Thursday evening sees the first round of fixtures in the Alan Murray Cup taking place, with this season being the first time the trophy is played for since 2019, when Malahide were the victorious side. The 2022 edition sees a return to the mid-week group stage round-robin format, with debuts in the competition for both Civil Service and Adamstown as the 15th and 16th placed 1st XIs in the 2021 T20 competitions.
GROUP A
We’ll kick off with Group A and with one of the competition debutants, Adamstown will travel to Malahide to kick off their campaign. The home side come into the fixture boosted by the return of Mike Frost having missed the weekend’s game, and with runs for Ryan Hackney in their last two league fixtures, as well as Callum Riches and Fintan McAllister in good touch, they are a formidable opposition for Adamstown to take on first up.
The away side have gotten off to something of a rolling start so far this season, player/coach Prabhanshu Kamal joined from Railway Union and is already having a positive effect on the side who are unbeaten and lie top of Division 5 after 4 fixtures. Kamal and Bradley Fernandes are the cleanest ball strikers in the side, both of whom are capable of scoring quickly and finding the boundary with great regularity. The step up will be a test for that pair, but if one gets going they will be hard to pin back. With the ball, Kamal is again their main asset with his leg-breaks, whilst their seam options of Suhas Yellur and Pomin Ponselvan both tend to bowl economically in the early parts of the game, that start in the PowerPlay period will be vital.
With his batting skills against spin, Fintan McAllister will be the man Malahide will hope can take on Prabhanshu Kamal when the time comes for Adamstown’s main man to have a bowl in this fixture.
KEY BATTLE: Fintan McAllister vs Prabhanshu Kamal
The other fixture in Group A sees Railway Union hosting Clontarf, who have a good record in this competition. The home side welcome back Liam McCarthy after his IP20 commitments, but are without Kevin O’Brien for what would be his favoured format. Alan Mathew’s spin at the top of the innings will play a vital role in ensuring they get a foothold in the PowerPlay, with this having a direct impact on how much pressure will be on the middle-overs spells of leg-spinner Hamza Maan and medium pacer Hashir Sultan. The side haven’t been hugely short of runs this season, however this format may bring out the best in the likes of Sultan and Fakhar Zaman who naturally have more aggressive styles than some of the other players in the side.
Clontarf’s side has always been good at adapting to T20 cricket, and this year is likely to be no different, several of their players are members of the Munster Reds squad and played important roles in their three wins at the weekend. Eoghan Delany’s role won’t change too far from the one which he plays in the 50 over format, however ‘Bobbo Forrest and John McNally are players who also generally play aggressive roles and could relish this move to the shorter format. With the ball, Ruan Cronje’s spin is likely to be key alongside their debutant Cillian McDonnell, whilst Clontarf’s seam attack of David Delany and Fionn Hand will all aim to be consistent and relentless back of a length to make sure they are as tough to get away as possible.
Park Avenue is likely to be a lower scoring T20 game than most other grounds given the long straight boundaries and quality of the bowling on show, for Clontarf therefore Eoghan Delany’s role will be vital with the bat to keep the scoreboard ticking throughout the game. He’s likely to come into contest with Alan Mathew at some point in a battle where if the Railway man comes out on top, the home side will have a great chance to capitalise.
KEY BATTLE: Alan Mathew vs Eoghan Delany
GROUP B
Group B sees Civil Service making their debut as they host Balbriggan in the Phoenix Park. Service’s 2021 T20 campaign was very strong, they made their way to the final of the Tillain Cup, only to be downed by an impressive Clontarf side, containing several players who have previously won this competition. Their main men with the bat are Arjun Chandrasekhar, Muhammad Safeen and Srikanth Boddu, all of whom have made strong contributions in their 5 league wins so far this season, on each occasion they have won batting second. This strength in chasing is perhaps exacerbated again by the fact that they have lost the only game in which they batted first this season, in the National Cup against Strabane. With the ball, the responsibility is generally shared evenly, however the main men in the wicket taking stakes so far have been Naveed Khan, Aamir Bafanda and Rajath Parashurama, all of whom have bowled brilliantly so far this season.
