IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE PREVIEW – 8TH JULY

The sixth round of fixtures in the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League takes place this weekend, with the league beginning to really take shape, Leinster and YMCA are atop the pile having both won four of their first five fixtures, whilst Railway Union are still winless at the foot of the table. The other five sides, Malahide, Merrion, The Hills, Balbriggan and Clontarf, sit on either two or three wins each, and at this stage in the season a win or loss could easily see them swing as many as 4 places in the log, making each game extremely important in such a tight league.

BALBRIGGAN VS RAILWAY UNION

The holders host Railway Union at Jack Harper Park this weekend, and they will be aiming to heap more misery onto the current basement boys in the league. The home side fell foul of a magnificent run chase last weekend, however they will have been greatly encouraged by the form of some of their batsmen, Greg Ford in particular who made an unbeaten century, whilst there were also contributions from both Ghanim Dara and Connor Fletcher, who almost certainly will have been frustrated with not kicking on from the positions they had gotten into. Around those three, Cameron Rowe and Farooq Nasr will look to build a more solid base for the side, whilst Chris de Freitas at 4 has been in brilliant form and will be keen to put last week’s low score behind him. With the ball, Andy Darroch was on-song last weekend, as he knocked over the excellent Malahide top three in his first spell. Unfortunately there wasn’t such luck for the other bowlers in the side, only Samuel Willemse taking a wicket. Matt Pollard and Kashif Ali will relish the return to the quick pitches in Balbriggan, with spinners Dylan Lues and Nasr both having good records on their home ground, they are set to be the guaranteed tight overs they have always been.

Railway Union meanwhile were blown away last weekend by a superb Clontarf performance, on paper, their batting line-up, in particular their number 3/4/5 combination of Riley Mudford, Punya Mehra and Philippe le Roux, is very strong on paper, however of the top five as a unit, only Mudford has really managed to put together the runs which back up that perception. The return of le Roux has allowed Liam McCarthy and Brandon Kruger both to slide one position each and lengthen the batting order somewhat, they will really need their openers, Kenny Carroll and Ashil Prakash, to put together more of a platform for those behind them to build from, this would obviously help them run up a score, which is where they have struggled, with just one score in excess of 200 so far this season. With the ball, McCarthy has ploughed a lone furrow for much of the season up front, he didn’t bowl last weekend however, meaning Zaman Safi took the new ball, he’s joined this weekend by Stuart de Klerk who can also bowl some controlled medium pace. As has been the case in most of their games however, the spinners will be the focal point in the team. Brandon Kruger took the new ball last weekend with limited success, and with the recent loss of Alan Joseph Mathew, he is surely likely to return to bowling in the middle overs, alongside fellow off-spinner Fakhar Zaman, who focusses primarily on containing and bowling straight, whilst leg-break bowler Hamza Maan is more concerned with attacking and taking as many wickets as possible.

Balbriggan’s middle order has been on fire of late, with Greg Ford and Chris de Freitas trading match winning knock with match winning knock, whilst Ford has managed his two highest scores of the season in defeats. With de Freitas coming off the back of a strong week for the Bolts last weekend, they will be hoping to see him getting in and filling his boots with the bat once again. Given he’s a left-hander, it’s likely Brandon Kruger will fancy his chances of making a good fist of dismissing him with his offies, if he can dismiss the in-form Balbriggan man, it will give the visitors a look at the less-destructive members of the home-side’s batting line-up.

KEY BATTLE: Chris de Freitas vs Brandon Kruger

LEINSTER VS MERRION

Table-topping Leinster play host to a Merrion side that will be disappointed with their start to the league season, having fallen foul of a brilliant Balbriggan run chase in round one, they picked up with two comprehensive victories, however they have been somewhat underwhelming in their last two games, in particular the manner in which their run chase petered out tamely against YMCA last weekend. Swapnil Modgil has been in good form, following up a half-century for the Lightning Bolts last Wednesday with a brilliant 86 in last weekend’s fixture, and after Jack Carty’s dismissal for 71, only John Anderson could manage double figures as the middle and lower order all fell in a heap. This weekend sees something of a shake up, with skipper Dom Joyce returning from his finger injury, whilst Stephen Doheny also comes back at the top of the order and will take the gloves. There’s the option for three spinners for Joyce to choose from in this week’s bowling attack, as Niranjan Shankar joins left-arm spinners Danny Forkin and Tom Stanton in the line-up, the seamers include overseas all-rounder Sam Harbinson, Muhammed Sinan and Hugh Kennedy, as Max Sorensen is missing from the line-up this time around.

Last weekend, we noted that the true test of this Leinster CC side’s credentials would be how they managed to perform in a weekend where both Monil Patel and Joey Carroll failed to contribute in a big way with the bat, the pair could manage just 8 between them in last week’s game, and the rest of the line-up absolutely stood up. Michael Hogan made 79 at the top of the order, whilst Saqib Bahadur’s 71 at number 5, accompanied by Pete Francis’ rapid unbeaten 83, saw the side make 284 in an excellent batting performance. Those five, as well as Bilal Azhar who has been in good form at the top of the order, make for a potent unit which will certainly cause issues for Merrion this weekend. With the ball, Francis, Azhar and Carroll have proven to be solid wicket-taking options, whilst Mark Tonge provides support as the fourth seamer in the unit, however the spinners have been where Leinster have made real inroads of late, with Saqib Bahadur’s four wickets last weekend being key to the victory, along with support from left-armer Dev Ranolia, the side boasts two very strong options which can help to tie down their opposition throughout the middle overs.

