SKELLIG SIX18 LEINSTER SENIOR CUP QUARTER FINAL PREVIEW – JUNE 11TH

The season is really into full swing now as following on from yesterday’s full programme of Senior League cricket, we have the quarter finals of the Skellig Six18 Leinster Senior Cup!

The four fixtures see Clontarf visit Malahide, Railway Union host Rush, Leinster travel to Inch to face North County, whilst The Vineyard plays host to The Hills against Pembroke. There’s just one all-Premier League tie among the games, and that’s where we’ll begin today’s preview of the action.

MALAHIDE VS CLONTARF

Malahide put together a wonderful batting innings in the league this weekend, amassing 301 against Leinster before succumbing to the chase under DLS method, that carried on their brilliant form with the bat from the week before when they chased down Clontarf’s 251. Younas Ahmadzai has been the absolute key to their batting efforts of the last two fixtures, he’s now made a century and a rapid-fire 70 in the opening two league games and you can be sure the home side will be attempting to set the game up for him again. Hunter Kindley’s century today at the top of the order, alongside 89 from Jamie Grassi, means that the top order is in fine fettle heading into this fixture. The bowling for this game is bolstered by the return of three frontline options, as Peter Chase will likely be given the new ball, whilst Matt Ford and Mike Frost both offer spin options to the skipper James Newland, he rounds off the seam bowling with Cameron Shoebridge in an attack which is well rounded a full of variety.

The visitors meanwhile have a couple of players in form, skipper Eoghan Delany in particular spending some good time at the crease in the last couple of games, their top 5 however will need to kick on more in order to avoid the “start-merchant” tag that haunts so many talented top order players. Ruan Cronje, Aaron McGeehan and John McNally are three men who will be looking to capitalise on the foundations that the openers will build for them, whilst Bobbo Forrest and Andrew Delany will be the men charged with providing some acceleration later in the innings. With the ball, the bowling attack is led by Mick Granger, who is supported in the seam department by Liam Gilhooly and Luke Thomson, with John McNally also becoming more of an option as time goes by. The spin twins of Cronje and Cillian McDonnell have been excellent across the longer form this season and will be two men to keep an eye on as this game pans out.

Malahide’s batting line up will have a tough job on in being able to get a big total on the board against this strong ‘Tarf bowling brigade, Younas Ahmadzai will again be the key man for the home side if they are to win this game.

KEY BATTLE: Younas Ahmadzai vs David Delany

THE HILLS VS PEMBROKE

Pembroke travel to Skerries off the back of a solid 7 wicket DLS win over Terenure yesterday afternoon. Diarmaid Tucker, JJ Garth and Nick Stapleton have all shown good form over the course of the past few weeks, whilst Theo Lawson and Macdara Cosgrave spent some valuable time in the middle in yesterday’s game to see them home. Rob Kelly replaces Gavin Hoey in the side, meaning Fiachra Tucker becomes the main spinner in the line-up, supported by Paul Lawson. The three pronged seam attack of Stapleton, Piyush Sharma and Zach Micklewright offer plenty of variation in pace and angles, whilst the option of Joe Prendergast’s seam up bowling remains available to captain Lawson, should he wish to return to the man who served so well in last season’s successful Senior Cup campaign.

The Hills also tasted success in their league fixture this weekend, with the in-form duo of Murray Commins and Mark Donegan once again delivering the goods. They are the heart of a batting line-up which would no doubt fancy itself to out-gun any other in the league. Nicolaj Laegsgaard, Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin, Bhavesh Lakhotia and Nathan Rooney make up the rest of a brilliantly balanced top 6, with boundary options aplenty available, whilst each of them are comfortable to keep the scoreboard ticking throughout their innings. With the ball, Sean McNicholl and Tómas Rooney-Murphy have proven to be two of the most in form bowlers around in the past couple of weeks, they are the spearheads in a seam attack which also features Cian Nulty, whilst Laegsgaard and Jonathan Tall are the two left arm spinners who round out an excellent bowling attack for the skipper Andrew Kavanagh to select from.

His opening spells have been lethal of late, and therefore Nick Stapleton could well be the man called upon to try get in and amongst The Hills’ batting line-up early in the piece. If he can dismiss in-form opener Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin cheaply, it will give him a good look at The Hills’ powerful middle order, much earlier than the home side would like.

