With the start of the season just a week away we take a quick look at the state of the teams competing in the Mason Alexander / LHW Financial Planning sponsored Premier League. The first team we look at is Merrion, newly promoted from D2.

Merrion managed to go through last season winning all 13 of their league fixtures, ending up with margin of 128 points over second placed Dublin University. But perhaps more important to their prospects for success this year is that they managed to blood a number of younger players who were given an extended run in D2. How well these younger players adjust to the heightened competition in the Premier league could be key to how successful the team is this year.

Last season the Merrion batting line up, led by John Anderson, over powered the bowling attacks in D2. It will face greater challenges this year, not aided by the fact that they have lost John Blakeney [emigrated to Japan] from the top of the order. But there is considerable depth to the batting with a lot of bowling all-rounders in the team. Patrick Tice and Michael Lewis will be available for the full season which will also strengthen the middle order. What they certainly won’t lack is firepower with players like skipper Dom Joyce, Tyrone Kane, Bhavesh Lakhotia and Vikas Dhiman all capable of getting big scores quickly.

The bowling attack looks much better balanced this year with a lot of competition for places. Last season Merrion found themselves short of quick bowlers at critical points in the season. Two new imports, the overseas player Poonish Mehta [Haryana] and Jack Carty [University of Queensland] will help address this concern and together with Tyrone Kane, Max Neville and Sean Stanton present a formidable attack. Further backup will provided by Hugh Kennedy [returning after injury ruled him out for last season] and David Langford-Smith who returns to the club. There is also good variation in the slow bowling with John Anderson, Tom Stanton and JJ Walsh provided wrist and finger spin.

The team has a good blend of youth and experience and will be hoping to bounce back from their year in D2. If the team gets a run in any of the cup competitions it should have the strength in depth with a number of players coming up from their league winning U19 side from last year. The main concern will be pressure on key players due to call-up for representative duty.