IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE PREVIEW – MATCH DAY 1 (27.04.24)

231 days since a dramatic final day saw YMCA clinch the league title in what looks to have been their final game in Claremont Road, the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League is set to return to our Saturday afternoons, unfortunately without the holders in the league, meaning just 7 sides will play our the competition.

This competition is once again sponsored by IBI Corporate Finance, and Cricket Leinster would once again like to express it’s gratitude for their continued support which they have given to the Senior OCC leagues over the past number of years.

IBI’s CEO Tom Godfrey added his support to the competition, saying;
“We in IBI Corporate Finance are delighted to continue our association with Cricket Leinster through sponsorship of its Premier League and Championship competitions. We wish all the teams and the organisers all the very best in these prestigious competitions as they kick off this weekend. We will be excited to follow developments through the Cricket Leinster social media channels over the summer months.”

There’s been plenty of change, Pembroke and Phoenix both secured immediate retribution for their relegations in 2022, routing their challengers in the Championship last season and replacing The Hills and Railway Union for the 2024 edition of the competition. Whilst there’s been a wider than usual slew of transfers, assisted massively due to the dispersal of the YMCA players. Curtis Campher and Mitchell Thompson have joined Clontarf, whilst the Tector brothers, Jack, Harry and Tim have moved to Pembroke along with seamer Olly Riley. Merrion have gained Mikey O’Reilly, Jamie Forbes and Adam Rosslee in their ranks. Some other notable moves have seen Devender Ranolia return to Phoenix from Leinster, whilst Merrion have also signed Pete Francis from the Irish Senior Cup holders. Phoenix have also seen a return for wicket-keeper Nicolaas Pretorius this season, whilst the addition of Shane Getkate makes them a dangerous proposition.

There have been very few changes to the captaincies across the league, Clontarf, Malahide, Leinster and Balbriggan all enter with the same skippers as led the team last season, with Eoghan Delany, James Newland, Bilal Azhar and Greg Ford at their respective posts. Sam Harbinson returns from a successful season in Australia to skipper Merrion in his second season, whilst fellow Aussie Nick Stapleton takes over at Pembroke following Theo Lawson’s retirement, the third and final change sees Adam Chester taking over the reins again in the Park.

Due to the late withdrawal of YMCA, there’s now set to be no fixture in Castle Avenue this weekend and Clontarf are the first team idle. We’ll kick off our previews of this weekend with what appears, on the basis of the transfers in and out so far, to be the tie of the opening round, as the two promoted sides go toe-to-toe in the Phoenix Park.

PHOENIX VS PEMBROKE, Phoenix Park

The star-studded Pembroke roster fell foul of numerous Leinster and Ireland call-ups in 2022 to end up relegated as bottom of the league. They bounced back last season under the captaincy of Theo Lawson, who rounded off a fine Senior Career with a Championship trophy. This season they have added several experienced and high-quality cricketers to their ranks which makes them a real force to be reckoned with. Mark Berry and Byron McDonough have been confirmed as added to last year’s squad for a number of months, helping to soften the blow of when representative commitments mean the likes of Barry McCarthy can’t play. It’s the last week however, when the quintuple signing of the Tector brothers, Olly Riley and Padraic Flanagan from YM, has added an extra dimension of depth to their side which will surely see them in good stead for the coming season.

These new additions, added to the already wide pool of talent featuring Diarmaid, Lorcan & Fiachra Tucker and JJ Garth with the bat, all-rounders Joe Prendergast, skipper Nick Stapleton and Gavin Hoey, and Paul Lawson and Donncha Tucker with the ball, mean both headaches for coach Conor Mullen when it comes to selecting their side, but will surely lead to a consistent ability to select a powerful and experienced side from week to week.

Phoenix meanwhile as mentioned already have also made some good moves this off-season, and with Adam Chester back at the helm will no doubt be also eyeing up top honours this season. The addition of Shane Getkate adds yet more all-round class to the side in which Tyrone Kane has been a leading light in the past number of seasons. In all likelihood, the availability of George Dockrell and Ben White for this season opener could well see Phoenix go into the fixture with 4 spin options, as Dev Ranolia and Amish Sidhu will also provide left-arm orthodox options to supplement the two Irish Internationals, Theo Dempsey and Ash Bain are the two frontline seamers who will support their all-rounders. With the bat, we’re more than likely to see the hard-hitting South African-born pair of Pretorius and Levon Shields at the top of the order, and that pair could well take advantage of the league now being a white ball competition with some hard hitting in the PowerPlay.

This fixture will really come down to who’s class players show up more on the day in all reality, Harry Tector is likely to debut for Pembroke in this game, and having batted 9 times in Phoenix in Senior Cricket, his record is excellent, averaging 53.44 passing 50 five times and turning one of those into a century. Phoenix’s trump card and wicket-taking strike bowler is Ben White, he could well be the man they look to for a moment of magic whilst Tector is at the crease, and if he can provide it, it’ll be a big part of how the home side look to win this game this weekend!

KEY BATTLE: Ben White vs Harry Tector

MERRION VS LEINSTER, Anglesea Road

With the league campaign now down to just 12 fixtures, quick starts are set to be crucial for the sides with ambitions of competing at the sharp end. Merrion and their new additions will therefore need to gel quickly to avoid any early season hiccups, and they face a much-changed Leinster side who possibly enter the season as something of an unknown quantity given the backgrounds of some of their new faces.