KEY BATTLE: Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin vs Nick Stapleton

RAILWAY UNION VS RUSH

Park Avenue hosts what could be a fascinating battle between two sides who possess extremely powerful top orders. Starting with the away side, Rush managed a victory in yesterday’s league games, even in spite of their big three of Llew Johnson, Nathan McGuire and Neil Rock all being dismissed quite cheaply. They were left indebted to an excellent knock from Andrew Doheny in the middle order to get them to a good score, and no doubt the knowledge that himself, along with Cian Egerton and Jack McGee all have the ability to bring the side from what are possibly poor scenarios into a much better finish, means they can approach the game in a more confident mood. Their seam bowling attack of Jarred Barnes, Asher Abbasi, Cian Egerton and Alex Neary offer plenty for the skipper McGuire to play around with, whilst he can take the crease himself, or throw the ball to fellow offie Brandon Morris, as and when the situation dictates.

Railway Union meanwhile are yet to show the middle order ballast of Rush, and therefore will be extremely hopeful that the good form of Kiwi gloveman Riley Mudford can continue. What has become clear in recent weeks is Mudford’s ability to score quickly remains no matter what the situation of the game might be. His role at number three could be made easier by a platform being set between Kenny Carroll and Ashil Prakash, whilst the home side will be hoping for more contributions like the one Fakhar Zaman helped the side out with in yesterday’s league game. Liam McCarthy and Brandon Kruger will be two men hoping to find themselves in a position to make telling contributions with both bat and ball in tomorrow’s game. With the ball, Alan Joseph Mathew’s off-breaks lead the way, whilst McCarthy’s seamers are supported by Talha Talhat and Esmat Ibrahimi. Supporting Mathew are Zaman’s off-breaks and Hamza Maan’s attacking leggies.

Rush’s biggest wicket this weekend is no doubt the one of possibly the in-form man in the country in Neil Rock, Pebbles comes off the back of a huge IP20 week, and having failed in yesterday’s fixtures, will be gunning to get going again. Liam McCarthy will be the man taking aim at Rock’s wicket, with the Railway Union skipper no doubt seeking to lead from the front again.

KEY BATTLE: Liam McCarthy vs Neil Rock

NORTH COUNTY VS LEINSTER

At Inch another two sides who tasted victory in the league this weekend face off, and with North County having just about scraped past the new men in the Championship in Civil Service, they will be hoping to build on that performance to progress in the cup again. Niall McGovern returned to form with the bat making 60 at the top of the order, whilst there were also contributions from Abdul Sattar, Jonno Andrews and gloveman Forqan Hassanzada. This ability of the Inch side to build on starts and see the tail-end chip in and not give their wickets away easily is always a vital asset in knockout cricket. Eddie Richardson and Andrews have been key men in the middle order for several seasons and will no doubt be looked to for contributions again. With the ball, Richardson stood up with 3/16, however it was the skipper Sean Sludds who really led the way taking 4/37, the accuracy that this pair offer is grouped with the pace of the brothers, Sattar and Ghaffar, who especially on the pacier wickets in Inch, possess the ability to absolutely blow teams away.

Leinster arrive into this game flying high having knocked Malahide over on Saturday afternoon, a monster run chase in jig time seeing them to 2/2 in the league. The men in form for the side are Bilal Azhar, Monil Patel and Joey Carroll, all of whom have been in the runs in the last two weeks. Overseas man Pete Francis saw the side home, and his all-round ability has become a massive boost to the Rathmines outfit. Assuming they roll in with the same team as visited Malahide, they will also have the brilliant stroke-making of Michael Hogan at the top of the order in a side which looks absolutely full of class. They remain solid if unspectacular with ball in hand, their bowling performance yesterday was no disgrace, however Carroll’s return is massively encouraging to the side’s season-long chances. He just plays support at the moment, with Francis and Azhar taking on their roles at the top, whilst Mark Tonge is the next seamer up. The spinners of Dev Ranolia and Saqib Bahadur rarely have an off-day between them, and they will add yet more variety to the attack which North County must grapple with.

With the form he’s been in this season, Monil Patel is the prized wicket for North County to take this weekend, it will probably be no secret that Eddie Richardson will be looking to dismiss the Leinster number three, and that is set to be a fascinating contest!

KEY BATTLE: Eddie Richardson vs Monil Patel