Balbriggan meanwhile have a team full of batsmen who love to hit boundaries, and this flip to T20 will certainly play into the strengths of the majority of their middle order. Connor Fletcher will play aggressively at the top of the innings and hope to take advantage of the PowerPlay, however Greg Ford and Nathan Rooney will be the two in the middle who aim to accelerate the scoring rate and find the boundary regularly, alongside Chris de Freitas who is in good form with the bat, those four are likely to be responsible for the majority of the away side’s runs. With the ball, Ryan Hadley’s pace will make life very difficult for the Service top order, before the ‘Brig’s spin attack will get a chance to take advantage of what tend to be quite helpful conditions in the Park, Dylan Lues in particular will be the main protagonist in that regard.
With Service’s top four tending to do most of the damage with the bat so far this season, it’s likely that Ryan Hadley will be the man tasked with keeping them quiet, his opening spell to Muhammad Safeen will be the time where the away side will get a chance to stamp their authority on the game, if they allow Civil Service’s batting line-up to get moving however, it could be a tough 20 overs.
KEY BATTLE: Muhammad Safeen vs Ryan Hadley
The other Group B game sees Merrion visiting North County, both sides could be forgiven for having one eye towards the weekend as both are in away semi-final action in the SportsHub Senior League Cup, but that shouldn’t stop this being a very competitive encounter. North County’s batsmen have always suited the transition to T20 cricket, Eddie Richardson, John Mooney and Andrew Sheridan are boundary hitters by nature, with Malcolm Nofal also well capable of striking a long ball, coupled with the lightning quick outfield and attractive square boundaries, those four could help to run up a big total for the home side. With the ball it will be intriguing to see how teams play Nofal in this format, whilst Richardson and Mooney’s variations will be key at the back end of the innings.
Merrion feature some excellent boundary strikers in their own right, Stephen Doheny had a brilliant weekend in North Down finding form at the perfect time for the Warriors and now his club side, alongside Jack Carty that pair will attempt to get their side off to a flying start. Through the middle order, Mike Lewis and Swapnil Modgil are the two most likely to score quickly and will need to capitalise on whatever start their key men at the top do make. With the ball, it’s again their left-arm spinners who need to produce an excellent spell if they are to keep any sort of control on the North County batters throughout the middle part of the innings, Amish Sidhu and Tom Stanton will play a key role here.
Given his ability to score big runs, the extra bit of freedom a T20 fixture could prove a very dangerous license to hand to Malcolm Nofal in this game, his battle with Amish Sidhu will be one to keep a close eye on should the pair come to blows.
KEY BATTLE: Malcolm Nofal vs Amish Sidhu
GROUP C
The first fixture in Group C pits Leinster against YMCA in Observatory Lane. The home side would be hopeful of the services of Gareth Delany for this game, and if he was to play it would naturally be a massive boost to the side given his ability to find the boundary. Alongside Ben Mitchell, Joey Carroll and Saqib Bahadur, that would provide them with plenty of players who can score runs at a decent rate throughout the innings. With the ball, Bahadur returned to the bowling crease with an excellent spell of 3/15 from his 10 overs, comfortably the most economical bowler on show in the game, Mitchell however is the man with the golden arm, and they will look to him to take big wickets in the game, having accounted for each of the three Tectors the last time the two teams faced off.
YMCA will look to replicate their last T20 performance in Observatory Lane, when an excellent batting performance saw them make 167, before keeping the Rathmines side to just 80 in response. Mitchell Thompson was in the runs that day, and has shown strong form with the bat on several occasions since, his opening partnership with Jack Tector will be important in the PowerPlay, whilst the stroke making of Tim Tector and power hitting of Rory Anders will be the other aspects which could see them build a big score. With the ball, the spin of Jamie Forbes is their main slow weapon, likely to be supported by Thompson, whilst seamers Reuben Wilson and Rory Anders will need to be tight in their spells to set the tone at the top of the innings.
Ben Mitchell’s skills with the new ball have been an asset Leinster probably didn’t expect to have at some stage this season, and as a result his spell at the top of the innings in this game against Mitchell Thompson will be crucial in terms of setting the tone in the YM batting innings.
