SPORTSHUB SENIOR LEAGUE CUP PREVIEW – APRIL 23RD

The Senior League Cup returns to it’s 2019 form after spending two years as a T20 event, the 14 Leinster based sides across the Premier League and Championship are joined by Dublin University and Cork County for 7 group games followed by semi-finals on June 4^th, and a final in Sydney Parade on June 11^th. We’ll kick off with an in-depth look at the fixtures ahead of the opening weekend!

GROUP A

Starting off with Clontarf against Cork County, this will be the Leesiders’ first foray into the competition in it’s current form, having not taken part in 2019, whilst the Castle Avenue men don’t exactly have happy memories of this form of the competition, they finished 6^th in their group in 2019 resulting in them playing their league cricket in the Championship that year. They did, it must be said, duly win the league with a degree of comfort. Eoghan Delany was the skipper that year and after a couple of seasons without the armband he has retaken the reins for the 2022 campaign.

Looking ahead to the weekend’s game, Delany is clear in his mind what his side needs to do well to get off to a strong start;
“We're quite familiar with Cork County, having played them a lot in recent years. Bowling has probably been the stronger suit for both clubs over that period. The result on Saturday will therefore be heavily dependent on batsmen doing the second half of the job. It'll be a challenging opening game, one that will represent a very solid start to the season if we come out on top.”

Clontarf’s batting will be boosted this season by the return of Andrew Poynter from the injury which cut his season short in 2021, alongside their overseas player who is the highly-rated South African talent Ruan Cronje. With PJ Moor, ‘Bobbo’ Forrest, Andrew Vincent and David Delany all in the side as well, they could make themselves a formidable entity with some good early season form. Their bowling attack is without Fionn Hand this week, seeing Matt Butler step up in his place, whilst Paul Ryan returns to the 1^st team fray filling the front-line spinner role, meaning there’ll be no shortage of enthusiasm in the field.

Cork County are captained by Ross Durity again this season and are boosted hugely by the return of Cormac Hassett to the club, the former Munster Red was a pivotal player in the side before spending his last two years in Australia, and his return will deepen their batting pool significantly. Rudolph Pollard was their main man with bat and ball last season and the South African will be a key player in the side if they are to get off to a good start. He and overseas man Francois Mostert are the two main seamers in the side and their contributions will be badly needed on early season wickets, the rest of their attack will include the slow-left-arm duo of Abubakar Saddique and Diarmuid Carey, who will both need to bowl tight, particularly against a Clontarf side with some of the league’s better players of spin available to them.

Castle Avenue will be a carnival atmosphere this Saturday as on the other side of the clubhouse Clontarf RFC also face off against Cork opposition in the AIL semi-final, with some of the talent on show, there’s no doubt this season opener in the Senior League Cup could provide just as much entertainment as it’s rival fixture just a few yards away!

KEY BATTLE: David Delany vs Cormac Hassett

Next up, YMCA travel to Balbriggan, in what is now an all-Premier League clash. YMCA won this competition in 2020 in it’s T20 form before being beaten finalists in last year’s edition, mixed availability then saw them produce a mixed bag of on-field performances in the league competition, however what has been clear is that when they have all their players available they are very much a force to be reckoned with, especially with bat in hand. There’s been very little change to the squad for the season ahead and as a result it’s to be expected that the consistency of availability will be the main driver in the results which they are able to produce early in the season.

YMCA’s skipper JJ Cassidy is looking forward to having a strong side out to start the season with both Curtis Campher and Harry Tector both available for the initial fixtures;
“Their international experience coupled with the sure hand Graham Ford has provided since joining the club will hopefully create an environment where the young lads in our squad can continue to develop and excel”

In other team news, Cassidy is excited to be getting some fresh talent into the side;
“Reuben Wilson will also make his 1^st XI debut after impressing in the winter with the Ireland U19s in the Carribean”

Balbriggan are under the wing of coach Andre Botha for another season with Greg Ford skippering the side. They have strengthened their bowling for the season ahead with the addition of three seam bowlers, overseas Ryan Hadley is joined by Kashif Ali who returns from Clontarf and Khalid Bilal returns from The Hills. Dylan Lues will be the sole spin option in their side this weekend. Their batting ranks remain relatively unchanged again for another year with Connor Fletcher, Farooq Nasr and Nathan Rooney making up much of the spine alongside captain Ford.

