IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE PREVIEW – JULY 15TH

The seventh and final round of fixtures in the first half the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League takes place this weekend, and after 6 weeks of top class cricket, the league has begun to really take shape. This weekend will be a real test of the depth of the squads among the teams challenging for silverware, with Cricket Leinster providing the vast majority of players at this weekend’s IP20 festival in Bready.

This seventh round sees Leinster, Malahide and YMCA entering with four wins from six, whilst Merrion, Clontarf and Balbriggan have all won three and lost three games, The Hills and Railway Union round off the table with two and one victories to their names respectively. There’s a vital game in Fingal, as The Hills visit Balbriggan, whilst the other game on the Northside sees Merrion visiting Malahide. On the south of the Liffey, YMCA make the trip through Sandymount Village to play Railway Union, whilst Observatory Lane sees Clontarf visit Leinster for what could be a huge game.

BALBRIGGAN VS THE HILLS

The all-Fingal battle in this round sees Jack Harper Park play host to Balbriggan vs The Hills, in a battle between 6^th and 7^th in the league table. The Hills started off the season with two wins, however they now come into this game off the back of four defeats on the bounce, and the team enter this weekend without wicket-keeper Mark Donegan, with Leinster Lightning, and Matthew Weldon & Murray Commins, who are both representing the Munster Reds side. They do however still boast a strong batting line-up, with Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin, Athar Farooqi, Bhavesh Lakhotia, skipper Andy Kavanagh, Nicolaj Laegsgaard and Nathan Rooney likely to be the bones of the top 6. With the ball Cian Nulty, Tómas Rooney-Murphy and Sean McNicholl will lead the way in the seam department, whilst Laegsgaard will continue to lead the spin line, his support in the last couple of weeks has come from Lakhotia and Kavanagh, the latter of whom will no doubt be looking forward to a return for Jonathan Tall when he is available again.

Balbriggan are unaffected by IP call-ups this weekend, and no doubt as a result will enter this game as favorites. They boast two of the most in-form batsmen in the league in the shape of Greg Ford and Chris de Freitas, no game has past without a score of at least 74* from one of the pair, with de Freitas having now got two centuries to his name as well. Along with Connor Fletcher, Ghanim Dara and Farooq Nasr, the side’s batting looks strong, whilst Cameron Rowe hasn’t managed to turn any of his chances into scores as yet, he’ll be a man they look to build a more solid base around this weekend in an effort to not see their in-form men performing yet another rescue mission this time around! The all-rounders featuring Dylan Lues, Matt Pollard and Andy Darroch have all become renowned as powerful ball-strikers in the lower-order, and with each of them offering genuine wicket taking threats with the ball, a big game from any of the three can prove to be a real momentum turner. The attack will likely be rounded off by Kashif Ali and Samuel Willemse with the pair of left-armers able to extract early swing and provide a threat to The Hills’ somewhat weakened top-order.

In the absence of two of their strongest middle order batters, the start to The Hills’ innings will be vitally important, that means Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin will need to get through the opening spell of Matt Pollard to give his side a good start, and have the best chance of making a competitive score.

KEY BATTLE: Matt Pollard vs Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin

MALAHIDE VS MERRION

Malahide’s good start to the season has arguably come at something of a cost to them, with three of their regular starting team away on IP20 duty this weekend with the Munster Reds side. Mike & Ali Frost and Matt Ford are all out of the side, with this leaving them down two frontline spin bowlers. They will however more than likely be able to call on their battery of seam bowling depth to dig them out of that hole, with Kelvin Donnelly, James Newland, Peter Chase and Andy Sheridan all having bowled well last weekend, there’s potentially Cameron Shoebridge and David O’Halloran who could both come back into the side in the absence of their IP call-ups. With the bat, there is relatively little disruption at the top of the order, Jamie Grassi and Hunter Kindley will again open the innings, with the explosive ball-striking of Younas Ahmadzai at number 3, Sheridan, Fintan McAllister and even potentially the skipper Newland could all see promotions that allow the batting order to be balanced out nicely.

Merrion have Sam Harbinson in their side for Saturday’s fixture, a vital addition considering he will spend Friday and Sunday representing the Leinster Lightning, they will however miss Stephen Doheny, who returned to the side at number 3 last weekend so impressively. Swapnil Modgil continued his fine form with 73, sharing a good opening stand with Jack Carty, however the concern for the Merrion skipper Dom Joyce will no doubt be the collapse which occurred, as the side went from 150/1 to 191 all out, the middle order of John Anderson, Harbinson and Joyce will be the men looking to arrest that potential issue this weekend. With the ball, Harbinson and Muhammad Sinan will likely share the new pill, with the left-arm spinning pair of Tom Stanton and Danny Forkin also likely to be in the frame. Recent weeks have seen Niranjan Shankar return to the side, and his off-breaks could also be a useful option for Joyce, whilst seamer Hugh Kennedy has been bowling very well in the first change slot over the past month.

