IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE & CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW – 1ST JULY

This Saturday sees the fifth round of fixtures in the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League and Championship take place, the top tier is incredibly tight, three teams have won three games, with three more winning two, just Railway Union are winless at this stage in the season. Whilst in the second tier, Pembroke have won each of their four fixtures so far, whilst Rush’s tight fought victory over Phoenix last week both of those sides now move to three wins from their four games.

PREMIER LEAGUE

Kicking off proceedings in the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League, Malahide play host to Balbriggan in what is a battle of third vs fourth, Merrion visit Claremont Road to face YMCA, league leaders Leinster host The Hills, whilst the bottom two also face off, as Railway Union visit Clontarf at Castle Avenue.

MALAHIDE VS BALBRIGGAN

Malahide play host to the league holders, in a fixture that a loss for either side in can easily see them begin to slide in one direction or the other in the standings. Malahide skipper James Newland leads a bowling attack which features Cameron Shoebridge and Kelvin Donnelly as the other seamers, and a real high class spin pairing in Mike Frost and Matt Ford, the part time options include Hunter Kindley and Younas Ahmadzai who have both rolled down useful spells at stages this season. The batting unit will see Jamie Grassi joined at the top of the order by Kindley, whilst Ahmadzai has been absolutely excellent in the number three slot this season so far. Ford, Andy Sheridan and Ali Frost will fill the next four slots in the order along with gloveman Fintan McAllister who has taken well to his new position in the middle order this season.

Balbriggan meanwhile welcome back their own middle-order gloveman Connor Fletcher having missed last week’s game, and he slots into a unit which has really found form of late. Greg Ford has been in the runs, whilst Chris de Freitas comes into the game straight from an excellent pair of half-centuries for the Lightning Bolts this week. Cameron Rowe, Ghanim Dara and Farooq Nasr round off the main batters, whilst the all-rounders in Dylan Lues and Matt Pollard have shown plenty of ability to swing the game with both bat and ball in their games so far this season, that pair will likely occupy the 7 and 8 slots in the line-up. With the ball, Pollard is likely to share the new ball with Sam Willemse once again, whilst the pace of Andy Darroch and further left-armers of Kashif Ali are supported by Eoin Birch’s inclusion this week in a five man seam attack. Lues and Nasr will supply the spin options yet again in a side which has a very settled bowling line-up.

Malahide’s good starts have allowed their premier batsman in Ahmadzai to take advantage and score big runs, so Balbriggan will be hoping to expose him to the new ball in this fixture, that means getting beyond the excellent opener in Hunter Kindley, if Balbriggan’s overseas can win that battle, it would give them a chance of attacking the Malahide middle order with the moving ball.

KEY BATTLE: Hunter Kindley vs Matt Pollard

YMCA VS MERRION

The Anglesea Road outfit travel to face YMCA without their regular skipper or keeper this weekend, as Dom Joyce and Stephen Doheny both miss out. They do however still boast a powerful batting line-up, Swapnil Modgil comes into the side off the back of runs for the Lightning Bolts in Wednesday’s Future Series game, with John Anderson and Sam Harbinson also in the middle order. Jack Carty takes the reins as skipper with Mike Lewis behind the stumps, whilst Franco Marais and Max Sorensen will also bat in the lower-middle order. With the ball, there’s a return for left-arm orthodox spinner, Danny Forkin, who will share the spinning duties with Tom Stanton, whilst there’s plenty of seam options for Carty to chose from, with Muhammed Sinan and Hugh Kennedy in the bowling group, whilst Harbinson and Sorensen fill the all-rounder roles in the side, the other option in the side comes in the form of the very sparsely used Modgil, who offers an off-break option.

YMCA on the other hand look set to be at full strength this weekend, with their bowlers all producing taking spells when called upon for the Lightning Bolts in the Mardyke. Mikey O’Reilly, Reuben Wilson and Olly Riley combine for a strong seam attack, with plenty more options still in reserve in the shapes of Tom & Rory Anders and Ashley Burton. With the bat, it seems as though the side’s ability to score big runs hinges on them batting around South African Adam Rosslee, who has produced some fine innings’ already this season, Tim & Jack Tector at the top of the order are the two men who’ve looked most likely to produce a big score aside from Rosslee, Henry Thompson occupies the number three slot having scored runs in the Second XI Premier League, however he is as yet still to convert that form to the top level, the lower order including the Anders’ and O’Reilly gave the side a massive boost last weekend, and this sort of thing is really important in what is set to be such a tight league.