Given YM’s ability to put together big scores with almost their full team available to them, the initial part of their batting innings is likely to go a long way towards deciding what direction the game falls in, Ryan Hadley’s new ball spell for Balbriggan will be a big part of this fixture.

KEY BATTLE: Ryan Hadley vs Jack Tector

Next up, Rush host Leinster in Kenure in what is an all-Championship tie. Both sides will be looking to kick off their season with a good start, knowing they still have 4 fixtures against Premier League sides to play over the coming 6 weeks.

Rush are buoyed by two new additions this season, the hugely popular Lynal Jansen has returned as coach, along with Otago Volts batsman Llew Johnson who is their new overseas player. The addition of Johnson in particular is essentially a straight swap which will help account for the loss of Nathan McGuire. Neil Rock is again the skipper in Kenure and his experience over the off-season at international level will no doubt help the side lift to another gear again. “Pebbles” record in the Senior League Cup is very strong, he’s made 650 runs at 46.43 in the competition, including making a century in last year’s fixture away against Leinster, no doubt he will be looking to lead by example again this year. Rush’s seam bowling department is unchanged again from last season meaning the intimidating duo of Allan Eastwood and Jared Barnes will again be peppering opposition batting orders with heavy lengths, whilst Daniel Coffey’s emphasis on deviation and accuracy will hope to reap the rewards at the other end.

Leinster are skippered by seamer Bilal Azhar for the coming season, again they have a relatively settled side going into this year, with Chris Janik reappearing in the side for the first time since 2019. All-rounder Saqib Bahadur is an integral part of the side, whilst alongside the obvious candidate of Gareth Delany, Joey Carroll and Andrew Tonge will need to step up with the bat if the Rathmines side are to hit the ground running. Azhar will lead the bowling line-up along with young Mark Tonge who came into his own last season with some very strong performances and that pair will have a tough job on their plate against some extremely powerful hitting in this opening clash.

Azhar and Rock tossing the coin will likely be an important moment to see who gets to unleash their bowling attack first, but when the Leinster skipper bowls to the Rush skipper is likely to be an equally important point in the game, Rock’s form against the Rathmines side is historically strong, so Leinster will be hoping that Azhar can produce something special and prevent him from getting into the rhythm which makes his batting so good.

KEY BATTLE: Neil Rock vs Bilal Azhar

Finally in Group A, Merrion play host to North Kildare as they begin the defence of their crown as Senior League Cup champions in 2021. The home side have strengthened ahead of the start of the season and the unavailability of Dom Joyce and John Anderson this week sees their depth tested straight away, something which skipper Tom Stanton sees as an important aspect of the coming season and is confident they can deal with;

“We’re looking forward to starting a new campaign and continuing to grow as a squad. We have a couple of new joiners to the squad who have fit in very well to our already close-knit group.

With such a large number of games this season, having depth will be crucial and it’s great to have guys constantly knocking on the door for selection and working hard.”

He’s also quick to echo the sentiments of most captains going into this season, that in the main it’s now about getting out on the field and putting performances together;

“It’s going to be a competitive season with most teams strengthening. We can’t wait now to get going with matches and striving for strong performances each week.”

Merrion are boosted this season by the addition of batsmen Charl Malan and Swapnil Modgil, that pair will have their work cut out to be direct replacements for the two men listed as unavailable above, but if they can assist to offset it in any way, the depth which Stanton has already mentioned will be there for all to see.

North Kildare on the other hand still manage to seem an unknown quantity throughout this whole group, Muzamil Sherzad is their obvious class angle having acquitted himself more than adequately with his performances for the Irish U19s this winter. He’s now been joined in the side by his brother Yaseen who will be looking to make his presence felt at this level from the outset. Their batting is anchored again by Monil Patel, whilst Murtaza Sidiqi is likely to have a greater role. The main hope however in that regard will be that the addition of overseas player Kaustab Pawar can bolster the side significantly and produce some real match-winning innings across the season.

Whilst this game may be a week too soon for North Kildare to catch Merrion napping, there’s a lot of pressure on Jack Carty at the top of the Anglesea Road men’s order to get them off to a solid start, he’s proved himself to be an excellent performer over the past season but NK will be looking to their star man Sherzad to attempt to knock him over early on and make a real fist of the game.

