SENIOR LEAGUE CUP – FINAL ROUND PREVIEW - 10.7

This weekend sees the first checkpoint in the season, as the Group Stage of the SportsHub Leinster Senior League Cup comes to a conclusion. There’s lots to play for this weekend, with no fewer than nine teams still all in with a shout of qualification for next weekend’s semi-finals.

Starting off in Group A, YMCA travel to Observatory Lane where their equation is simple enough, they need three points to qualify, regardless of what happens elsewhere. They will have to achieve this without the services of Curtis Campher, Harry Tector or Simi Singh however, as the game runs too close to the Ireland vs South Africa series for which they are all in the squad. Jack Tector and Rory Anders were in fine ball-striking form last weekend in their victory over Terenure, whilst Andrew Blair-White also returns to the YM line-up on the back of a 60* in the Tillain Cup last weekend, so while they might be missing some of their star names, the Sandymount men are still a team in good form.

With the ball, Mikey O’Reilly was excellent again last week, himself and Tom Anders’ took three wickets apiece to continue their good form as a bowling unit from the previous two weekends, whilst Cillian McDonnell’s 12 wickets at an average of 6.93, going at just 4.33 runs per over, see him atop the bowling charts in the competition as it stands. Those three will be vital yet again in a good YM performance.

Leinster on the other hand have been knocked out of the competition after their defeat to Rush last weekend. That won’t stop them however from trying to put a spanner in the works for YMCA, and they certainly have plenty of ability in the side to do so. Their bowling at home has been particularly good this season, spin from Saqib Bahadur and Aviral Shukla has been complemented by Mark Tonge and Ross Shivmangal’s medium pacers.

Meanwhile with the bat, Joey Carroll has looked in good touch this season and their chances of scoring enough runs to beat YMCA revolve around his ability to be the backbone of an innings, while also scoring at a good strike rate. If he can lay a base, their later order hitting can come into the game.

KEY BATTLE: Cillian McDonnell vs Joey Carroll

Rush meanwhile host Terenure, the home side know that they need a big favour from Leinster, along with a big win over their visitors to give themselves any chance of qualifying. They are without their captain Neil Rock, who scored a fantastic 100 last weekend to keep them in the qualification hunt. That means the pressure with the bat will shift to their other InterPro star Nathan McGuire, whilst Jack McGee scored a polished 45 when the sides met in Terenure and will hope to make a similar impact again.

With the ball, Allan Eastwood missed the reverse leg, and along with Jarred Barnes will provide a stern test at the top for Terenure. Ehtesham Ahmed and Asher Abbasi both bowled good spells last time out as well, and with support from Andrew Doheny’s seamers and McGuire’s off breaks, the Rush attack will need to be as consistent as possible to keep things tight.

Terenure on the other hand are without captain Dónal Lynch, Liam Harris replaces him whilst in their only change to the side from last weekend, Aidan Doyle returns and takes the place of Sol Bell-Megaw. Last week we noted that Terenure had seen plenty of players make starts, but nobody had gone on to a big score. Danny Wicks’ 42 last week was their highest score of the season, but still wasn’t enough to help them to a big score, as the rest of the batting line-up failed to fire.

The return of Aidan Doyle should help boost the bowling attack, whilst the spin of Kenny McDonald and Sadiq Safi will need to be absolutely spot on in Rush, a ground where visiting spinners are often caught out by the dimensions.

KEY BATTLE: Danny Wicks vs Allan Eastwood

Group B sees a battle between three teams for qualification, although Railway Union would need the highly unlikely outcome of a tie between Clontarf and Malahide, accompanied by their own win, in order to overtake both teams to qualify for the semi-finals. Railway travel to The Mardyke to face Cork County, boosted by the return of Glenn Querl and the addition of South African Liam McCarthy, Railway will certainly be giving themselves every chance of beating the Munster side in an effort to qualify. Their key man will more than likely be Kenny Carroll again this weekend, his form with the bat led the side to two victories over Clontarf, and if he’s on song, Cork will have an uphill task.

