Today sees a full round of fixtures in the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League & Championship, as all eyes will turn completely to the top two divisions after the completion of the Senior League Cup competition yesterday in which Pembroke managed a dominant victory.
YMCA vs Pembroke
We’ll start with the newly crowned SLC Champions, as they make the short journey to Claremont Road to face YMCA in their fixture today, Sanil Gupta, David Cosgrave and Greg Hollins all return to the side for this fixture, as Sumit Kumar, Ryan Hopkins and Robin Kelly drop out from yesterday’s team. YMCA meanwhile will be hoping to capitalise on Pembroke’s tired legs after yesterday’s win and are relatively strong considering the IP20 festival is currently ongoing. Jack and Tim Tector will be the main men with the bat, whilst Rory Anders and Reuben Wilson will be the two men they look to in the hope of finding some joy with the ball.
The key to this game will no doubt be the start Pembroke get with the ball, and with Poonish Mehta’s new unique method having undoubted success so far this week, his spell to Jack Tector at the top of YMCA’s innings will be vital.
KEY BATTLE: Jack Tector vs Poonish Mehta
Balbriggan vs Malahide
Over in Balbriggan, Malahide are the visitors and will be led by their third different captain of the season, as Cameron Shoebridge deputises for James Newland, who had been deputising for Matt Ford! They will need Ryan Hackney’s good run of form to continue if they are to have a chance of overturning their hosts, he will be supported by Fintan McAllister and Callum Riches again with the bat. With the ball, Malahide have named David O’Halloran in their side, which would be a major boost to them, whilst Riches and Peter Saville will provide more pace options, Mohit Sane once again will take up the role as the main spinner in the absence of Mike Frost. Balbriggan meanwhile will need to address their batting woes if they are to give themselves their best chance in this game, Kashif Ali’s excellent spell dug them out of a hole last weekend, and whilst it may be a nice bonus, it’s unlikely they will bowl teams out for 63 every week! Greg Ford’s inclusion is a boost, with support needed from Chris de Freitas and Connor Fletcher if they are to post a big enough score to win this game.
This game will most likely hinge on the battle at the top of Malahide’s innings between the two overseas players, as Ryan Hadley will look to give Balbriggan the upper hand by knocking over his namesake Hackney.
KEY BATTLE: Ryan Hadley vs Ryan Hackney
The Hills vs Phoenix
The Hills welcome Phoenix to The Vineyard in the hope of maintaining a good run of form they’ve had over the last number of weeks, whilst Phoenix will desperately be hoping to bounce back from a chastening loss against Balbriggan last weekend. The home side’s good form has been in no small part down to Dylan Blignaut hitting his straps with both bat and ball at the same time, he has made back to back big contributions with the bat, and with support from Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin and Mark Donegan, will be looking to pick right up from where he left off on Monday. With the ball, Ashley Bain is still missing, meaning Sam Smyth and Matthew Weldon will continue to share the third seamer role, whilst Athar Farooqi will remain the first spinner in the side. Phoenix will be without Tyrone Kane and George Dockrell, so will be looking to Oliver Hald to lead the way with the ball, and aiming to build an innings around Will Bennett’s anchor role at number 4, he’ll be supported by wicket-keeper Louis McDonough and Adam Chester who will both look to score quickly when the opportunities present themselves.
With Blignaut in excellent form, and the frail way in which Phoenix’s top order collapsed last week fresh in their mind, his opening spell to Devender Ranolia will be vital to the start of the away side’s batting innings, there’s every chance that if he gets on top early doors, Phoenix might never find their way back into the game.
KEY BATTLE: Dylan Blignaut vs Devender Ranolia
Merrion vs Clontarf
Finally Merrion host yesterday’s beaten finalists Clontarf. The away side are able to call upon the services of David Vincent and Cillian McDonnell again, with both having been cup-tied for yesterday’s fixture, seeing Luke Thompson and Andrew Poynter drop out of the side. Aaron McGeehan and Ruan Cronje both played excellently in yesterday’s final, and both will be key with the bat again today, whilst McDonnell and Vincent’s spin options will add yet more depth to a strong looking side with Paul Ryan and Cronje also having bowled well in yesterday’s fixture. The home side meanwhile will be looking to bounce back from a harsh defeat in last week’s opening game, they will face an uphill task in doing so however as they are without their two main men in Jack Carty and Stephen Doheny, both of whom remain on IP20 duty, that will mean Mike Lewis and Swapnil Modgil shouldering much of the batting responsibility. With the ball, Merrion will be looking as usual to Muhammad Sinan to give them a strong start, before their left-arm spinners of Amish Sidhu and Tom Stanton take over and attempt to give them some momentum in the game.