KEY BATTLE: Jack Carty vs Muzamil Sherzad

GROUP B

We kick off Group B with our featured game of the day, Terenure visit Pembroke in Sydney Parade in a game with the unusually level playing field of neither team having played a friendly game before coming into the season. Pembroke may be without a number of players who are ploughing their Senior League Cup furrows for Dublin University, but are still an extremely strong side, particularly in 50 over cricket. They remain the holders of the Irish Senior Cup and were runners-up in the Premier League last season.

This season they are captained by Theo Lawson who, whilst his final XI is yet to be confirmed, was able to provide some mixed team-news for the Pembroke faithful, they are without Andy Balbirnie, Greg Hollins and Danny Hogan for this opener, but can call upon the services of Lorcan Tucker, Barry McCarthy and Josh Little, the inclusion of three internationals, as well as Lawson himself on the back of a Marchant Cup winning 2021 makes them a very daunting prospect.

Lawson is hopeful of kicking off the campaign in a strong fashion but again as several others have, excitement is the main feeling in the camp;

“Looking forward to welcoming Terenure to Sydney Parade to start the 2022 season. Excited to get going in front of our home support. Hopefully if the weather stays good we should have a great day for it”

Terenure meanwhile are again captained by Dónal Lynch and have retained all but Hayden Sharland from their 2021 team. The additions of Henry Dall and Raghav Grover will add depth to the side with bat and ball, allowing slightly less pressure and more freedom on Séamus Lynch with the bat and Zubair Khan with the ball. James Smith has also re-joined the squad but himself and Mark Thomas are both unavailable for this first game of the season, meaning spinner Sadiq Safi will play an important role in an effort to control the side’s bowling effort.

Lynch is delighted to be coming into the season on a sure footing and is hopeful that the foundations in place over the last couple of years can be built on going into 2022;

“We’re lucky in a way to have been able to retain a stable core of our squad since about 2018 and steadily build on that over the past number of seasons, we have a great group and will obviously be aiming to just keep on improving, we’ll be hoping the likes of Dixie (Danny Wicks) can build on a decent first season in the side last year and really kick on.

It’s great to be back into a full season of cricket and we’re thoroughly looking forward to getting down and playing a really competitive game against Pembroke to kick off our season”

The early season availability of their international players makes Pembroke an extremely challenging opposition for anyone in this group, and it will obviously be hugely exciting for them to have their real X-factor player Josh Little back in the line-up this weekend. He’ll be charged most likely with trying to win the battle with Séamus Lynch at the top of Terenure’s order and that is most likely to be the most exhilarating part of the game to watch.

KEY BATTLE: Josh Little vs Séamus Lynch

In our next game, Malahide play host to Phoenix in what ought to be a very interesting match-up. Fintan McAllister was able to give us the inside track on Malahide who are captained this week by James Newland in the absence of Matt Ford who is away. There’s set to be a debut for Australian batsman Ryan Hackney who will fill a spot at the top of the order. Callum Riches and McAllister himself will bring plenty of experience to the table with the bat and will hope they can account for the absence of hard-hitting Alan Reynolds at the top of the order. With the ball Diarmuid Burke joins skipper and fellow left-armer Newland in the bowling attack, something which McAllister feels is a big boost to the side;

“While it’s not his debut Diarmuid Burke is in the side and I’d say across it all he’d probably be a young lad to keep an eye out for this weekend because he’s bowling very well at the moment”

Mike and Ali Frost will provide further seam and spin options in the side. They are without David O’Halloran this weekend due to a niggle but are hopeful he will return ahead of next weekend’s double serving of May Bank Holiday cricket.

Phoenix on the other hand have been all go throughout the off-season and the side are captained by Tyrone Kane for the upcoming campaign, whilst they have lost Italian international Jamie Grassi’s services ahead of the current season, they have regained Irish international Ben White who returns to the club after a season plying his trade in the NCU. The additions of Oliver Hald, Matt Pollard and Will Bennett to the side will see them stronger again, whilst George Dockrell’s further availability would almost feel like another new signing given how little cricket he managed to play for the club last season. In a very talented but overall quite young squad, Devon James’ highly regarded coaching will be of huge importance if the side is to achieve the sort of consistency which is required to be around at the sharp end of the competition this year.

Given the absences in Malahide’s side this weekend, there’s a huge burden for debutant Ryan Hackney, and whilst there’s no doubting his class, Phoenix have a real ace up their sleeve in the returning Ben White and should the two face off at any stage it is set to be a fascinating battle.