Merrion are a side who’s qualities are undoubted and relatively easy to look into, they boast a war chest of talent with the bat, Adam Rosslee only adding to the strength which already existed in the shape of Stephen Doheny, John Anderson Swapnil Modgil and Sam Harbinson, whilst Pete Francis will likely booked that 6 at the other end of the middle-order and brings with him an abundance of experience in tough situations having so often dug Leinster out of a hole last season. With the ball, the aforementioned Francis and Harbinson will no doubt be two of the most important bowlers in the side this weekend and across the season, however the addition of Mikey O’Reilly with the new ball will likely cause Leinster plenty of issues. In the spin department, Danny Forkin and Tom Stanton have been two mainstays in Merrion’s side for the past couple of seasons, however the player to look out for with the ball this season could well be leg-spinner Seb Dijkstra, who kicked his season off with a fine performance in last weekend’s 2^nd XI Premier League curtain-raiser.

On the face of it, Leinster are up against it here going into the opener, not only will their most influential player from last season be lining up for the opposition, but they will be going into this game without having really replaced him in the side. Jai Moondra being back to full fitness is a major boost to the side, and he could prove to be like a new signing this weekend, however it looks like they could once again be looking towards the experienced classy operators in the shape of Monil Patel and Joey Carroll to provide their runs, with support from Saqib Bahadur. Whilst with the ball, skipper Bilal Azhar and Mark Tonge will be hoping to provide some pace and movement early on to support Moondra and Carroll. Avril Shukla and Bahadur will be the pair of spinners in the side aiming to take advantage of any sideways movement which this early season Anglesea Road pitch may provide.

There’ll no doubt be a target on the head of Pete Francis for all of Leinster’s bowlers this weekend, so that in itself is a battle to look forward to, however the key wicket of Merrion’s innings no doubt remains opener Stephen Doheny, his dominating approach will go toe-to-toe with the swing bowling of Bilal Azhar this weekend, and if Azhar can dismiss Doheny early, it will be a massive boost to Leinster’s chances.

KEY BATTLE: Stephen Doheny vs Bilal Azhar

MALAHIDE VS BALBRIGGAN, Malahide

The final battle we get to in this weekend’s round of IBI Corporate Finance Premier League fixtures comes to us from Malahide, and with the Village double boosted this week with the recruitment of Graham Ford as Head Coach and top-order batter Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin transferring across from The Hills, this game takes on a much tighter look to it than it may have. Ford’s coaching debut for Malahide will see one of his sons competing on each side of the battle, as Matt (Malahide) and Greg (Balbriggan captain) face off in their respective middle orders once again.

Malahide enter this season without the services of a trio of important players from last year, ‘Finto’ McAllister has retired from playing, whilst Peter Chase and Jamie Grassi were both consistent figures in the side last term who are absent for the time being at least. Another notable name currently missing from the Malahide starring list is David O’Halloran, who, in spite of not featuring as much last season, would add to the side’s depth. The batting will once again be led by Younas Ahmadzai, Ali Frost & Matt Ford, whilst the new additions of McLoughlin-Gavin and talented South-African Jeremy Martins will add to the firepower at both the top and in the middle order. The all-rounder in the side is Andrew Sheridan, with the pool of seamers still strong in spite of the loss of Chase. Skipper James Newland, Cameron Shoebridge and Kelvin Donnelly are all very good operators, however it’s the left-arm offies of Mike Frost which is arguably the greatest threat in the bowling attack, with the Zimbabwean born bowler having really started to make a name for himself in IP competitions in the past couple of years. The man filling the huge void behind the stumps this season will be Matthew Langan, the teenage keeper won the Cullen Cup for leading wicket-keeper in the 2^nd XI Premier League and will aim make the step up to Premier League as seamless as possible to help the side transition to not having ‘Finto’ behind the sticks anymore.

Balbriggan’s form since the beginning of Andre Botha’s time at the club has been superb, with two league trophies and a T20 success to their name in the past three seasons, they’ve gone quickly from mid-table Championship club just 5 years ago to a side which everyone expects to compete at the business end of competitions. They are captained by Greg Ford, and have added Sebastian de Oliveira to their squad to alleviate the loss of Matt Pollard from last year’s side. Dylan Lues and Chris de Freitas are going into their 4^th seasons with the club and both have cemented themselves as vital all-rounders within the side, de Freitas in particular had a bumper season last time around, which culminated in his progression into the Lightning Bolts side and ultimately up to number 3 in the full Lightning team where he scored two half-centuries in three appearances. Ghanim Dara will likely occupy his position at the top of the order again, whilst the batting unit is rounded off by Cameron Rowe and Farooq Nasr. The Brig’s swing bowlers are some of the more dangerous in the province, with either Sam Willemse or Kashif Ali both consistently getting their side off to a good start throughout last season, exemplified by Willemse’s opening spell in the Alan Murray Cup final last term. Andrew Darroch is the third seamer who bowls with a bit more pace than the opening bowlers, and he’s a real point of difference with his ability to rush batters. Vivek Singh is the man behind the sticks who fills the Connor Fletcher shaped hole in the side, and he’ll be vital to the side in terms of applying pressure whilst their high-class spin pair of Lues and Nasr go to work.

There’s one man in the Malahide line-up who every team want to see the back of more than anyone else all this season, and that is Younas Ahmadzai, he has an unrivalled ability to put the game long beyond the opposition’s reach in the first few overs of his innings and will make him a prized wicket for the Brig this weekend. As mentioned already, Sam Willemse’s movement with the new ball will be vital, and he’ll be the man tasked with catching Ahmadzai cold early in his innings, if he is dismissed cheaply, it will give Balbriggan a massive foothold in this game.

KEY BATTLE: Younas Ahmadzai vs Sam Willemse