SPORTSHUB SENIOR LEAGUE CUP PREVIEW – 2ND MAY

After a near total wipeout of the schedule on Saturday, this Bank Holiday Monday round of fixtures takes on some added importance. There were just 48.4 out of a scheduled 800 overs completed over the course of Saturday meaning a slew of 12.5 points for a No Result being dished out to every team in the competition.

Starting off in Rush, they host YMCA in Kenure today in a game which carries a huge amount of weight for the visiting side. With Rush having won their opening game, a No Result on Saturday was far from the end of the world for them. For YM however, having been downed in a shock result on the opening day by Balbriggan, they lost out on the chance to gain points on one of the main qualification contenders Merrion due to Saturday’s wash out.

In that game, the Sandymount side did get to bat for 24.4 overs, with Harry Tector again looking good for his 35 before failing to kick on, whilst fellow international Curtis Campher was in tremendous nick, making a classy 67 from just 45 deliveries. That pair will be crucial to YM’s batting again come Monday, especially with Simi Singh dropping out of the side for that fixture.

Rush on the other hand did not take the field on Saturday and will be chomping at the bit with a chance to have as good a start to the season as anyone else has managed. Their main batting protagonist in Llew Johnson will need to be on top form against an excellent YM bowling attack, whilst on the other hand, veteran Allan Eastwood and Jarred Barnes will be crucial in blunting their visitors early batting exploits, on a ground where once they have gotten in, several batsmen in either side could be very difficult to stop.

With his evident strong form on show for all to see on Saturday afternoon, Curtis Campher could relish the chance to get in on a nice batting track in a ground which will suit his straight hitting, as a result it will probably fall to former YM man Jarred Barnes to attempt to stop the classy YM middle-order player from getting into a good flow.

KEY BATTLE: Jarred Barnes vs Curtis Campher

Leinster are the first side to travel to The Mardyke this season as they face Cork County in a game both sides could do with winning. Both sit on one loss and one No Result after the first two rounds, and although Leinster had five bonus points to show for their week one exploits, their opponents sat on 0 after week one and will desperately want to bounce back.

Cork will be relishing a chance to give their spinners a run out on home turf tomorrow, with their own pitches tending to offer them more assistance than they would tend to get away from home. This will bring left-arm pair Saddique and Carey into the game significantly for this fixture and provide support for their strong opening pair of seamers in Mostert and Pollard, the bonus of knowing just how good their spinners can be at home is sure to boost the confidence of both bowlers and allow them more freedom going into this game.

Leinster on the other hand haven’t travelled to Cork since their Premier League winning campaign of 2017, five of the team who emerged victorious that day remain in the side, and that experience of playing in The Mardyke is sure to stand to the players, as Cork County have often been seen to overturn perceived bigger opposition in their back yard due to the unique nature of the away trip, as well as the complexities of some aspects of the ground.

With experience at the Mardyke under his belt, Leinster skipper Bilal Azhar will be someone who they look to in the hope of some early wickets to put his team on the front foot, whilst Cork County skipper Ross Durity will be hoping to put his best foot forward and ensure his side have a solid start to their batting innings, their match-up at the top of the Cork County batting innings will be an important point in the game.

KEY BATTLE: Ross Durity vs Bilal Azhar

In Balbriggan, Merrion are the visitors to a side who got off the mark with a shock result in round 1 against YMCA before Saturday’s wash outs, Merrion on the other hand will arguably not be too displeased with halving their points with YMCA on Saturday, preventing the Sandymount side gaining any ground on the Ballsbridge outfit in the qualification stakes.

Balbriggan will be hoping that skipper Greg Ford can continue his strong form from the Leinster Lightning mid-week game where he made an unbeaten 49*, whilst their proven performers in Connor Fletcher and Farooq Nasr will be relishing the opportunity to get stuck back into their work on their own turf. With the ball, Ryan Hadley produced a solid if not spectacular debut and certainly showed enough to do some damage in further games, whilst the spin options of Nasr, Lues and McGregor will be tasked with keeping Merrion’s middle order under control through the middle overs.

