IBI CORPORATE FINANCE CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW – JULY 29TH!

Whilst it hasn’t quite been affected as badly as it’s bigger brother in the last couple of weekends, the IBI Corporate Finance Championship has seen just two fixtures reach their conclusion since July 15^th, with Pembroke extending their winning run to eight after a brace of victories against Civil Service and Cork County. The only other cricket to be played in that period of time saw 61 overs in Terenure last weekend, however the game was a no result with the second innings seeing just 11 overs of play out of the required 20. This weekend sees a full round of fixtures which will ultimately likely dictate what general direction teams end up competing in towards the end of the season, Pembroke travel to bottom of the table North Kildare seeking to extend their run to 9 from 9, and likely condemn North Kildare to relegation spots in the process. An understrength Rush host Cork County where a win for the away side would see them pull right away from the bottom two. North County travel to Phoenix in a game where a win for the away side would keep Phoenix within the reach of each of North County, Rush and Terenure, with the latter visiting Civil Service on Saturday in a fixture where a win for the visitors would keep their sights firmly on the top end of the table rather than the bottom.

PHOENIX VS NORTH COUNTY

North County visit the Phoenix park this weekend aiming to exact revenge for what was an incredible turnaround from their opponents in the first game between the two. On that day two incredible opening bursts from Eddie Richardson and Abdul Ghaffar saw Phoenix reduced to 15/6, before they spun the game on it’s head. Sean Sludds was the other successful bowler that day and with support from Abdul Sattar, the seam attack is as strong as it was that day, however the two spinners, Simi Singh and Alan Joseph Mathew didn’t play that day and will be the area where they aim to prevent Phoenix getting on top of them again. With the bat, Singh is an obvious boost, whilst Niall McGovern and Eddie Richardson are the pair who have led the way for much of the season, with John Devane’s emergence at the top of the order another obvious help to the side.

Looking back to the last game, it was Oli Hald and Adam Chester who were the pair that dug Phoenix out of the hole they were in and into a position to win the game, they will be looking at the top order players to set a better base for them and allow their roles to be to finish off the innings this weekend. Jed Wiggins, Stephen Black and Tyrone Kane have all made runs earlier in the season, and will likely be the key men to get the side off to the sort of start they would like. With the ball, Kane and Theo Dempsey will be the seamers who are key to the cause for the home side, with Anish Rana also supplying support. The main man in general with the ball however will likely be Amish Sidhu, who has been in brilliant form of late, and having taken 4/19 in the previous fixture, he’s sure to be someone North County are very wary of.

KEY BATTLE: Amish Sidhu vs Eddie Richardson

NORTH KILDARE VS PEMBROKE

North Kildare are sure to be buoyed by their batting efforts in Terenure last weekend, and likely feel somewhat unlucky not to have forced a result, their batting unit all managed starts, with Husnain Maroof managing 60, Badeeu Zaman, Josh Uddin and Bakhtyar Nabi all made scores between 27 and 31 and no doubt will be disappointed to have not kicked on, between those four will be the key with the bat this weekend. With the ball, Maroof extracts good movement early on, and his new ball spell will obviously be important, whilst Nazmus Monon was also in the wickets last weekend. Bakhtyar Nabi has emerged as a leader with the ball, with Akhilesh Sharma and Mohammed Zaman the men likely to round off the five main bowlers.

Pembroke are the side in form and have been relentless so far this season, Nick Stapleton’s bowling has always had them on the front foot, and this weekend he’s supported in the seam department by Zach Micklewright, Piyush Sharma and debutant Luke Murray. The side once again has three spinners, with Gavin Hoey still out through injury, Paul Lawson, Fiachra Tucker and Donncha Tucker being the trio tasked with knocking over North Kildare. With the bat, not many outside of the top three in the side have batted for any period of time in recent weeks, however JJ Garth isn’t in the side, meaning Diarmaid Tucker will have a new partner at the top of the order. Macdara Cosgrave, Danny Hogan and skipper Theo Lawson are the other frontline batsmen in the side.

KEY BATTLE: Bakhtyar Nabi vs Theo Lawson

RUSH VS CORK COUNTY

Rush were left reeling somewhat by their collapse in The Mardyke which allowed Cork County to win the return fixture between the pair, and this weekend will be looking to Llew Johnson, Nathan McGuire, Cian Egerton and Jack McGee to produce the goods with the bat and get the side the majority of the way towards a big total. Jarred Barnes and Egerton will be the likely new ball bowlers, whilst Allan Eastwood is another option in that area, there are plenty of options for the skipper McGuire to choose from, including more seam from Alex Neary and Andrew Doheny, whilst the captain has himself and Brandon Morris to choose from when it comes to their spin bowling options.

The away side are yet to win a game on the road this season, however they will certainly fancy their chances of seeing their batters put on a good showing in Kenure this weekend, Ross Durity and Matt Spanner at the top of the order will be key to start with, whilst Syed Aiman at number three has been the man the middle order has batted around with reasonable success. Stefano di Bartolomeo and Byron McDonough are the pair who will look to build on anything of a good start with some big hitting later in the innings. With the ball, the left-arm spinning pair of Diarmuid Carey and Abubakar Saddique will be crucial, with the opening pair of McDonough and di Bartolomeo seeking early wickets to put the side on top.

KEY BATTLE: Llew Johnson vs Byron McDonough

CIVIL SERVICE VS TERENURE

Finally, Civil Service play host to Terenure, in a reverse of a fixture which produced no fewer than 670 runs at the start of July. The home side will look to their in-form batters in Binson Thambi, Simranjeet Singh, Arjun Chandrasekhar and Srikanth Boddu to produce runs, whilst the skipper Mubasher Siddique and opener Nilesh Joshi are two more men who will be seeking a return to form. With the ball, Siddique and Naveed Khan will lead the way, with support from Thambi, Prasan Shah and Rajath Parashurama, whilst Aamir Bafanda will provide the spin option.

Terenure meanwhile are without Liam Harris this weekend which will likely mean a new opening partnership with Henry Dall now having settled back at number 3. Raghav Grover and Dónal Lynch both made centuries in the return fixture, however they’ll no doubt be hoping they aren’t batting at 85/4 in the game this time around. Sid Nair, Gethin Kelleher and Gareth Morgan round off the middle order in the side. With the ball, Mark Thomas and Hilal Asad will share the new ball with support from Dylan Cleary and Grover, whilst the spin option in the side will come from Séamus Lynch’s leg-breaks.

KEY BATTLE: Naveed Khan vs Séamus Lynch