IBI CORPORATE FINANCE CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW – MATCH DAY 14 (SEPTEMBER 7TH)

The final round of fixtures in the IBI Corporate Finance Championship takes place this weekend, and in spite of the large gap between the two sides at the top of the table, there’s still a title decider on the line in Kenure, whilst the only other movements possible in the table could see North Kildare & Cork County potentially swapping places in 5^th and 6^th, and the same can be said for Terenure & Civil Service in 7^th and 8^th.

This weekend’s fixtures see Rush playing host to Railway Union in what ultimately will decide the title, however Rush need just one point to secure their crown. In The Vineyard, North Kildare visit The Hills with the home side hoping to round off the season with three wins on the bounce, whilst in nearby Inch, North County play host to Civil Service, with the visitors aiming to lift themselves off the bottom of the table. Finally in The Mardyke, Cork County host Terenure, who are on the hunt for just their third league win all season.

CORK COUNTY VS TERENURE

Cork County are likely to welcome back their regular skipper Ross Durity this weekend, after he didn’t feature against Railway Union last time around, and he along with Benjamin Marris & Mark Andrianatos will be key players in the top three. Syed Aiman, Ehsan O’Sullivan and Abdul Ghaffar round off a top six which should be well capable of putting together a decent batting effort. With the ball, Andrianatos will likely take the new ball, whilst a return for Thorne Prophet would be a big help for the side, however even if he isn’t to play, Sam Fenn and Hamdullah Safi offer good alternatives. Nabeel Anjum and O’Sullivan will both offer very strong spin options which tend to do well in The Mardyke at this time of year.

Terenure have once again made just one change to their side following last weekend’s hammering by The Hills, seeing Ryan Smith come in at the top of the order replacing seamer Nawaz Khan, their batting unit will lean on the exploits of Séamus Lynch and Henry Dall, who both ought to appear in the top three as well, whilst Dónal Vaughan was in the runs when these sides met earlier in the season. With the ball, the slower pitch conditions could play into the hands of their key seamer Dylan Cleary, however it’s likely that Dall’s offies and the leg-breaks of Jinal Khatri will both play big roles once again this weekend.

Mark Andrianatos’ opening spell will seek to put Cork County on the front foot here, if he can knock over the new man Ryan Smith early in the piece it will give the home side a chance to put some pressure on a batting line-up which hasn’t broken the 200 barrier since July 13^th.

KEY BATTLE: Mark Andrianatos vs Ryan Smith

NORTH COUNTY VS CIVIL SERVICE

North County will hope to round off a season which threatened to be brilliant at one stage with a victory to push themselves into next season’s Premier League with some momentum. Their batting will be led by the skipper Niall McGovern, number 3 Suliman Safi, and number 5 John Devane who has been in brilliant form in recent weeks. With the ball, Eddie Richardson will hope for a strong finish to the season as he has his sights still firmly set on the all-rounder prize once again this season, whilst the brothers Abdul, Ghaffar and Sattar will provide support once again. Alan Joseph Mathew has proven to be a strong spin option all season and will be crucial once again.

Civil Service meanwhile will once again look to Arjun Chandrasekar, Nilesh Joshi and their all-round pair of Asadullah Ahmadzai and Vipul Kashyap to put together the bulk of their runs this weekend, with only Joshi having missed out from that quartet last time around. Meanwhile, with the ball, Kashyap and Ahmadzai provide good support to the skipper Mubasher Siddique, whilst if Naveed Khan was to return it would be a big boost to the away side, Vivekanandan Srinivasan and Digamber Mishra round off a decent bowling unit for the visitors to work with.

Civil Service will be hoping that their main spinner Asadullah Ahmadzai can tie down North County in the middle of their innings, this will likely see his off-spin coming up against the in-form left-hander John Devane, and if Devane can get on top of Ahmadzai, it’s sure to give County the upper-hand in the game.

KEY BATTLE: John Devane vs Asadullah Ahmadzai

THE HILLS VS NORTH KILDARE

The Skerries side go into this fixture knowing they are guaranteed to finish in 4^th position in the table no matter the outcome of this fixture, however will no doubt want to give the home support something to look forward to with a good performance. Nicolaj Damgaard, Brandon Kruger & Yaseen Sherzad are three men with the bat who will be looking to put on a bit of a show, whilst Cian Nulty & Tómas Rooney-Murphy both played vital roles with the bat last weekend. With the ball, Matthew Weldon & Sean McNicholl both offer good support to Nulty & Rooney-Murphy, whilst their spinners include Damgaard and the returning Febin Manoj, who has been a leading light this season.

North Kildare meanwhile will look to their two star all-rounders in Abid Taniwal and Husnain Maroof to put them on top early on with the ball, with Abdul Aryan also likely to bowl overs on the quicker wicket in Skerries. Their spinners have been in fine form all season, and Bakhtyar Nabi & Azhar Syed will once again be crucial to the cause if they are to put up a decent challenge. With the bat, Waqar Azmat, wicket-keeper Josh Uddin, opener Sayed Medhi Shah & Nurulain Boda are all men who could contribute to the side, whilst the aforementioned pair of Taniwal and Maroof will be looking to provide the ability to clear the boundary at will throughout the innings.

