IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE PREVIEW – MATCH DAY 7 (JULY 19TH)

The mid-way point of the season sees all the sides in the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League reach the halfway stage in matches played, with the exception of Balbriggan who are the idle team and played their 6^th fixture last weekend.

This weekend sees Phoenix playing host to Leinster, whilst in Anglesea Road, Clontarf pay a visit to Merrion. Finally, another top vs bottom clash, as in The Village, Malahide host league leaders Pembroke.

PHOENIX VS LEINSTER

This year’s Irish Cup Finalists play host to last season’s winners, in a league fixture which is vital to Phoenix if they are to push up the table and keep pressure on league leaders Pembroke. Whilst their team is as yet to be confirmed, they’re set to be without George Dockrell who has been playing for the Lancashire Lightning, however there’s no obvious reasons why any of their other star players could be missing. That should leave them with a strong outfit, with the batting led by the likes of Johit Munjal and Levon Shields at the top of the order, with Jack Lalor, Amish Sidhu, Tyrone Kane and Shane Getkate the battery of all-rounders who can do damage in the middle overs. Callum O’Byrne was the unlikely hero last week against Merrion, with his half-century preventing the side from an embarrassing collapse, and his form in holding the innings together is likely to be crucial considering the poor form which they have shown with the bat from 7 down in recent weeks. With the ball, Sidhu’s spell last weekend was nothing short of magic, and if conditions are similarly in his favour this weekend he could produce more of the same. He will lead the way along with seamer Tyrone Kane, whilst Jack Lalor and Shane Getkate will support Kane with more medium pace options. Sidhu is supported by Ben White’s leg-breaks as well as Dev Ranolia’s left-arm offies, with the Phoenix side inundated by bowling options.

Leinster meanwhile will be eying up overtaking their opponents in the league table here, and their recent return to full strength has helped this possibility significantly, however, they haven’t played a league fixture since June 1^st and will need to get right back to form immediately. Their batting is led by the powerful 3/4/5 of Monil Patel, Joey Carroll and Gareth Delany, who have shown the ability to take the game away from their opposition this season, with Delany in particular having swung the Alan Murray Cup Final on his own more or less a couple of weeks ago. Their batting unit is completed by Bilal Azhar at the top, and Tristen de Beer along with Saqib Bahadur have shown the ability to find the rope in unusual areas and help to accelerate the scoring rate. With the ball, Leinster have shown the ability to take advantage of spinning conditions in their own way, with Tom Johnson and Bahadur both having bowled very nicely in Rathmines in particular, and they could find themselves producing similar form if the pitch is conducive in Phoenix. Their seamers however have also shown some fine form, with Jai Moondra and Luke Callanan in particular bowling aggressively and beating the bat regularly, whilst that pair are supported by another pair of pace bowlers in Carroll and Azhar, the side have plenty of options that can produce wickets on most surfaces.

Jack Lalor is the big wicket for Phoenix in the long format, and it can often take something special to dismiss him, Leinster will be looking for Luke Callanan to produce the goods against him, and if he does so, it will give the away side the upper hand.

KEY BATTLE: Jack Lalor vs Luke Callanan

MERRION VS CLONTARF

Another of this season’s Irish Senior Cup Finalists are at home this weekend, and Merrion will need to be on form to beat Clontarf, in particular in the absence of Adam Rosslee from their side. Meaning that once again Sam Harbinson and Pete Francis will move up the order slightly to compensate. Last week’s victory over Phoenix saw them doing so to good effect off the back of a good second wicket stand between Doheny and Rosslee, so will need a similar effort from the top three once again to allow them to use their clean striking middle order in the same roles again. Beyond the top five, Mike Lewis and Jamie Forbes are as strong a 6 and 7 as a side could hope for in the league, and both proved vital at the back end of last week’s chase. With the ball, they’re led by the swing of Mikey O’Reilly up front, whilst both Melvin Devaraj and Max Sorensen have found themselves bowling some excellent spells and are the other new ball options. Harbinson’s middle overs and death bowling has proved very important, whilst Francis’ return to some limited bowling loads is another big boost to his side. Tom Stanton is the sole spinner selected once again this week, with possibly part time option of Jamie Forbes also available to Harbinson.