Adam Rosslee has looked in fantastic touch of late, and if YM can once again build their innings around him, they will find themselves in a really good position, no doubt Merrion will be hoping to see the back of him early on, if Sam Harbinson is able to dismiss his Lightning team-mate, it will give Merrion a massive boost to their chances of winning.

KEY BATTLE: Adam Rosslee vs Sam Harbinson

LEINSTER VS THE HILLS

Top of the league Leinster are the hosts of The Hills this week, with the away side looking to bounce back from last weekend’s chastening loss to YMCA. Murray Commins returns to the side for this fixture, which is a massive boost to the away side, he along with Nicolaj Laegsgaard, Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin and wicket-keeper Mark Donegan means their top 6 features four players to have played in the IP Series so far this season, they’re joined by Bhavesh Lakhotia and Nathan Rooney, who add almost the perfect balance of tempered, controlled batting, with the ability to hit boundaries into that line-up, the skipper Andy Kavanagh follows in what could be a vital role in ensuring the tail isn’t exposed too early. With the ball, Tómas Rooney-Murphy leads the way and his experience is vital to the side, leading a seam attack which features the more raw skills of Cian Nulty, Matthew Weldon and Sean McNicholl, each of whom has displayed wicket-taking ability this season in their spells. The left-arm spin of Jonathan Tall isn’t in the side this weekend, meaning Laegsgaard will lead the line with his left-arm offies.

The hosts have a strong line-up when they’re at full tilt, and the batting unit in particular which features the excellent pair at three and four of Monil Patel and Joey Carroll, they have been by far the leaders in the team this season, with contributions also coming from Michael Hogan, Bilal Azhar and Pete Francis, they look to be a formidable force which takes quite a bit of stopping, the true test for the side will be whether they can score as many runs in a game where neither Patel or Carroll are at their best. With the ball, Francis leads the line alongside Azhar, whilst other seamers in the line-up include Mark Tonge, with Carroll also returning to the bowling crease since the league season has begun. Spinners Dev Ranolia and Saqib Bahadur have been excellent and last week saw their part-timer Tristen de Beer also feature in the wickets column.

Leinster’s opening bowler Pete Francis will be entrusted with the tough task of dismissing Murray Commins cheaply this weekend, if he can do so it will be a step towards keeping Leinster atop the pile in the Premier League.

KEY BATTLE: Pete Francis vs Murray Commins

CLONTARF VS RAILWAY UNION

Four games in and neither side really wanted this game to be the perennial “6 pointer” however as Railway Union travel across the East-Link to face ‘Tarf, they are 0/4 and in desperate need of a victory. Their batting centres around the brilliant wicket-keeper Riley Mudford, who has been smashing runs at the top of the order for the Park Avenue side, he’s taken an incredible amount of pressure away from Kenny Carroll, and alongside Punya Mehra and Brandon Kruger, simply improved the batting line-up out of sight, this however hasn’t been enough in any of their games in the league so far, and they will be desperate to see Philippe le Roux return with a bang, Ashil Prakash rounds off the top 6 in a side which should be doing much better on paper than it is on the field. With the ball, Kruger, Fakhar Zaman and Hamza Maan are the spin trio who they will rely on to take wickets and bowl aggressively in the middle-overs, whilst their main man at the top, Liam McCarthy has put on a clinic with the new ball so far this season, and will be looking to once again make early inroads into the opposition batting line-up.

Last week’s fixture saw Clontarf brush aside a very strong Merrion outfit, as the brilliant all-rounder pair of David Delany and Fionn Hand ripped the batting order asunder, Mick Granger’s radar was slightly off early in that innings, and he will look to bounce back, and whilst he wasn’t needed last time out, John McNally has also grown into a genuine seam option this season. The spin attack of Ruan Cronje, Cillian McDonnell and David Vincent each picked up a wicket in last weekend’s victory, and they will be key again in the face of an aggressive Railway Union batting line-up. With the bat, skipper Eoghan Delany will likely be joined at the top of the order by Vincent, and with the addition of Ryan Karunakaran to the side this week they already look to have a deeper line-up, David Delany has been an immovable object so far this season, dismissed just once in his three knocks since returning, with ‘Bobbo’ Forrest and Hand also having the ability to put together game-changing innings’ in the back end of the order.