Abid Taniwal’s opening spell will be key for the away side, and he’ll need to get on top of Nicolaj Damgaard to prevent the Dane from getting the Skerries side off to a flying start with bat in hand.

KEY BATTLE: Nicolaj Damgaard vs Abid Taniwal

RUSH VS RAILWAY UNION

Finally we come to the title decider, and with Rush sitting well top and in pole position to claim the Championship crown, firstly the permutations behind what is needed for either side to win the title are obviously important!

Rush will be Champions if they secure just one point from this fixture, obviously the manner in how they secure this will be depending on whether they bat or bowl first. Should Rush bat first, they will be league winners should they claim two wickets in Railway’s run-chase, whilst if Rush are chasing, they will be league winners should they get within 99 runs of Railway Union’s total.

The converse, essentially means that Railway Union’s task in order to overhaul the current league leaders is to win by a minimum of 100 runs should they bat first, whilst if they are batting second, they can afford to lose just one wicket.

Whilst it may appear highly unlikely that either of those margins could occur in Railway’s favour, particularly given Rush’s excellent form this season, the last time the two sides met in the Championship in Kenure, the visitors won by 9 wickets, with the runs coming from Ashil Prakash, and this season’s skipper Philippe le Roux, who will not feature in this tie, however four more men who featured will, including Fakhar Zaman and Hamza Maan, who combined for 9 of the 10 wickets on that day, as well as coach Kevin O’Brien and his nephew, opening bowler Sean O’Brien.

Rush meanwhile will feature 7 men who took part in that fixture, however crucially that loss occurred when their then-overseas man Llew Johnson had already headed home. Their current, Australian Josh Doyle, is still firmly in the side and hunting a second trophy of the season, whilst their other in-form batsman is fellow opener Prasanth Viswanath, who also didn’t feature at that point in time.

Of all the Senior ties between these two sides in Kenure, only the last one, mentioned already, which Railway Union won by 9 wickets, has delivered a result which would see the Park Avenue outfit emerge with the league title from tomorrow’s encounter. The 14 encounters are split 6 wins in favour of Rush, whilst Railway Union are shading the head-to-head with 8.

The home side have boasted an extremely settled side for the vast majority of the season, with even their batting order remaining relatively unchanged for the majority of the last two months. Josh Doyle and Prasanth Viswanath are at the top of the order, and are followed by the hard-hitting Nathan McGuire at number three. Jack McGee’s return from injury at the start of July saw him making the number four slot his own, with Hashir Sultan and Nasir Totakhil at five and six both having played important roles in the times when they have been called upon with the bat. Wicket-keeper Finn McGee has flourished, and the season really got going thanks to his rearguard half-century against Cork County in April, which gave the side the chance to get off the mark with a win.

Their bowlers see their two key men take the new ball, with Allan Eastwood and Jarred Barnes bowling as well as ever in the PowerPlay, consistently putting their opposition under relentless pressure to score, and whilst in years gone by they perhaps haven’t had the support they’ve needed, the left-arm of Alex Neary and right-arm of Asher Abbasi are now giving them just that. That’s before mentioning their trump-card, the left-arm offies of Nasir Totakhil, who has proven to be a sensation this season, taking 26 wickets at an average of just over 16 in Senior cricket. He’s supported in the spin department by Doyle and McGuire, however the bowling unit has been so water-tight that in recent weeks, these two have rarely been called upon.

Railway Union meanwhile have potentially suffered somewhat from their lack of consistency in their roles in the side, with their leading run-scorers being Rob O’Brien who has been at number three all season, whilst their next two on the list, Hedayat Khogiani and Philippe le Roux have featured across the top of the order and number four as they have sought to find a suitable partner for Ashil Prakash. It could prove that the return of Kevin O’Brien to the side will mean that Khogiani returns to the top once again this weekend, whilst Srihan Karpe is another option who has filled the role this term.

With the ball, Railway will be feeling the affects of losing Liam McCarthy for this fixture, and their next up pair of seamers who could partner Sean O’Brien with the new ball are Sumit Kumar and Zaman Safi, both of whom would need to be right on target from ball one to trouble Rush’s batting unit. Their spinners are likely to be the men they look to for a replication of their efforts the last time the sides met in Kenure, with Hamza Maan and Fakhar Zaman set to be in a three man attack which will also feature Srihan Karpe, who was superb in his spell against Terenure a couple of weeks ago.

Considering the need for Railway to win this game by a wide margin to give themselves a chance of victory, they will need to ensure Josh Doyle is kept to a minimal influence on the fixture, if Sean O’Brien can see the Rush overseas man off early in the piece, it will give Railway the chance to get their tails up and get amongst the Kenure men.

KEY BATTLE: Josh Doyle vs Sean O’Brien

IBI CORPORATE FINANCE CHAMPIONSHIP

MATCH DAY 14 – 7^TH SEPTEMBER

ALL GAMES 11:30AM START

At The Mardyke, Cork County vs Terenure

At The Vineyard, The Hills vs North Kildare

At Inch, North County vs Civil Service

At Kenure, Rush vs Railway Union