IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE PREVIEW – AUGUST 19TH

The 11^th round of fixtures in the IBI Corporate Finance sponsored Cricket Leinster Premier League, sees battles at both ends of the table beginning to heat up, there are crucial clashes set to be fought out over the next two weekends in particular, however we begin with what could be a season-defining game for two Fingal sides this weekend.

THE HILLS VS BALBRIGGAN

The long-time leaders, Balbriggan, make the short trip to Skerries to face off against one of the form teams in the country in The Hills at The Vineyard, the home side come into this game off the back of a loss in last weekend’s All-Ireland T20 semi-final, however they secured some much coveted silverware in the Alan Murray Cup the previous Tuesday, and will no doubt be riding the crest of a wave into this fixture, in particular having beaten, and as a result overtaken, Merrion in the league last weekend.

The home side’s batting ranks have been boosted significantly since the return of their classy top order man Murray Commins, he came back into the side last month and bolstered a unit which contained the genuine opener in Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin who the stroke making Mark Donegan, Dylan Blignaut and Levon Shields could all bat around, with Andy Kavanagh also in that top 6, The Hills batting unit is one which is definitely capable of running up big scores, particularly on their fantastic home batting tracks. With the ball, Blignaut has been the main man in the seam bowling department, whilst Tómas Rooney-Murphy has also been in fine form. South African Ashley Bain is missing from the usual bowling line-up, and young seamer Sam Smyth will be the man tasked with filling up his overs. Spin options will come from Athar Farooqi and Levon Shields, both of whom have delivered fine spells in big games in recent weeks.

The visitors boast one of the most settled teams in the league, and after their initial re-jigging of batting orders early in the season, have found a formula which has seen consistent results. Connor Fletcher at the top of the order, Chris de Freitas at number 3 and skipper Greg Ford at number 4 have all been in excellent form, whilst in Nathan Rooney, Dylan Lues and Andrew Darroch, there’s plenty of power hitting available to the side as you run down the order, that power hitting has helped them to run up some excellent totals, as well as recovering some poor positions during the season, and as a result, makes their unit very dangerous. With the ball, Balbriggan have an excellent seam attack, Ryan Hadley and Andrew Darroch providing new ball pace, whilst Kashif Ali has been superb with his swing bowling, de Freitas’ medium pace has been used quite sparingly however is still a strong option, whilst off-spinners Lues and Malcolm McGregor will be important, with their match-up against The Hills spinners likely to be vital in holding the middle orders of their oppositions scoring rates back in the middle overs.

With Balbriggan’s seamers having gotten them off to a good start on several occasions so far this season, they will be hoping Ryan Hadley can deliver another good opening spell, his battle with Murray Commins at the top of The Hills order will be crucial in determining the momentum of the game early in The Hills’ innings.

KEY BATTLE: Murray Commins vs Ryan Hadley

CLONTARF VS YMCA

Up next is the bottom half battle between YMCA who currently sit 5^th in the table, and Clontarf who are propping up the rest. The home side are back to something resembling full strength this weekend, with Fionn Hand’s return from international duty set to improve the side with both bat and ball, whilst Andrew Poynter is in the side having predominantly played in the 2nds for most of this season. Hand’s seam bowling boosts their attack which contains genuine pace in David Delany and Mick Granger, whilst youngster Luke Thomson has added plenty to the attack when called upon this season. Their spin will this week come from Paul Ryan and Ruan Cronje, with just two options in the side compared with their more usual three. Batting wise, David Vincent is absent this weekend, and with the form he’s in, he will be a huge loss at the top of the order, however the Delany brothers and PJ Moor still provide plenty of strength with the bat for the hosts.

The visitors team is as yet to be confirmed, however they will be aiming for a victory to pull themselves away from the bottom of the table and the availability of their international stars Curtis Campher and Harry Tector could be key to this game. If both are available they will provide 20 overs of quality bowling and bolster the top and middle order significantly. If that pair are not in the side, it remains a relatively settled YMCA batting unit with Jack Tector and Mitchell Thompson at the top of the order, whilst Tim Tector and Adam Rosslee have produced strong performances at numbers 3 and 4 this season. With the ball, Reuben Wilson and Mikey O’Reilly will lead the way for the visitors, whilst they will also look to spinners Jamie Forbes and Thompson to bowl tightly to Clontarf’s mixed-experience middle order.

