to post a total far beyond the Railway Union reach. With the ball, this week’s seam attack features Kelvin Donnelly, Cameron Shoebridge and skipper James Newland, with Mike Frost set to lead the line with his left-arm spin, along with Ford and Kindley to round off a strong bowling unit also.

Railway Union’s batting has been poor in recent weeks aside from Riley Mudford, his wicket will be crucial to the away side, and getting beyond James Newland’s opening spell will probably be the battle he needs to win to give his side a chance of posting anything resembling a competitive total.

KEY BATTLE: James Newland vs Riley Mudford