Merrion having gained a couple of strong performers in Charl Malan and Swapnil Modgil and given they also welcome back John Anderson and Dom Joyce to the side this week, could arguably lay claim to having the most heavily loaded batting line-up in the competition, with those four sounding formidable enough without evening mentioning their opening pair of inter-pro players, Jack Carty and Stephen Doheny. Their left-arm spinning trio of Sidhu, Stanton and Forkin will need to bowl tight in order to not fall foul of the short square boundaries in Balbriggan.

Considering the possible risk and reward of being a spin bowler in Balbriggan, it will really come down to which team’s spinner produces the best spell as to who can control their opposition the best, given the loaded nature of Merrion’s batting line-up, if their main man Amish Sidhu can keep Greg Ford quiet, it should give their firepower the chance to outscore the Balbriggan line-up.

KEY BATTLE: Greg Ford vs Amish Sidhu

Finally in Group A, things don’t get any easier for North Kildare, as they welcome Clontarf to The Maws for round 3. Clontarf would have been disappointed to have had their chance to build on full points in round 1 taken away on Saturday, and will no doubt be raring to go yet again this Monday. NK will also be absolutely gunning to get back out on the field, having suffered a heavy defeat against Merrion in round one they will no doubt be bursting with energy to put right some of how they performed on the opening day.

Clontarf welcome back Fionn Hand this weekend and he enters into a side that is absolutely full of bowling options as it is. David Delany and Mick Granger make up one of the most intimidating opening partnerships in the province and the addition of Hand, on top of spinners Paul Ryan and Ruan Cronje gives them a massive amount of depth. ‘Tarf’s batting line-up speaks for itself, and whilst it was in no way tested against Cork County, there were several players whose pads never saw the light of day on that occasion and no doubt the middle order of Delany, Poynter and Forrest will be more than ready to go if called upon.

North Kildare’s opening bowler Muzamil Sherzad will no doubt have an extra pep in his step this week having been named in the Leinster Lightning squad for the first time. Himself and brother Yaseen will be two men trying to make a powerful impact against Clontarf’s classy batting line-up. Whilst spinner Manjeet Singh will need to be on top form to have any chance of taking wickets in this game. With the bat, Monil Patel and Kaustab Pawar are the two class acts in NK’s team, and their joint presence will give the side a good chance of constant improvement this season.

Having bowled beautifully in Clontarf in round one, Ruan Cronje will likely enjoy conditions in The Maws, and if he can get the better of Monil Patel, the away side will have kicked down a major barrier in the NK batting line-up.

KEY BATTLE: Monil Patel vs Ruan Cronje

In Group B, we kick off in Phoenix where they face Railway Union. Neither side is off the mark in the wins column as yet this season and arguably both could see this as being a good chance to get their season under way.

Phoenix’s side is loaded with talent, seam bowling options in Hald, Cawley and Kane to name but three, Irish internationals in leg-spinner Ben White and left-armer George Dockrell and powerful batting with Bennett, Chester, Black and Ranolia, they are sure to fancy their chances of getting their season up and running particularly on home turf. If they can produce some strong performances among this wide pool of talent, they are sure to make themselves a tough opposition for their visitors.

Railway on the other side of things will probably have been disappointed not to get on the field against Terenure on Saturday, even if their 50 over record on the ground over the last number of years isn’t exactly brilliant. Their batting line-up will rely heavily on runs from Philippe le Roux, Liam McCarthy and Hashir Sultan in their middle order. With the ball, McCarthy, Kashif Shah and Hamza Maan will be the main wicket taking threats for the side in a ground which could certainly help Maan’s leg spin be effective.

Given their reliance on their middle order for runs, Railway will need Liam McCarthy to step up and provide much needed middle order resilience, his battle with Ben White is likely to be a big part of the game.

KEY BATTLE: Ben White vs Liam McCarthy

In Trinity College, Terenure are the visitors to play Dublin University in a fixture which hasn’t been played in College Park since May of 2013. DU got off to a near perfect start with a 24 point victory  against Railway Union before no result points against Pembroke have given them quite a strong foothold in the group. Terenure will have been disappointed not to get on the field on Saturday, missing out on the ideal opportunity to bounce back from their opening day defeat to Pembroke.