The inclusion of Sam Harbinson for Merrion is vital in this game, and his opening spell with the ball could well help shape this game, if he can dismiss Hunter Kindley early in the piece, it will have taken out the man who Malahide will no doubt be hoping to see occupy one end throughout the course of this innings.

KEY BATTLE: Hunter Kindley vs Sam Harbinson

RAILWAY UNION VS YMCA

Up next we have YMCA’s visit to Park Avenue, they face a Railway Union side who for the first time in the league this season will have to manage without their star wicket-keeper Riley Mudford, who is responsible for three of the five half-centuries made for the team in the league so far this season. The man responsible for the other two is Ashil Prakash, who will open the batting alongside the stalwart Kenny Carroll, who aside from a good knock in the quarter final of the Senior Cup, has struggled for form in the longer format games this season. The same can be said for most of this line-up, with Railway’s batting really struggling to adapt from T20 back to 50 over cricket, Punya Mehra, Brandon Kruger and Liam McCarthy will all be looking to regain some form, whilst the skipper Philippe le Roux has only come back into the side in the past couple of weekends, and will be looking to stamp his authority on the league. With the ball, the loss of spinner Alan Joseph Mathew could prove to be vital for fixtures like this, however Railway continue to have a spin heavy bowling unit, with Kruger, Hamza Maan and Fakhar Zaman all options which have been used throughout the season. Their major weakness earlier in the year was the lack of seam support for Liam McCarthy, however they will be hoping the return of Sean O’Brien and emergence of Zaman Safi in the side will allow some pressure to ease off the South Africa, who had largely put the team on his back in the early parts of the season.

YMCA meanwhile are missing several players on IP20 duty, with Harry & Tim Tector, Mikey O’Reilly and Reuben Wilson away with the Lightning, whilst Curtis Campher is with the Munster Reds. This puts them on the back foot straight away, however the major boost to their side is that Adam Rosslee remains available, and will likely once again occupy the number 4 slot in which he has been so successful in the league so far this season. Experienced 1^st teamers Jack Tector, Tom & Rory Anders will all need to be on their game to help account for the loss of their battery of IP talent. With the ball Ash Burton and Olly Riley will likely take on more prominent roles, whilst with the bat, Henry Thompson may well be a man who moves up a couple of positions. Tom Anders has been key in the past couple of weekends and will once again be a man YM need to contribute if they’re to win this fixture.

Railway Union will see this as a real opportunity to upset the applecart and get amongst a weakened YMCA side, if Liam McCarthy can dismiss his fellow countryman Adam Rosslee early on, it will give the Park Avenue a real chance of an upset.

KEY BATTLE: Liam McCarthy vs Adam Rosslee

LEINSTER VS CLONTARF

Finally for this weekend, the battle in Rathmines looks set to be the game of the round, with the home side and table toppers playing host to 5^th placed Clontarf, who with a big win could overtake their opposition, in a show of just how tight the league is this season! The visitors will have all bar Fionn Hand and PJ Moor available to them this weekend, with David Delany, like Sam Harbinson at Merrion, returning from IP20 duty for league cricket on Saturday. The batting unit featuring David Vincent, Eoghan Delany, John McNally and Ryan Karunakaran looks very strong, and will take a lot of stopping, especially after a very solid run chase last weekend. With the ball, Delany will lead the way and has been electric the last month, whilst young seamers Liam Gilhooly and Luke Thomson have both provided good options. Spinners Ruan Cronje and Cillian McDonnell also provide top quality options, with David Vincent the third option in the side.

Leinster, like Clontarf, have their premier all-rounder Joey Carroll available for Saturday’s fixture, and alongside Monil Patel at three and four in the batting line-up they have formed an extremely formidable pairing in the middle order. Either side of that pair, Bilal Azhar and Michael Hogan have been excellent at the top of the order, with Saqib Bahadur, Pete Francis and Patrick Lynch making up the remainder of a powerful order, which has propelled them to the top of the league in impressive fashion. With the ball, Azhar and Francis are an excellent opening pair, with support from right-armer Mark Tonge, and left-armer Jai Moondra, before even mentioning Carroll in the line-up. Spin comes from Saqib Bahadur’s right arm, and Devender Ranolia’s left arm, as the pair of off-spinners have both had good season’s so far in the league.

David Delany has been the key man in the Clontarf line-up ever since his return to the side, and his opening spell will once again be vital for the side. If he can knock over Monil Patel at number 3 early in the Leinster innings, it will be a big step towards a victory for Clontarf.

KEY BATTLE: Monil Patel vs David Delany