The Munster men on the other hand are already eliminated, they took a heavy 52 run loss to Clontarf last weekend in Castle Avenue, but will remain encouraged by the form of Rudolph Pollard and Joubert Pienaar, both of whom showed flashes of what they can do with the bat, whilst a cameo from youngster Byron McDonough was another sign of potentially more to come as the season progresses.

Those three will need to be on top form with the bat, as well as the left-armed seamer Harvey Wootton and spinner Abubakar Saddique with the ball if they are to be the ones to put an early end to Railway’s qualification hopes.

KEY BATTLE: Harvey Wootton vs Kenny Carroll

The main attraction in Group B is the mouth-watering tie between the top two in the group, as long as there is a winner in this game, it will be winner-take-all in terms of the qualification stakes.

Malahide are quite close to full strength, meaning their batting will boast an explosive top three in Alan Reynolds, Arjun Muntha and Matt Ford, all three hit the ball hard and far from their first delivery, and we can expect more of the same from them tomorrow if Malahide are going to post a big total.

With the ball meanwhile, they are still without Peter Chase, but still their side is littered with representative bowlers, Ali and Mike Frost will bowl through the middle overs, whilst the innings will likely be bookended by spells from James Newland, who’s ability to swing the ball early, then hit yorkers at the death make him one of the most well rounded T20 bowlers in the competition.

For Clontarf, last weekend was the perfect blueprint for how their batting unit works well, last week we called Eoghan Delany their “glue” at number three, and that he was, his unbeaten 53 allowed the boundary hitters around him to go to work. Fionn Hand’s strike rates at all levels this season have been phenomenal, and if he can get going on the back of a good base, ‘Tarf are a very tough side to peg back.

Ben McCabe and Conor Kelly excelled last weekend for the home side, whilst in many ways the middle overs showed that Clontarf is the sort of ground where any bowler doing their job excellently gets rewarded, David Vincent’s off-breaks and David Delany’s right-arm thunderbolts saw their four over spells go for just 16 and 20 runs respectively, and in spite of not taking wickets, a similar showing from those two this weekend would be a big help to the home side.

KEY BATTLE: David Delany vs Alan Reynolds

Group C sees a clash between Balbriggan and North Kildare, who travel to Jack Harper Memorial Park for what could be described as a dead-rubber, but is sure to be nothing like the sort on the field. The visitors will be aiming to finish off the competition with a win, after a run of three chastening full points defeats to Merrion (twice) and Pembroke in the past three games put a dampener on what had been a couple of decent opening performances from the Kildare men.

Monil Patel and Josh Uddin were in the runs last week in their modest total of 119, that pair are really the backbone of North Kildare’s unit in T20 cricket, and will both need to be up to last weekend’s form again to give them a good chance of outgunning Balbriggan’s power-packed line-up. Whilst with ball in hand, Muzamil Sherzad has bowled excellently for Ireland U19 in the Future Series this week, carrying his club form on to that level. If he can drive the team on with another good spell of four overs, they could rock Balbriggan enough to turn them over.

The Brig meanwhile might be just out of the competition, but that won’t stop them looking to finish with a win, 4 from 6 would be a marked improvement for them on last year’s campaign if they can manage a victory over North Kildare this weekend. Connor Fletcher and Nathan Rooney have proven to be their boundary hitters of late, while last weekend’s hero of the hour was Andrew Darroch, if they are in full flow again this weekend, they’ll make North Kildare’s lives very difficult.

KEY BATTLE: Connor Fletcher vs Muzamil Sherzad

The other game isn’t quite winner-take-all, but Merrion host Pembroke in the hope that if they do manage to turn their visitors over, they’ll have done so by enough of a margin to allow them to qualify for the next round. Pembroke meanwhile know that if they manage to take two bonus points from the game, they’ll have secured their place in the semi-finals yet again.

The home side finally managed to field a full strength side for the first time this season last weekend, after Stephen Doheny spent time with the Ireland squad in the Netherlands, whilst Jack Carty’s early season form was rewarded with a place in the Munster Reds’ side. The form of that pair at the top of the order will be vital to Merrion given the circumstances in which they need to win in order to leapfrog Pembroke, any run chase will need a big contribution from both to ensure their bonus points remain intact.