Having taken four wickets last weekend, and in the absence of regular front-line bowler Max Sorensen, Hugh Kennedy will quickly become a key a bowler in this game, if he can take the key wicket of Joey Carroll, it will go a long way towards helping Merrion win this game.

KEY BATTLE: Joey Carroll vs Hugh Kennedy

CLONTARF VS YMCA

Castle Avenue plays host to what should be the game of the weekend, as YMCA, who now lie in 2^nd position, visit the form side in the league, having won 3 of their four games since the return of their speedster David Delany. Himself, Fionn Hand and Mick Granger were all in full flight last weekend, as they contrived to blow away seven wickets between them against Railway Union. That’s before mentioning the spin options in the side, with Ruan Cronje seeming to have the knack of taking the opposition’s premier batsman out in his spell, he’s well supported by Cillian McDonnell, whilst the option of David Vincent also remains available to skipper Eoghan Delany. With the bat, it was a change last weekend as Vincent was accompanied by Bobbo Forrest at the top of the order, it was Forrest and number three John McNally who produced the bulk of the runs in that chase. The middle order now features Delany, Hand and Ryan Karunakaran, whilst last weekend’s chase saw no need for any of the skipper, gloveman Aaron McGeehan or overseas man Cronje to bat in the innings. Tarf boast a batting line-up that is no doubt capable of putting together a really imposing innings.

YMCA meanwhile have seen their middle order start to find form last weekend, as each of Rory Anders, Adam Rosslee and Ash Burton all made scores in excess of 60. Adam Rosslee has no doubt been the absolute lynchpin of the line-up so far this season and the intent to bat around his innings’ have led to some fruitful results for the Claremont Road side this season. Around those three, Tim and Jack Tector at the top of the order, as well as Tom Anders and Mikey O’Reilly lower down the order, have all shown ability to score runs. With the ball, O’Reilly and Reuben Wilson are an extremely potent opening pair, whilst Tom Anders’ bowled brilliantly last weekend to return fine figures of 5/37, Burton and Olly Riley round off the seam bowling options, whilst it’s the skipper Tim Tector who has been offering the spin bowling option over the past two fixtures in the absence of any further options in the side.

The key man in YMCA’s batting line-up is undoubtedly Adam Rosslee, and they will surely again look to build their innings around the young South-African. That will likely see Clontarf turn to the rapid quick, David Delany to dismiss him and get Tarf’s potent bowling unit a look at the rest of the YMCA batting line-up.

KEY BATTLE: David Delany vs Adam Rosslee

MALAHIDE VS THE HILLS

The final game we look at is The Hills’ visit to Malahide, to take on one of the most in-form batting line-ups around. The home side have chased scores in excess of 260 twice this season, whilst also posting totals of 263 and 301 in two of the games where they’ve batted first, their lowest score of 161 is certainly an outlier in the statistics, however their average score is still just around the 250 mark, which is no small order. These scores have been primarily centred around good starts from the openers, Jamie Grassi and Hunter Kindley, which allows their destructive pair of Younas Ahmadzai and Matt Ford to then take advantage of the slightly more tired bowling later in the piece. Aside from those four, there are also Ali Frost, Andy Sheridan and Fintan McAllister who round off a top 7 which is not only powerful, but extremely tough to dismiss. With the ball, Peter Chase returns to the seam bowling unit this weekend, he will likely partner the skipper James Newland with the new ball, Kelvin Donnelly is the third seamer in the side, with support for those three in the shape of Ali Frost and Sheridan. Mike Frost is the primary spinner in the side, with his left-arm offies highly regarded following his exploits so far this season, Hunter Kindley provides the support for him, in a team which is just full of options with both bat and ball.

The Hills are also a side with an extremely strong batting unit when they are on song, exemplified last weekend when Cormac McLoughlin and Athar Farooqi’s opening partnership set them up with an excellent chance of chasing Leinster’s target, in spite of the fact Murray Commins couldn’t bat until number 7. Nicolaj Laegsgaard and Nathan Rooney are two of the most destructive ball strikers in the league, and that pair will no doubt relish the chance to bat in Malahide, whilst Mark Donegan has been in fine form this season, with his Leinster Lightning exploits in particular being very strong. Skipper Andy Kavanagh and Bhavesh Lakhotia round off a batting unit which could well argue to look every bit as strong on paper as their opposition this weekend. With ball in hand, Sean McNicholl and Cian Nulty led the way with the ball last weekend, supported by Tómas Rooney-Murphy in the seam department, last weekend’s unit saw Nicolaj Laegsgaard as the frontline spinner, with the remaining 10 overs pieced together between the captain Kavanagh, Lakhotia and Farooqi who all delivered part time options, obviously a return for Jonathan Tall this weekend, would be ideal as their fifth frontline bowler.

Having missed out last weekend, Malahide’s number 3, Younas Ahmadzai will be hoping to put together another big innings on home soil. Given how hard The Village’s openers have worked to get beyond opening spells this season, it’s likely Tómas Rooney-Murphy will be the man tasked with dismissing Ahmadzai when he comes on to bowl.

KEY BATTLE: Younas Ahmadzai vs Tómas Rooney-Murphy