IBI CORPORATE FINANCE CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW – 6TH JUNE

The IBI Corporate Finance Cricket Leinster Championship also gets under way this Bank Holiday Monday, with a full round of four fixtures being played to get the season up and running.

Starting off in Kenure, Rush host Cork Harlequins who take part in Leinster Senior competitions for the first time in their club’s history. With the home side coming into the game off the back of taking a big scalp in the Alan Murray Cup against Pembroke last Thursday, a game which saw Llew Johnson make another fine century, in doing so continuing his excellent form. Skipper Neil Rock returns to the side again, and with Daniel Coffey, Allan Eastwood, Jarred Barnes, Alex Neary and Asher Abbasi all in the team, Rush’s seam bowling attack is once again back to its formidable looking full strength. Brandon Morris isn’t in the team this week, meaning Jack McGee will double his batting duties with leading the spin attack.

Harlequins were runners-up in Division 4 last season, falling to a loss in the league final against Clontarf 3 having topped the table in the regular season. Their experience at this level is relatively limited, just Brandon Kruger and Dhawan Mehta have appeared in Senior cricket in Leinster before from their named eleven, and they are without their List A representative Adam Hickey for this opening fixture. They do however feature several players who have represented the Munster Heat in the Future Series, and will be aiming to hit the ground running in this opening fixture. They are however obviously disadvantaged by this being their first game at this level, along with the running start which the other sides have into this league campaign, it is set to be an uphill battle from the outset.

Brandon Kruger is likely to open the innings for Quins in this game, and his experience at this level will be key to the away side in getting a solid start in their batting innings, he will most likely face up to Jarred Barnes with the new ball, and if the Rush seamer can get the better of that battle, it will be a big step in the home side putting their stamp down on the game.

KEY BATTLE: Jarred Barnes vs Brandon Kruger

In North Kildare, Cork County are the visitors, and Ross Durity’s side are likely to be slight favourites for the tie in spite of their opposition finishing with a win in last week’s final Senior League Cup game. Cork will be looking to Durity himself, supported by Benjamin Marris at the top of the order and Byron McDonough through the middle to provide runs. They are without Abubakar Saddique and Rudolph Pollard, which weakens their bowling attack significantly, but in young Ehsan O’Sullivan do have a spinner with plenty of raw talent to use. Sukphal Singh and McDonough will be the two men aiming to make inroads with the new ball for the away side.

North Kildare are still without Monil Patel, and the bowling of Muzamil Sherzad this week. With the ball Abdul Sattar and Devansh Bansali are their key men up front, however it is their two veteran spinners in the shape of Manjeet Singh and Imran ul-Haq who will need to be on top of their game to prevent their opposition getting away from them with the bat. As far as their own batting goes, in the absence of Patel, Waqar Azmat is their key wicket, with young Samran Patel and Husnain Mahroof both carrying decent form from the 2^nd team into the league season, the Maws side will be hoping that the pair can translate that up the leagues and into some good performances.

At the top of North Kildare’s innings, Waqar Azmat is absolutely crucial to their chances of putting together a good score, he will need to bat for a good period of time if they are to cause Cork County any problems, if he can manage Byron McDonough’s opening spell, North Kildare will be well on top coming out of the Power Play overs, and have a great chance of running up a good score.

KEY BATTLE: Waqar Azmat vs Byron McDonough

North County visit Rathmines to face Leinster in what many would consider to be a game between two of the favourites to be promoted this season, the home side had a very poor Senior League Cup campaign, a thumping of North Kildare backed up just by a rear-guard effort to chase a modest score against Cork County. What that says is that their batting will need to up it’s game somewhat, in their top 5 of Ben Mitchell, Bilal Azhar, Joey Carroll, Saqib Bahadur and Chris Janik, all have made some form of contribution so far this season, but Bahadur’s opening day century was the only time any of them carried on to make a big score, which will be needed from someone if they are to overturn County today. With the ball, Azhar and Mitchell have bowled well at the top so far this season, whilst Mark Tonge has also really began to make an impact at 1^st team level. Bahadur’s spin has added another strong dimension to the attack, and could prove vital in this game today.

North County meanwhile enter this game off the back of a gut-wrenching defeat against Clontarf in Saturday’s SLC semi-final. They suffered a similar issue with the bat, with each of their top four getting past 20, but none beyond a half-century and as a result, could only manage a score which gave their opposition the opportunity to chase without necessarily firing on all cylinders. They will be hoping that Malcolm Nofal, Niall McGovern and Jonno Andrews can get in again, and one of them aim to make a big score in this innings. Andrew Sheridan returns to the side having missed Saturday’s game, and he strengthens the middle order batting and seam bowling options significantly. Eddie Richardson returned to form with the ball on Saturday, along with Abdul Ghaffar who’s second spell put County right into the mix from an improbable position.

Given the relative frailties of Leinster’s top order, Abdul Ghaffar will be seeking to get his side off to a flying side with the ball, if he takes the early wicket of Ben Mitchell and gets County’s bowlers an early look at Leinster’s middle order, they will be right on top and in with a good chance of keeping them to a very low score.

KEY BATTLE: Ben Mitchell vs Abdul Ghaffar

Finally we look to Park Avenue, where Terenure are the visitors to play Railway Union in a fixture which hasn’t been played in the Dublin 4 ground since 2019, a game which ended in a remarkable tie! The away side are boosted by news of Séamus Lynch’s inclusion in the Leinster Lightning squad for next weekend’s IP20 festival. His batting will be supported by Henry Dall and Donal Vaughan, although the side is without it’s regular number 4 today as Liam Harris is unavailable. With the ball, Mark Thomas is missing today for the away side, meaning Raghav Grover and Zubair Khan will lead the way, with support set to come from Dylan Cleary and Vaughan, whilst Terenure’s spin options will see Sadiq Safi and Niqash Ali both bowling their off-breaks.

For Railway, they are without their skipper Liam McCarthy, so Kenny Carroll takes the reigns in more ways than one. Philippe le Roux and McCarthy’s losses from the middle order will dent the home side’s strength significantly, with both having produced strong contributions to their totals on each occasion where they’ve won so far this season. Hashir Sultan and Fakhar Zaman will be the two men they look to in an effort to provide support to Carroll with the bat in their absence. With the ball, it will be intriguing to see does Alan Mathew’s form with the new ball translate from white to red ball, whilst fellow spinner Hamza Maan will also play a vital role. Sultan and Kashif Shah will play important seam-bowling roles in the absence of their skipper McCarthy, especially on a wicket where the new ball is often the best time to bat, keeping things tight in that early stage will be crucial.

Given the absence of Liam McCarthy, Alan Joseph Mathew’s opening spell for Railway Union now carries even more weight than it would in any other game, if he can get the better of Henry Dall, who comes into the innings in some very good form, it will give Railway the upper hand in the Power Play and, they will hope, the game in general.

KEY BATTLE: Alan Joseph Mathew vs Henry Dall