An extremely exciting battle is probably due to take place between Clontarf’s star man David Delany and Railway’s gloveman Riley Mudford, the Kiwi will need to get the better of the Irish International if the away side’s batting line-up is to stand any chance of surviving to a good score.

KEY BATTLE: David Delany vs Riley Mudford

CHAMPIONSHIP

Up next is the IBI Corporate Finance Championship, North County host second placed Phoenix in Inch, unbeaten league leaders Pembroke visit basement boys North Kildare, Rush visit The Mardyke to face Cork County having both been on the right end of a tight result last weekend, whilst Terenure host Civil Service, a game in which one of the sides will be doubling it’s winning tally for the season.

NORTH COUNTY VS PHOENIX

The big news of the weekend in this fixture is the return of John Mooney to the line-up for North County, this comes alongside news of an injury which keeps Jonno Andrews out of the side. He’ll add obvious fight and determination to the side as well as the wealth of experience he can call upon, the batting line-up features John Devane and Niall McGovern at the top of the order, they’ll be followed by Eddie Richardson, Forqan Hassanzada, Luke Whelan and Mooney in the middle order, the relative lack in depth that the order has compared with what it has looked like in the past number of games, means the bowlers will need to stand up. Abdul Ghaffar & Sattar alongside Richardson and the skipper Sean Sludds will be the seamers in the attack, and with Simi Singh still a couple of weeks from return, Tanvir Hasan will be the only spinner in the side, rolling his leg-breaks out in an attacking manner.

Phoenix on the other hand are a settled side and firmly flexed the muscles of their bowling unit last weekend, Oli Hald, Tyrone Kane, Ash Bain and Theo Dempsey make up a powerful seam unit, Hald and Kane in particular making the most of their ability to swing the ball early in the innings. Amish Sidhu is the frontline spinner in the team and comes into the fixture off the back of a brace of wickets last weekend, as well as an excellently professional spell for the Lightning Bolts on Wednesday in taking 3/3, these five make up a top-quality all-round attack. With the bat, they have been inconsistent this season, nearly collapsing from a strong position against Terenure, whilst last weekend they fell to an agonising 9 run loss against Rush. The top order including Levon Shields and Jed Wiggins will look to set a more solid base for the hard hitting middle order including Kane, James Maginnis and Adam Chester to make real inroads later in the piece.

In the absence of some of their big name players yet again, Eddie Richardson becomes an absolutely crucial wicket for the home side, if he can get through the early spell of Oli Hald, County will be in a good place with the bat and give themselves a chance to get a result from this fixture.

KEY BATTLE: Eddie Richardson vs Oli Hald

PEMBROKE VS NORTH KILDARE

The league leaders host the winless North Kildare at Sydney Parade and are able to see the return of JJ Garth to the side this time around. He will return alongside Diarmaid Tucker at the top of the order, whilst the slots from 3 to 6 are occupied by the imposing looking line-up of Nick Stapleton, skipper Theo Lawson, Will Todd and Gavin Hoey, lower down Fiachra Tucker’s return to the side has been relatively fruitful, whilst Greg Hollins has also shown the ability to score runs at this level. The bowling unit sees Stapleton lead the line, with Joe Prendergast and Piyush Sharma supporting him, the spinners are led by the in-form Paul Lawson and Fiachra Tucker, both of whom have been responsible for big hauls in the past few fixtures. They have support from Hoey’s leg-spinners which have also seen some important wickets fall in recent fixtures.

North Kildare have finally managed to string together a consistent team for a few fixtures, their batting line-up including skipper Sayed Medhi Shah, Samran Patel, Badeeu Zaman, Syed Ali Rizvi and all-rounder Husnain Maroof make up a solid and consistent looking top 5, whilst Josh Uddin and Zeeshan Afzal will follow in more attacking roles. With the ball, Akhilesh Sharma and Mohammed Zaman are a good base in the seam department, with Maroof also using his ability to swing the ball early in the innings to take wickets. Josh Uddin has been rolling out his off-spin in an effective manner this season, whilst both Bakhtyar Nabi and Awais Khalil are likely to be something of unknown quantities who will see their first bowls of the season in this fixture.