Clontarf meanwhile come into this game at near to full strength, and will need to put together a good performance, as last week’s loss to Malahide has seen them fall within one win of the side at the bottom of the table. Their batting faltered last weekend having kept Malahide to a low score, and this weekend in Merrion could well see them getting the best from their bowlers once again. They are led by the seam trio of David Delany, Fionn Hand and Reuben Wilson, who should all be able to extract movement early on. The side is well built to deal with whatever conditions are thrown at them however, with John McNally giving a fourth seam option, whilst from a spinners’ point of view, they have left-armer Cillian McDonnell, supported by three right arm offies in Yash Bala, Paul Ryan and opening batter David Vincent. Their batting unit meanwhile is reliant on their all-rounders producing the goods, only skipper Eoghan Delany, keeper Rahul Dalal and Mitchell Thompson would be considered out-and-out batters in the side rather than all-round contributors. This means the likes of Hand, McNally, Vincent and David Delany will also need to produce some decent efforts if the side are to be competitive, especially against this Merrion bowling unit.

Whilst it may be Merrion’s bowling unit which Clontarf have front of mind from the outset, they are doubtless going to look at the key man in the home side’s batting line-up as being John Anderson, especially with the role that Rosslee performed so well last weekend needing to be filled. If Cillian McDonnell’s left-arm offies can put some pressure on Anderson early on, it could well give the away side a bit of an advantage and allow them to turn the screw.

KEY BATTLE: John Anderson vs Cillian McDonnell

MALAHIDE VS PEMBROKE

The bottom vs top clash sees Malahide hosting the league leaders in what any other year would be considered an extremely precarious position. Their batting unit is without Ali Frost for the next couple of weeks, and this will add some pressure on Younas Ahmadzai and Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin to get the side off to a good start, whilst the middle order will aim to bat around Adam Doyle and allow the likes of Matt Ford, Adam Doyle and Jeremy Martins to play with freedom. Andy Sheridan is the all-rounder who will look to accelerate the innings late on, and his seam bowling will support openers James Newland and Kelvin Donnelly, and first change Jeremy Martins, whilst their spinner is still the excellent left-arm off-spin option of Mike Frost. Matthew Langan continues behind the stumps for the home side.

Pembroke meanwhile have been able to select quite a settled side in recent weeks, and will be hoping to reap the benefits of it this weekend. They are without Gavin Hoey’s leg-breaks, with his inclusion in the Test Match squad ruling him out of contention for this weekend. That means their spin attack is spearheaded by Paul Lawson, wit support from JJ Garth’s leggies, and their brilliant seam attack of Nick Stapleton, Byron McDonough and Olly Riley is supplemented by teenager Dan Murray, who has shown some excellent form in recent weeks and will also play an important role replacing Hoey’s lower order power hitting. With the bat, Tim Tector and Diarmaid Tucker lead the way, with Garth at three, and that trio will be looking to set the game up for Stapleton, Jack Tector and Fiachra Tucker in the middle order. Greg Hollins continues with the gloves, and he’ll be another man looking to help accelerate things later on alongside Murray.

Malahide’s batting has been under big pressure this season, and Pembroke have found a knack of collecting wickets in clusters in particular when Byron McDonough gets on a roll. If the tall right-armer can dismiss Younas Ahmadzai early in proceedings, the home side could find themselves on the back foot and under a lot of pressure.

KEY BATTLE: Younas Ahmadzai vs Byron McDonough

IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE

MATCH DAY 7 – JULY 19^TH

ALL 12 NOON STARTS

At Phoenix Park, Phoenix vs Leinster

At Anglesea Road, Merrion vs Clontarf

At The Village, Malahide vs Pembroke