IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE & CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND-UP

Round three of the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League and Championship threw up some frankly outrageous moments across the six fixtures played this afternoon.

Kicking off in Rathmines, Observatory Lane hosted today's featured game between Leinster and Pembroke, and the tale of this game was told between two batting collapses.

Having won the toss, Nick Stapleton opted to bat first and Pembroke set about the opening throws of the game in solid form. Tim Tector was dismissed early by Jai Moondra, however JJ Garth then dominated a 67 run partnership with Diarmaid Tucker, as they moved serenely to 81/1. Garth however then dragged a rank delivery off Tom Johnson to the deep mid-wicket boundary, where Monil Patel did the rest, and the next 8 balls saw two run outs, and Jack Tector adjudged LBW without scoring, as Pembroke fell to 86/5.

They didn't lose their next wicket until the score was on 112, however three wickets fell inside the next 17 runs, seeing them 129/8 and in a spot of bother. Joe Prendergast (20) Mark Berry (27*) and Byron McDonough (23) however pieced together a further 58 runs between them for the last two wickets, guiding the side to what looked like it could be a very competitive score of 187 all out.

Tom Johnson was the pick of the bowlers with 3/29, whilst there were two apiece for Luke Callanan and Jai Moondra. A good all-round bowling effort, but Leinster would have been asking themselves questions at the break as to whether they could have wrapped the innings up sooner.

One thing was certain, the Rathmines side came out intent on making the most of the PowerPlay overs in the chase, Bilal Azhar made 23 including 5 boundaries before a mistimed pull shot saw him caught by JJ Garth off Byron McDonough. Monil Patel then dominated a 50 run stand with Matthew Vercoe-Curtis, Leinster were 91/1 and well on course for a comfortable victory at that point in time.

Then came the moment that swung the game, having already bowled three overs, Gavin Hoey took off his jumper and handed it to the umpire, skipper Nick Stapleton paused for thought and summoned Paul Lawson from his position at short-fine leg, where he was nursing a cut on his bowling hand sustained earlier in the field. Hoey took up the position at short mid-wicket, and three balls later, Lawson induced the false shot that saw Vercoe-Curtis caught by Hoey and dismissed for a run-an-over 18. The next four overs saw Leinster retreat into their shells, scoring only 8 runs before Joey Carroll became the second man to mistime his shot off Lawson, this time popping a return catch to the bowler and making the score 99/3.

The sense around the ground was clear, Pembroke were well in the game but would need to get Monil Patel out, Hoey was at this stage continuing his spell from the opposite end to Lawson, with the pair causing havoc, beating the bat and causing false shots left, right and centre. At drinks, the home side were 116/3, needing 72 for victory with seven wickets in hand. Gavin Hoey continued his spell for the 26th over and having bowled 4 dots, produced a ripping delivery which Saqib Bahadur did well to get anything on before the ball bounced on to the stumps.

That was half an opening, but it was clear from the celebrations that the Pembroke side knew well they still needed Patel's wicket. Two balls later, Lawson pulled the air out of a delivery and Patel obliged by top-edging up over Danny Hogan's head, the gloveman wisely chose not to try remove his helmet, and secured the catch at the second attempt, suddenly Leinster were five down and Pembroke were cock-a-hoop. The very next ball Tom Johnson elected to fight fire with fire, clearing his front leg and slogging towards deep mid-wicket, Jack Tector took the catch and another one had came and gone. The final ball of that over, Lawson's fifth, saw him bowling Tristen de Beer to give him his five-for, in 12 balls after drinks, Leinster were 4/1 and in absolutely all sorts of trouble. A brief fightback saw them not lose a wicket for 5 overs, however when they did it was once again the Lawson & Hoey bowler & fielder combination, as Callanan lifted the off-spinner to his leg-spinning partner at mid-wicket to be out for 6. 10 balls later, Karthik Jawahar feathered Lawson down the leg-side, where Hogan took another fine catch.

It was left to Byron McDonough to add symmetry to the proceedings, pinning Jai Moondra dead in front to secure the 42 run victory for the Sydney Parade outfit, as they made it 2/2 in the league and 4/4 in all competitions in a fine start to their campaign.

The tightest finish of the afternoon in the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League was played out in Jack Harper Park, where Eoghan Delany's unbeaten 123 rescued his side from 69/7 to post 226/8 in their 50 overs. He was supported initially by 23 from Reuben Wilson, before adding an unbeaten century stand with Paul Ryan (39). Dylan Lues the pick of the Brig bowlers, taking 3/27. Ghanim Dara was the mainstay of the chase, making 77, whilst Lues was once again the man under pressure as his unbeaten 25 was one of three 20s made in the chase, as he saw the side home in spite of wickets falling around him.

In Malahide, the home side won the toss and batted, 72 from Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin and 71 from Adam Doyle saw that pair add 99 for the second wicket, however once Doyle fell with the score on 200, the final 5 wickets fell for just 23 runs as their effort really petered out. Sam Harbinson and Melvin Devaraj both took three wickets in an excellent fightback from the away team. The backbone of the chase was a superb 90 from Adam Rosslee, with the Merrion debutant denied a century on his first appearance for the club due to a run out. Swapnil Modgil batted right through the chase for an unbeaten 69, facing just 92 balls in spite of batting for 37 overs, skipper Harbinson however stole the show with a swashbuckling unbeaten 44 from just 38 balls to guide the side to a 7 wicket win.

In the Championship, Railway's trip to Cork County fell foul of the weather, meaning just three games were played.

In Kenure, North County batted first and racked up well over 300 for the second time in the league this season. Suliman Safi top scoring with 92, whilst Niall McGovern made 67 at the top of the order and Abdul Sattar ensured the innings finished with a flourish as he made 60 from just 31 balls, as the away side batted their 50 overs making 378/8. Josh Doyle was the pick of the Rush bowlers taking 2/103 from his 10 overs. The Rush chase saw Doyle making 31 at the top of the order, whilst Hashir Sultan top scored with 68 batting at 5, an unbeaten 33 from Allan Eastwood bookended the innings and saw them all out for 266 with nearly 10 overs to spare.

Civil Service batted first at home to North Kildare, and thanks to 63 from Junaid Altaf and 43 from Nilesh Joshi, made their way to what was sure to be a competitive total of 214 all out, however they were sure to be kicking themselves for also leaving more than 10 overs of batting behind them. Bakhtyar Nabi the pick of the bowlers with 3/28, whilst Mohammad Zaman also took two wickets. Nabi top scored for North Kildare, making 45 in the chase, however on a day for them, Asadullah Ahmadzai was the second man to complete a seven wicket haul, as his 7/44 saw North Kildare all out for 193 with 16 overs to spare, a 21 run victory for Civil Service.

The closest finish in the Championship came in The Vineyard, where Terenure batted first. Séamus Lynch and Henry Dall added 50 for the second wicket before the Leinster Lightning gloveman was dismissed for 34, with Dall progressing the score to 93 before his dismissal for 38. From 97/4 Raghav Grover and Dónal Lynch added a quick 40 run stand, however three wickets in 8 balls saw the chances of capitalising on that momentum falter, as they were eventually all out for 178, three wickets each for Febin Manoj and Nicolaj Damgaard. The chase started slowly, Kripesh Shetty taking two early wickets for the away side before Brandon Kruger steadied the ship, half centuries for him and Nathan Rooney brought the Milverton outfit within touching distance of victory, before Henry Dall's offies entered the fray. He bowled a superb spell, taking 3/19, whilst Shetty returned to take two more wickets, however Terenure were left to rue being bowled out, as The Hills scrambled across the line with two wickets to spare.