With the solid David Vincent missing at the top of the order, YMCA’s opening bowlers may have a sniff of getting stuck into Clontarf’s batting line-up early on, Mikey O’Reilly’s battle with David Delany will likely be a key factor in the Clontarf batting innings as to what way the game will swing.

KEY BATTLE: David Delany vs Mikey O’Reilly

PHOENIX VS MERRION

The Phoenix Park plays host to the nearest thing to a mid-table clash that the Premier League can offer up at the moment, as fourth placed Merrion are the visitors. They are without their skipper Tom Stanton yet again this weekend, meaning keeper Stephen Doheny deputises. The batting line-up remains near full strength with Jack Carty and Doheny at the top supported throughout the middle order by Swapnil Modgil, Franco Marais, Dom Joyce and Niranjan Shankar, the last of those in particular in good nick having been in the runs in both the semi-final and final of the Tillain Cup which Merrion 2 won last weekend. With the ball, Muhammad Sinan, Jack Carty and Sean Stanton provide the seam options for captain Doheny, whilst unusually for this Merrion side this season, they enter the game with just one left-arm spinner available to them, as Amish Sidhu will be tasked with taking on his former club with support from Shankar’s off-breaks on this occasion.

For the home side, they haven’t confirmed their starting XI as yet, however if George Dockrell were to return it would be a huge boost to their team. Potential returns for Oliver Hald and Ben White would be key to the home side with the ball in particular, with skipper Tyrone Kane having produced some spectacular performances so far this season the depth of the home sides’ seam bowling stocks haven’t been tested hugely, however if Hald is again absent, they will need Conor Sheil to be on song. Their spin bowling stocks include Will Bennett and Dev Ranolia and both have bowled well and consistently this season, and having both been staples of the bowling attack so far this season, they will be crucial in a bowling attack which is otherwise somewhat inconsistent in its availability. With the bat, the side is significantly more settled, with Adam Chester, Bennett, Nicolaas Pretorius and Kane all providing powerful ball striking and plenty of runs to the side.

Stephen Doheny’s runs have been vital to Merrion so far this season, if he can put together a decent score again at the start of their innings, it will be a big boost to their chances of victory in this game. His battle with Tyrone Kane, Phoenix’s premier bowler, will be a key point in the innings, with the home side gunning to take the big wicket early on to get them on top in the game.

MALAHIDE VS PEMBROKE

The final game in this round of fixtures sees Pembroke visit the international ground and face Malahide with the away side dwindling in the relegation zone, having essentially swapped places with today’s hosts over the course of the last few weeks. The home side’s batting line-up is at full strength again this weekend, and with Ryan Hackney, Ali Frost and Hunter Kindley all having provided centuries over the last few games. Those three alongside Fintan McAllister, Matt Ford and Arjun Muntha provide an excellent top 6 who have propelled Malahide to five wins in their last six games. With the ball, David O’Halloran, James Newland and Cameron Shoebridge will provide good options for pace with the new ball, Ali Frost and Agbinesh Paul both offer good change seam options, whilst there will be spin available from Mike Frost and Matt Ford who will need to be on-song bowling to Pembroke’s strong middle order.

The visitors are without their four Irish internationals for this fixture, but do welcome back Ryan Hopkins into the side. Hopkins, Joe Prendergast and Piyush Sharma provide the seam bowling options, whilst there’s spin from Paul Lawson, Gavin Hoey and Donncha Tucker. With the bat, Theo Lawson will be the main man in the middle order in the absence of Poonish Mehta, whilst at the top of the order, they will be looking to Diarmaid Tucker, Danny Hogan and JJ Garth to get the side off to a good start. Greg Hollins and Gavin Hoey will be two men who can provide some big hitting in the lower-middle order.

In the absence of their international stars, the start of Pembroke’s batting innings will be vital to their chances in this game, Diarmaid Tucker has gotten them off to a flier in plenty of games this season, and he will be looking to do the same again this weekend, this time against Malahide’s skipper James Newland in the opening salvo of the visitors batting innings.

KEY BATTLE: James Newland vs Diarmaid Tucker