The key in this fixture no doubt lies with the spell of Tom Stanton, he’s likely to do plenty of bowling to Tarf’s star batsman Ruan Cronje and if the South African gets on top of the Merrion skipper a big score is on the cards for the away side.
KEY BATTLE: Tom Stanton vs Ruan Cronje
Meanwhile, the IBI Corporate Finance Cricket Leinster Championship continues tomorrow, with a full round of four fixtures being played.
Cork County vs Railway Union
Starting in The Mardyke, Cork County will be looking to bounce back from their tough day at North Kildare last weekend. County are always tough to beat at home and there is nothing to say that that will change this weekend, they are without Cormac Hassett who is on Munster Reds duty, which is sure to be a blow to their batting unit. Railway Union had a close victory against Terenure last time out but will be looking to bring a surprise result back up the M7, they too have Liam McCarthy and Kevin O’Brien both missing for this game on Reds duty.
The key battle will be Abubakar Saddique against Kenny Carroll with the Cork County bowler looking to take advantage of home conditions against the highly consistent veteran, who still proves to be one of Railway’s most important players.
KEY BATTLE: Abubakar Saddique vs Kenny Carroll
North Kildare vs Cork Harlequins
North Kildare host Cork opposition for the second week in a row as Harlqeuins visit The Maws and will be looking to repeat the dose of last week’s victory, even if they do have another 162 runs in hand before they need to worry about failing to achieve full bonus points! All eyes will be on Kaustab Pawar to see if he can repeat the fireworks, although at the time of writing the team is yet to be announced, last week’s return of Muzamil Sherzad was earlier than expected and no doubt gave them a major help with ball in hand alongside veteran old-stagers Manjeet Singh and Imran Ul-Haq who will shoulder plenty of bowling duties again this week.
With Cork Harlequins missing Brandon Kruger, away with the Munster based interprovincial team, they will be looking for Dhawan Mehta to try and tame the batting beast that is KP.
KEY BATTLE: Kaustab Pawar vs Dhawan Mehta
Leinster vs Rush
Leinster are also yet to name their team but they will surely be looking to build on last week’s victory over North County. That match saw Bilal Azhar take 5 wickets and they will be looking for another strong bowling performance against, in particular, the batting form player of the season Llewelyn Johnson, who has put together some incredible scores in the past few weeks.
Rush are at full strength bar Neil Rock, meaning Dan Coffey deputises again, and this is sure to be a titanic battle that shows direction for the rest of the season. Their bowling attack returning to full strength ought to give them something of an edge in this fixture, and as such, they will be hoping that their main man Johnson can put them into a strong position from which they can aim to put pressure onto Leinster’s far less consistent batting order.
KEY BATTLE: Bilal Azhar vs Llew Johnson
North County vs Terenure
North County will be looking to bounce back from a tough open round, but hosting Terenure hasn’t always gone well for them.
County are essentially at full strength, just regular wicket-keeper Jamie Grassi misses out with Seán Rooney taking his place in the side whilst Terenure are missing opener Séamus Lynch who is away on Leinster Lightning duty this weekend.
While Eddie Richardson and John Mooney are regular high performers, North County will be looking to Malcolm Nofal to flex his muscles with bat and ball. Opening spells from Abdul Ghaffar and Usman Azhar are also sure to play a crucial role.
Terenure will miss Lynch, but are expecting Henry Dall and Donal Vaughan to put runs on the board. With the ball, Mark Thomas is still missing, meaning Raghav Grover and Zubair Khan will again lead the way, whilst Sadiq Safi’s off-breaks will again be crucial to the side in terms of keeping the run rate down through the middle overs.
The key battle is likely to be Nofal vs Grover at the top of North County’s innings, but with all-rounders all through the teams, this could go either way. Whatever happens, neither side will particularly want to enter into next weekend’s league and National Cup double header without a win to their names.
KEY BATTLE: Malcolm Nofal vs Raghav Grover