On the bowling front – Merrion’s key men will be left-arm spinners Amish Sidhu and Tom Stanton, again given the likely need to bowl Pembroke out cheaply in order to qualify, wickets from this pair could be the most important aspect of any contribution which their bowling unit can make to this game.

Pembroke on the other hand are now without the international trio they welcomed back last weekend for their win over North Kildare, and in all likelihood will revert to the same experienced and strong side which saw them win three of their first four games. This means that there’s extra impetus on Theo Lawson and Fiachra Tucker with the bat, whilst Diarmaid Tucker will hope to continue his good form at the top of the order.

The bowling will also now most likely return to being quite spin heavy, but that shouldn’t be an issue to Pembroke given how well all four of their spinners, Lawson, Garth, Tucker and Ruttle, have performed so far this season. They’ll need to be on top form to keep John Anderson and co in the Merrion middle order quiet.

KEY BATTLE: John Anderson vs Paul Lawson

Group D features another “dead rubber” between two teams who cannot qualify for the next round. Thankfully it is a match up between The Hills and Phoenix, two sides who don’t know the meaning of the words!

Phoenix are the visitors and will be looking for a win to boost themselves ahead of the league campaign which begins the following weekend, last weekend saw a debut for George Dockrell, however they will be shorn of his services again this weekend as his continued good form sees him in the Ireland squad again. This means the batting responsibility will fall to Jamie Grassi and Louis McDonough again, after both made half-centuries last weekend, they will hope a repeat effort can be supported by the middle order to give Phoenix a competitive total.

The Hills on the other hand will be hurting after losing in the local derby last weekend, even more so given it eliminated them from the competition. They’ll look to their flair middle order of Murray Commins, Mark Donegan and Dylan Blignaut to provide them with a total they can win this game with. Whilst with the ball, Blignaut’s figures last weekend were exceptional, but they just weren’t backed up as well as The Hills would’ve liked, they’ll need to support their pack leader to have a chance of repeating their previous victory against this Phoenix side.

KEY BATTLE: Dylan Blignaut vs Louis McDonough

Last but by no means least, our featured game of the day will come from Inch, where Dublin University are the guests of North County. The winner of this game will progress to the semi-finals of the competition come what may, it goes without saying that this is a massive game for both teams.

North County’s bowlers were the fulcrum of their victory last weekend, Eddie Richardson’s 4/20 was supported excellently by fellow seamers John Mooney, Andrew Sheridan and Abdul Sattar. Keeping any side to just 6.5 runs per over in Inch is an extremely strong all-round effort, and if they can do similar again this weekend they will give themselves every chance of winning the tie.

With the bat, John Mooney’s 53*, supported by Niall McGovern’s 37 dug them out of a real hole after being 34/4 early on. This pair along with Richardson will likely need to be in the runs if they are to score enough to beat a Dublin University side who have batted well in most of their games this season.

The Students have been boosted in recent weeks by the return of Conor Hoey to the line-up and his bowling will likely be at the forefront of North County’s minds when they are assessing their opposition’s dangers this weekend. Gavin Hoey has also been excellent this season whilst seamers Sam Streek, Max Collins and Max Neville have all provided good spells when called upon.

Last week’s run chase showed some real class in the Dublin University batting ranks, Nicolaas Pretorious has been the backbone of the side this season, whilst Gavin Hoey’s not out contribution was ultimately game winning for the Students. They are without their other not out contributor, Danny Hogan, this weekend, but will hope they can look to the rest of their top 4 and feel confident they have enough fire power to reach a semi-final next weekend.

KEY BATTLE: Eddie Richardson vs Gavin Hoey

SPORTSHUB SENIOR LEAGUE CUP

JULY 10^TH

Group A
Leinster vs YMCA, Observatory Lane – 13:00
Rush vs Terenure, Kenure – 14:00

Group B
Clontarf vs Malahide, Castle Avenue – 13:00
Cork County vs Railway Union, The Mardyke – 14:00

Group C
Merrion vs Pembroke, Anglesea Road – 14:00
Balbriggan vs North Kildare, Jack Harper Memorial Park – 14:00

Group D
North County vs Dublin University, Inch – 13:00
The Hills vs Phoenix, Milverton – 14:00