SPRINT COATINGS DIVISION ONE PREVIEW – MATCH DAY 8 (JULY 18TH)

After a remarkable evening of cricket on Tuesday night in the Sprint Coatings Senior Cup, Division One continues on Thursday evening as the season as the season enters it’s second half.

This Thursday sees bottom hosting top as Pembroke travel to Rathmines to face Leinster, whilst Balbriggan are hosted by Clontarf at Castle Avenue. Both of the Senior Cup Finalists are faced with home ties, as Phoenix once again host Merrion who will look to exact some level of instant revenge, and The Hills play host to Malahide.

LEINSTER VS PEMBROKE

A strangely under par beginning to the season has seen Leinster fall to bottom of the ladder at the halfway stage, and things don’t get much easier for them as they face off against a wounded Pembroke side with an unbeaten league record to defend. Their side is unchanged from Tuesday evening’s game against The Hills, meaning their skipper Shauna Kavanagh is behind the stumps, and features in a batting unit alongside Orla Prendgerast, Sarah Forbes, Clare Shillington, Lou Lou Little and Eimear Mullen. Forbes, Kavanagh and Mullen have been in good form in recent games, and were all in the runs on Tuesday, so there are good signs for the team for another strong effort, particularly if Prendergast and Little can return to the levels they were at a month or so ago. With the ball, the side have been consistent in their abilities to restrict their opposition to manageable totals. Prendergast leads a strong group of seamers, including KimLi McDonald, Mhairi Nicoll and Anna Beale, whilst the only spinner in the side due to the absence of their Ireland U17s internationals remains Sarah Forbes.

Leinster meanwhile are also somewhat hamstrung at this stage in the season, Laura Delany is continuing her recovery from a shoulder injury and it remains to be seen whether this game will come too soon for her, whilst Sophie MacMahon has also missed the last few fixtures due to an ongoing knee issue. Last week’s loss to The Hills saw skipper Ava Canning producing a sensational performance to keep her side in the game, making 59* and taking 3/7 in spite of their defeat. Rebecca Rolfe and Clare Webber will be leading the way with the bat in the absence of Delany and MacMahon, whilst there will likely be a welcome return for Joanna Loughran both behind the stumps and to bolster the batting line-up. Canning is the regular spearhead of the bowling attack, and will be supported by Katie Dillon, Rachel Byrne and Orla Bagnall, who were all used last week, whilst Webber’s return will add her medium pace into the equation.

Ava Canning had something of a day out last week, and it feels as though she will need to be on top of her game once again this week if they are to have a chance of keeping Pembroke to a manageable batting effort. Orla Prendergast will no doubt be looking to bounce back after Tuesday, and he battle against Canning could be the one to look out for!

KEY BATTLE: Ava Canning vs Orla Prendergast

CLONTARF VS BALBRIGGAN

Clontarf come into this fixture looking for their first win in over a month after they fell foul to a few brilliant performances in recent weeks. Most recently a sensational Christelle van der Schyff solo effort for Malahide last week. They are without Christina Coulter-Reilly this week, meaning Robyn Searle will deputise behind the stumps, however Emma Butler does return to captain the side. She will open the bowling along with teenager Sinead Thomson who has impressed as the leader of the attack this season, whilst other medium pace options in the side feature Genevieve Morrissey, Gemma Sargent and Ava O’Reilly, with regular option Lucy Barry not in the side this week. Freya Sargent is the frontline spinner in the unit and has proven time and again to be a very strong operator for the side and her four overs will be vital. With the bat, Coulter-Reilly’s absence will be felt at the top of the order, whilst Julie McNally is another regular feature in the top six who is absent from the team. That means that Searle and Freya Sargent will be crucial to the side’s efforts, whilst Morrissey and Alice Walsh are another pair likely to bat in the middle order who could be looked to for strong contributions.

Balbriggan meanwhile had a nightmare fixture against Merrion last weekend following on from their fine win in Match Day 6, however they are boosted by the return of Lara and Tess Maritz once again this time around. Both will add to the firepower in the top four, whilst Tess will likely don the gloves again having taken on the role in her first appearance this season. Lara will in all likelihood return to her position at the top of the order, allowing Anna Gaging to slide back into the middle and reducing the workload on Claudia Green at number three. Erin Knight is another who could feature in the batting unit having done well at the times where the Maritz sisters haven’t been available this season. The bowling will be led by Green and Lara Maritz, with each having been in the wickets in their victory over Leinster a couple of weeks ago, however a name which doesn’t feature is Alexandra Atkinson who took 3/11 in that fixture. Gaging and Reena Devi will support the opening pair, whilst Knight offers another good seam option.