KEY BATTLE: Ben Mitchell vs Mitchell Thompson
The second fixture in Group C sees Terenure hosting Phoenix for the second time this season. The last time the pair faced off in a T20 game saw a Terenure side depleted by injury during the day bowled out for just 42 after Phoenix had set a mammoth 203 for victory. Only 7 of the 22 players who took the field that day are likely to be playing in this fixture however, and as a result, a repeat is probably unlikely! The home side will hope that the freedom of T20 will allow Séamus Lynch to kick into another gear with his ball striking ability, whilst the good form of Henry Dall from the weekend is another boost. Their bowling stocks will see seam from Raghav Grover, Mark Thomas and Zubair Khan leading the way, whilst there’ll be spin from Sadiq Safi and the returning veteran Kenny McDonald.
Phoenix will be looking to their captain Tyrone Kane to lead the way with the bat and ball, after he had a strong weekend at the IP20 festival representing Munster, whilst George Dockrell’s clean ball striking will be a major asset if he is in the side. Ben White’s leg-spin is seen to best effect internationally in T20 games, so his role will be important too. The likes of Will Bennett and Dev Ranolia’s skills as all-rounders are also helpful for the Park side in these games, as it gives captain Kane plenty of options, that’s without mentioning Oliver Hald, who has been scoring runs with some impressive clean striking in the last couple of weeks.
With Terenure’s short straight boundaries, and Phoenix’s spin heavy attack, the start the home side get off to will be crucial, Séamus Lynch will be tasked with getting them away quickly against the left-arm seamers of Oliver Hald and if he does so, will set the game up nicely for the middle overs.
KEY BATTLE: Séamus Lynch vs Oliver Hald
GROUP D
Finally we move on to Group D, where the first game sees Pembroke travelling to Kenure to take on Rush. The visitors will be able to call upon returning Dublin University players Sanil Gupta and Gavin Hoey for the first time this season, with Hoey in particular adding depth to the spin bowling department along with some more power hitting which will be suited to the T20 form of the game. With the bat he’ll support captain Theo Lawson who has found his touch in recent weeks, whilst with the ball Pembroke will have further spin options in the shape of Donncha Tucker and Paul Lawson.
Rush will be looking forward to this challenge no doubt in the hope that their main men, Neil Rock and Llew Johnson can take advantage of their home ground’s straight boundaries with their clean ball striking to give them a chance of out-batting Pembroke in this game. With the ball, Jarred Barnes and Allan Eastwood will be the men to hammer the ball in on a length that makes it tough to score, and if they can out bowl Pembroke’s seamers will give them something of a chance of producing an upset in this game.
With Gavin Hoey returning to the side, he’ll be the man Pembroke look at to provide some ballast with the bat, if he gets going he will be hard to stop, Brandon Morris for Rush has bowled well with his off-spin this season, and if he can stall Hoey’s progress at all, will give his side a chance of keeping Pembroke to a modest score.
KEY BATTLE: Gavin Hoey vs Brandon Morris
Last but not least we have the clash at The Maws between North Kildare and The Hills. The home side are severely strained by injuries at the moment, and will be looking to the bats of Yaseen Sherzad, Husnain Mahroof and Waqar Azmat to provide the spine of whatever score they can manage. With the ball, the loss of Muzamil Sherzad hinders them badly, but they will be looking to Imran ul-Haq and Manjeet Singh to continue their strong form from last week’s heroics against Rush to provide them with another chance at a victory here.
The Hills will be encouraged by the fact that two of their main ball-striking threats were the men who made runs on the weekend, as Dylan Blignaut and Levon Shields were both in excellent touch against Terenure, finding the boundary with regularity and rarely missing when the ball was in the right area for them. If those two are on form again in this game, they could be the players who take their side to an insurmountable score against their depleted opponents.
Dylan Blignaut’s opening spell on the weekend went without reward, however if he was to pick up the wicket of Waqar Azmat early on in this fixture, it would put The Hills right on the front foot from the very start.
KEY BATTLE: Waqar Azmat vs Dylan Blignaut