The Students will be without the services of Nigel Jones who was in the side on Saturday afternoon, and will look as a result to Theo Dempsey, Mikey O’Reilly and Gavin Hoey to all lift their performances and account for his bowling loss. Whilst with the bat, David Vincent, Sanil Gupta, Nicolaas Pretorius and Hoey will be the top 4 aiming to make the bulk of the runs for the home side.

Terenure meanwhile will be looking to Séamus Lynch and Henry Dall to continue their good form with the bat, and if they can get contributions from those around them in the side, building upon the foundations, they can score a total which will trouble their opponents. Terenure are without Bhavic Tukrel from the week one line-up, meaning Dylan Cleary comes into the side to lower the average age of an already extremely youthful bowling unit.

Given their relative inexperience in general, Terenure will need one of their bowlers to stand up and be counted in this game, Zubair Khan showed glimpses of brilliance in his spell last weekend, and if he can knock over Nicolaas Pretorius it could give Terenure a foothold in the game and a chance to get amongst the DU middle order early in the piece.

KEY BATTLE: Nicolaas Pretorius vs Zubair Khan

Malahide travel to Milverton to face off against The Hills in a game which both sides will be eager to win to ensure they don’t lose any ground on the other in the race for semi-finals qualification. The game carries possibly slightly more weight for the home side, after they were downed in the final throws by local rivals North County in round one, whilst Malahide came out on the right side of a similarly close run chase.

Malahide’s batting line-up has happy memories of The Vineyard, where last season Callum Riches and Matt Ford both made excellent centuries as they ran up a massive total. Both of those, plus Ryan Hackney in their side for this game makes them a daunting prospect for their opposition to deal with. Meanwhile with the ball, Ford and Mike Frost’s spin bowling will be vital throughout the middle overs in terms of keeping things tight and preventing The Hills batting with any great flow that makes them so dangerous.

The Hills on the other hand will look at their middle order of Commins, Donegan and Blignaut as their main run-scoring threat, after those three put together the bulk of their total in their showdown with North County in week one. With the ball, Blignaut and skipper Tómas Rooney-Murphy opened the bowling with great control last weekend, and will be supported by left-armer Matthew Weldon and medium pacer Ashley Bain, they will need to hit their straps to keep the likes of Ford under control, as he is well known for punishing any loose bowling which he is offered up.

Considering Ford’s ability to punish loose bowling, The Hills will be desperate to keep him under control and hope that Ashley Bain can produce the goods and take his wicket to give their side a chance of reducing the total which their visitors are able to run up.

KEY BATTLE: Ashley Bain vs Matt Ford

Last but not least, Pembroke travel to North County in a game seeing two round one victors face off against each other. North County’s dramatic win against The Hills on week one would have sent them into Saturday’s fixture against Malahide full of confidence of gaining another win, however returning to Inch with 12.5 points and a chance to take on Pembroke in their own ground where they are so strong is not the end of the world by any stretch of the imagination.

Pembroke have been boosted by the return of Danny Hogan, and with Diarmaid Tucker in the runs on Saturday, the batting line up is starting to look as powerful as it was in the double-winning season of 2019. Theo Lawson and Lorcan Tucker are their main men in the middle order and will both hope to cash in on North County’s batting friendly conditions to make a big score and give their side a chance of winning. With the ball, Patrick Morris will play a big role in the Sandymount side’s seam attack which is likely to again be without Josh Little ahead of Tuesday’s IP50.

North County’s batting line-up also boasts a very strong middle order of Malcolm Nofal, Andrew Sheridan and Eddie Richardson, all three of whom were in the runs in some way in week one. Richardson’s century on the opening day of the season was as destructive as usual and helped his side run up a huge score, but it’s Nofal whom Pembroke will be most worried about, in this fixture in 2018, the South African scored a chanceless 150 in a massive win for the home side. With the ball, County are less consistent than they have been in years gone by, but Nofal’s spin coupled with Richardson’s skills and Abdul Ghaffar’s raw pace give them three differing angles all offering genuine wicket taking threats throughout the innings.

Given his form and previous performances against Pembroke, Malcolm Nofal will be the man who North County look to for the bulk of their runs in this fixture. Patrick Morris bowled an excellent spell in week one, and if he can repeat something similar again, he may be the bowler who has the best chance of taking the North County overseas man’s wicket.

KEY BATTLE: Malcolm Nofal vs Patrick Morris