IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE PREVIEW – JULY 29TH!

Another total wipeout of the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League last weekend saw the league standings remain materially untouched for the third week in a row. Among the fixtures lost were two key matches between the top two, Leinster and YMCA and the bottom pair, Railway Union and The Hills. This weekend sees three games on the southside of the city, Leinster hosting Balbriggan, Merrion hosting Clontarf, whilst Malahide travel to Railway Union, with the only game north of the Liffey seeing YMCA travel to The Hills.

LEINSTER VS BALBRIGGAN

Leinster’s explosive batting line-up was outgunned on Tuesday evening in their cup semi-final, the side is clearly in good form and being able to bounce back from that quickly would be huge for them, in particular with the Irish Cup final also looming large. Their batting unit featuring the two main men, Joey Carroll and Monil Patel, sees support from Michael Hogan, Saqib Bahadur and Pete Francis, who have all contributed well this season. With the ball, Francis and Carroll will both bowl their seamers, with support from Mark Tonge, Bilal Azhar and Jai Moondra, whilst the spinning pair, Bahadur and Dev Ranolia balance things out nicely with their left and right arm options.

Balbriggan meanwhile are looking for their first victory in over a month, with their last two fixtures seeing them make 230 and 260 in defeats. Chris de Freitas and Greg Ford are the in-form pair for the away side, with the two being quite relentless with their run-scoring so far this season. The slight concern for the side will be the lack of form among most of the rest of the batting unit, however the likes of Connor Fletcher and Farooq Nasr have made plenty of runs in the past and will be keen to rediscover that form. With the ball, they will no doubt be keen to take early wickets and put pressure onto Leinster’s premier batsmen. Matt Pollard and Sam Willemse will need to bowl with good control early on, whilst the slightly quicker Andy Darroch will also seek to attack. The spinners round off the attack with Dylan Lues leading with support from Nasr.

KEY BATTLE: Dylan Lues vs Monil Patel

MERRION VS CLONTARF

Anglesea Road sees a game between two of the sides on 3 wins at the moment, and Merrion will welcome Max Neville back this weekend, after his return was foiled by the weather last weekend. Another new man in the side for them this weekend is Irish U19 international Jordan Neill, he will support Danny Forkin in the spin bowling department. Muhammad Sinan, Max Sorensen and overseas man Sam Harbinson will be the seamers who accompany Neville in the attack. With the bat, Stephen Doheny is the premier batter in the side, and will be supported by John Anderson, the in-form Swapnil Modgil, Jack Carty and Harbinson.

Clontarf meanwhile come into this game on a high having booked themselves a place in the senior cup final on Tuesday night. They have a line-up filled with big-impact players, none more so than David Delany and Fionn Hand, both of whom are capable of being game-breakers with both bat and ball. At the top of the order, Eoghan Delany and Ryan Karunakaran will be important to set the base for the middle order to build off. PJ Moor and ‘Bobbo’ Forrest are both big ball strikers who could relish conditions in Anglesea Road. With the ball, Luke Thomson was in the wickets on Tuesday evening, and the spinners in the side will be Ruan Cronje and Cillian McDonnell, who could well prove to be vital to the side.

KEY BATTLE: Ruan Cronje vs Swapnil Modgil

THE HILLS VS YMCA

The Vineyard saw a fantastic run chase on Tuesday evening, with Murray Commins and Nathan Rooney treating the home crowd to some marvellous stroke play. Commins returning to the side having missed a couple of games whilst managing injury proved to be a vital player in the side. Athar Farooqi and Bhavesh Lakhotia have shown glimpses of good form in the longer format, whilst Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin and Mark Donegan are two classy operators who their opposition will have to be wary of. With the ball, Tómas Rooney-Murphy and Sean McNicholl will lead the way, with support from Cian Nulty, whilst the spin will come in the shape of Jonathan Tall and Athar Farooqi.

YMCA meanwhile are one of the most in form sides in the league, having won a run of four consecutive fixtures before losing their most recent league fixture. Adam Rosslee has been the key to that run of form, as he has consistently produced innings’ which have given YMCA scores they could defend. Unfortunately, the side haven’t managed to support him well in the top order, with Tim and Jack Tector struggling for form, whilst the team has also missed the lack of appearances for Curtis Campher and Harry Tector. With the ball, Reuben Wilson’s injury is a blow to the side, however they do still benefit from Mikey O’Reilly and Olly Riley, both of whom have bowled well this season, whilst the Anders brothers have also contributed well. Jamie Forbes’ inability to bowl has meant skipper Tim Tector has taken up the main spinner mantle in recent weeks.

KEY BATTLE: Jonathan Tall vs Adam Rosslee

RAILWAY UNION VS MALAHIDE

Malahide travel to Railway Union with what looks like their full strength line-up for what may be the first time this season. Peter Chase, James Newland, Kelvin Donnelly being the frontline seamers, with support from Andy Sheridan and Ali Frost, whilst the spin comes from Mike Frost and Matt Ford, both of whom are excellent operators. With the bat, Hunter Kindley and Jamie Grassi will be at the top of the order, with Younas Ahmadzai at number 3. The middle order sees Ford, Ali Frost, Sheridan and gloveman Fintan McAllister, in what is quite a deep batting line-up as well as being extremely powerful and well-balanced between boundary hitters and more conservative accumulators.

Railway Union on the other hand come into this fixture off the back of an agonising 2 run loss to Clontarf on Tuesday evening in the semi-final of the cup, their main man in the side, Riley Mudford, was dismissed cheaply in that game and runs for him will be key in this fixture. Ashil Prakash has been in good form, and he was in the runs once again on Tuesday, however outside of that pair there has not been an abundance of runs for anyone in the side, they will need the likes of Punya Mehra to step up to the plate this weekend if they are to make enough runs to beat this Malahide side. With the ball, the return to the bowling crease for Liam McCarthy is a massive boost, and his opening spell is another point in the game which will be crucial to the side’s progress.

KEY BATTLE: James Newland vs Riley Mudford