This fixture is likely to throw up a good early battle between Robyn Searle and Claudia Green, with Searle’s wicket being even more important in the absence of both Coulter-Reilly and McNally from the Clontarf top 6, if Green can knock her over, it could give Balbriggan a massive chance of claiming yet another scalp.

KEY BATTLE: Robyn Searle vs Claudia Green

PHOENIX VS MERRION

The rematch of Tuesday evening’s semi-final fixture sees a very similar Phoenix side taking the field, they are skippered by Ali Keenan who will feature in a bowling attack led by Georgina Dempsey, with support coming in the shape of Alison Black and the heros of Tuesday evening, Sophie McDonough who took four wickets, and Arisha Foysal who claimed two. Lara Kumar Carnicero and Zara Craig are two more seamers who could also feature in the bowling attack. With the bat, Tuesday’s success was built around  a remarkable Gaby Lewis century as the side recovered from 2/2. Her innings was built with the help of both Nevedha Saravanarajan and Craig in the middle order, and that pair along with Dempsey and wicket-keeper Siúin Woods in the top three are where the bulk of the Phoenix runs are likely to come from.

Merrion meanwhile are without their two main contributors from Tuesday night’s defeat, as both Rebecca Stokell and Izzy Joyce are out of the side. Their absence is compounded by the fact that Annabel Squires is also not in the side, which will see the batting unit relying more on the likes of Leah Paul, Celeste Raack and Aoife Brennan to put together a strong batting effort. With the ball, Síbha Bhoja produced a brilliant opening spell on Tuesday night and will be aiming to repeat the dose, whilst there is more medium pace from Maddie Blazely and Sophie Stewart, as the side remains without Niamh MacNulty on Irish U17 duty. The spinners are once again Paul and Julianne Morrissey, with both needing to produce good spells in this fixture as the pair of most experienced bowlers in the side.

Having been so close to hammering the door down early on Tuesday, Merrion will be looking to Síbha Bhoja to once again put the side on top in this fixture, however this time around they will certainly be hoping that Gaby Lewis is dismissed early on to give them a chance of holding Phoenix’s batting order to a manageable scoring rate.

KEY BATTLE: Gaby Lewis vs Síbha Bhoja

THE HILLS VS MALAHIDE

Lastly, in Skerries, the sides occupying the middle of the table will do battle, with both surely eyeing up this fixture as an opportunity to leapfrog Clontarf into third. The Hills will no doubt be buoyed by their excellent win and overall performance on Tuesday evening and feature an unchanged line-up, with Aimee Maguire still unavailable due to the Irish U17 tour. That will see Jane Maguire once again leading the attack, with support from Lara McBride and Elise Noble, with the pair of spinners proving crucial to their win earlier in the week. The medium pace aside from Maguire comes from Tara O’Brien and Chloe Ericson, whilst Tuesday’s win also saw important spells of bowling from both Rebecca Gough and Molly Butterly. With the bat, Noble and Tahlia Dunne are the keys to their unit, and will need some support from Maguire and McBride, however it was contributions from Gough and Cliodhna O’Reardon which proved vital last time out, and that pair could well play a big role in their efforts yet again.

Malahide have turned a corner in recent weeks, and their jump to 5^th in the table was propelled by an incredible all-round effort from Christelle van der Schyff against Clontarf last time around. They are without both of their internationals in Arlene Kelly and Amy Hunter this time around, meaning they will need another big effort from van der Schyff with both bat and ball. With the bat, she’ll find support from Lana Ryan and Sarah Condron at the top of the order, whilst captain Anna Kerrison and wicketkeeper Gemma Devally are both likely to feature up the order in the absence of their Irish pair. With the ball, whilst van der Schyff will be important again, she’ll need the support of Ryan, as well as Sarah Brophy and Haley Moore to get the upper hand against The Hills early in this innings. Kerrison’s off-breaks are likely to prove to be a crucial part of the innings, as if she can pick up some of the key wickets her side could get on a roll and have a chance to knock over The Hills’ inexperienced tail end quite quickly.

Elise Noble has been in good form with bat and ball in recent weeks, however it could be her opening the batting against Christelle van der Schyff which proves to be the key this time around, in the absence of Arlene Kelly, if van der Schyff can’t knock over the top order of their hosts, it could be a long day for Malahide.

KEY BATTLE: Elise Noble vs Christelle van der Schyff

SPRINT COATINGS DIVISION ONE

MATCH DAY 8 – JULY 18^TH

ALL 6:00PM STARTS

At Sydney Parade, Leinster vs Pembroke

At Castle Avenue, Clontarf vs Balbriggan

At Phoenix Park, Phoenix vs Merrion

At The Vineyard, The Hills vs Malahide