With the impact of his bowling last weekend, Paul Lawson will be lining up another haul of wickets against this weak batting line-up, if he can dismiss Husnain Maroof, he’ll have a free run at the lower-middle order, and a chance to run through the tail yet again.

KEY BATTLE: Paul Lawson vs Husnain Maroof

CORK COUNTY VS RUSH

Third in the table Rush travel to The Mardyke to face Cork County in a game which could see the home side begin to break away from the bottom of the table with a victory, their batting was good last weekend, with Stefano di Bartolomeo, Matthew Spanner and Syed Aiman all in the runs. Ross Durity, Abubakar Saddique and Byron McDonough round out the top 6 in a batting unit that can be hard to get stuck in to on home soil. With the ball, McDonough leads the line and he does so having bowled a good but luckless spell against the Lightning Bolts on the same pitch on Wednesday afternoon. He’s supported by Di Bartolomeo and left-armer Hamdullah Safi, whilst the spin options come in the form of the excellent Saddique, who last weekend was supported by off-spinner Ehsan O’Sullivan and leg-break bowler Nabeel Anjum, both of whom are attacking wicket-taking bowlers.

Rush produced nothing short of a fantastic bowling effort last weekend to defend a well below par score against Phoenix. Showing others in the league that they aren’t simply the three piece instrument some followers may have made out. Jarred Barnes took three wickets in that excellent defense, however he’s not in the side this weekend and is replaced near enough like-for-like by Allan Eastwood. He will likely share the new ball with Cian Egerton, with Alex Neary and Andrew Doheny once again further seam options. The two spinners in the shape of Nathan McGuire and Brandon Morris are once again in the side together. With the bat, McGuire, Llew Johnson and Neil Rock didn’t manage anything resembling a match winning knock last weekend, however the depth in the line-up now featuring Muhammad Saad Waseem, Jack McGee and Everton in the middle order means that even if the big three don’t fire on all cylinders, the Rush men are still a very tough outfit to get past.

He’s threatened to go big in the past couple of weeks, and this time out could be the one where Llew Johnson really puts his boot down and motors for the away side, Byron McDonough will need to knock him over to give Cork County a chance of remaining competitive in the fixture.

KEY BATTLE: Byron McDonough vs Llew Johnson

TERENURE VS CIVIL SERVICE

Finally to Dublin 6 where Terenure come off the back of three losses on the bounce and now take aim at Civil Service for the first time in Senior Cricket. Opener Donal Vaughan has returned to excellent form so far this season, exemplified by his century last weekend, he can almost certainly be the man the side bats around this weekend, Henry Dall and Liam Harris have both looked good but failed to get going at any stage in the league games, whilst Raghav Grover hasn’t fired a shot since his opening day 91, with Séamus Lynch also coming into the game off the back of a luckless run out, there’s all the ingredients for this game to see a batting line-up really fire this weekend. That’s before mentioning the skipper Dónal Lynch and keeper Gareth Morgan, who were the only batters aside from Vaughan into double figures last weekend. With the ball, Mark Thomas returns to lead the attack, whilst Darsh Shetty is also back in the frame, both seamers missed last weekend’s defeat. Grover, Kripesh Shetty and Vaughan remain from last weekend’s seam attack, whilst it will be the leg-spin of Lynch along with Harris’ offies that provide the spin options for the captain.

Civil Service can continue to approach these games, in particular away from home with something of a “no-lose” attitude, especially given how it has served them so far. With the ball they are led by Naveed Khan and the skipper Mubasber Siddique, that pair have been consistent throughout the season, as has their support from both Aamir Bafanda and Dhiraj Shetty, they will be hoping however that the remained of the overs, made up by Asadullah Ahmadzai and Arjun Chandrasekhar can be as good as what goes before them, and allows the side to put together a good all-round bowling innings. With the bat, Binson Thambi and Rajath Parashurama are vital cogs in the top order, whilst Chandrasekar’s stroke playing in the middle order can be dangerous against any oppositions. Siddique and Khan’s boundary hitting prowess could prove fruitful in Terenure, however the whole unit will need to be as on song as it was last weekend if they are to post a good effort in this fixture.

Returning to the side this weekend, Mark Thomas will be Terenure’s most important bowler, his extra bounce being something which the side has missed desperately in the past couple of fixtures, if he knocks over Binson Thambi early on, it could be a very long day to be a Civil Service batsman.

KEY BATTLE: Mark Thomas vs Binson Thambi