KEY BATTLE: Ryan Hackney vs Ben White

The first Fingal derby of the year sees North County playing host to The Hills in what is always a titanic tussle no matter when, where or what competition it’s played in! It was one win apiece for the two sides in last year’s edition of the Senior League Cup as they clashed in the group stages, and there’s no doubt that this season’s encounter will be just as keenly contested as those which have gone before.

This game sees arguably two of the classiest batsmen playing in Leinster this season line up directly opposite each other, starting with the home side, Malcolm Nofal tore up trees in his first season with the Balrothery side, he made over 1000 runs in that 2018 season and has been one of the most sought after players around ever since. Whilst he didn’t put The Hills to the sword with the bat that season, he did take an incredible 5/16 in Milverton to haul his side to an unlikely victory on that occasion. Along with the returning Jamie Grassi and Niall McGovern, the County top order looks to be as strong as it has been for a number of years. Adding onto that Eddie Richardson, John Mooney, Jonno Andrews and Andy Sheridan through the middle order and it’s hard to see where a side can find much respite from shot-players and stroke-makers. The bowling is as usual set to be led by Richardson, whilst Owen Graham has come into his own at this level in the past two seasons.

The Hills side of the ledger features Murray Commins as their real class edge, he produced some excellent displays towards the back end of last season to catapult the side into the race for the Premier League title, and will be a key player for the side again this season, not alone in just in the local derby to kick off. Mark Donegan and Germany international Dylan Blignaut are other players in the Skerries side’s middle order who are capable of contributing big scores to the party and will need to provide good support to Commins this season if they are to keep up a concerted push for the semi-finals. With the ball Blignaut produced some excellent spells at times last season and alongside captain Tómas Rooney-Murphy, young left-armer Matthew Weldon and new addition Ashley Bain, will be the main threats to their near neighbours to kick off the season.

Generally hundreds win matches and in Commins and Nofal both sides have very live chances of players who could no doubt hit the ground running with a big score to start the season, it’s hard to say which bowler on either side has the perfect formula to dismiss the other’s star man, so in a move away from the usual line of a direct battle, it’s more than likely that the player who has a bigger impact out of these two will see their side come out on top, therefore…

KEY BATTLE: Malcolm Nofal vs Murray Commins

Finally in Group B Railway Union are the visitors to College Park to take on Dublin University’s strong side in kicking off their season. “The Students” have improved vastly over the last couple of seasons, thanks in no small part to Nigel Jones’ coaching influence, they were somewhat unlucky not to qualify for the semi-final stage last season, losing out in a winner-take-all final group game to North County. Railway on the other hand were runners-up in the competition in 2020, before having a moderate campaign last season.

Dublin University’s team is relatively settled, with the bat they have been able to rely on Nicolaas Pretorious for runs in the past couple of seasons, whilst they now have a trio of Pembroke men in the line-up with Gavin Hoey, Sanil Gupta and David Cosgrave all capable of scoring runs at this level, alongside Irish U19 David Vincent and former captain Michael Hogan their top 6 looks in good order going into this first game of the season. With the ball however is where they have probably improved as much as anything going into this season, left-arm bowlers in the form of spinner Matt Humphreys and seamer Mikey O’Reilly have both joined the squad and will add an awful lot in their respective departments, Theo Dempsey, Max Collins and Jack Atkinson will support in the seam department, whilst Gavin Hoey will likely bowl his leg-breaks in tandem with Humphreys at some stage in the middle overs.

Railway on the other hand are captained by Liam McCarthy who made an instant impact with the ball last season, and whilst this weekend they are without Kevin O’Brien and Glenn Querl, they do welcome back two familiar faces in Kashif Shah and Hamza Maan who have both returned to the club this season, alongside totally new blood in the form of Ashil Prakash and Alan Joseph Mathew, who both make their debuts in this game. Philippe le Roux and Kenny Carroll will be their two most important batters at opposite ends of the experience stakes, le Roux enjoyed a fine tournament in at the U19 World Cup, whilst Carroll remains one of the class players in Leinster having passed 10,000 runs in the season just gone.

The relative strengths of both sides lies in opposite disciplines, Dublin University are certainly a powerful batting unit, whilst Railway will be leaning on their bowlers to do an excellent job, as a result it probably falls on their skipper to set the tone at the top of the innings with ball in hand, he’ll be tasked with keeping DU’s explosive opener Nic Pretorious in check and that will be a crucial point on which the game could turn.

KEY BATTLE: Nicolaas Pretorious vs Liam McCarthy