The 5th round of fixtures in the IBI Corporate Finance Cricket Leinster Premier League take place this Saturday, with Balbriggan still setting the pace as the only unbeaten side remaining this season, whilst no fewer than 4 sides have won two games each and every one of those will know that the next few games are absolutely vital in terms of whether they make tracks towards a league title challenge, or face being dragged into a relegation dog fight!
BALBRIGGAN VS THE HILLS
We open up with a Fingal derby in Balbriggan between the league leaders and one of the aforementioned sides with a 50/50 record after four games, The Hills. The home side have been in formidable form on their own patch so far this season, with their bowlers being able to exert good pressure on wickets which are offering them just enough assistance and therefore keep their oppositions to very low totals. Last week’s game showed they are well capable of carrying that form away from home as well, as Connor Fletcher’s century helped them chase down Merrion’s 292 in Anglesea Road. The form of Fletcher, captain Greg Ford and Chris de Freitas has been superb in recent weeks, and they will need to be on song again this weekend against a good bowling attack to give their own line-up of speedsters led by Ryan Hadley and Andrew Darroch a good platform to bowl at. Spinners Dylan Lues and Malcolm McGregor will come into the game this weekend should both sides’ batting live up to their current form.
The Hills will be hoping to roll into this game having secured a semi-final slot in the Alan Murray Cup, however regardless of their result against Rush they will know this is certainly the most important derby they face this season, a victory would see them cut Balbriggan’s winning run short and drag them back to the chasing pack, but more importantly put them back into a “winning record” for the season so far and in a battle at the right end of the table from their perspective. Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin and Dylan Blignaut have both enjoyed extremely fruitful beginnings to the league season with the bat, and The Hills’ bowling attack has been able to build pressure off the back of these good scores. Blignaut’s opening spells have often been fiery, with good pace and movement, however it’s the relentless nature of the bowling from the likes of Tomas Rooney-Murphy and Ashley Bain which has allowed that pair help themselves to wickets so far this season, spinners Athar Farooqi and Jonathan Tall will aim to keep it tight in the middle overs, but they will be more than aware of how tough a ground Balbriggan can be for slow bowlers given the peculiar square boundary dimensions.
The form of Greg Ford has been very strong for Balbriggan in recent weeks, and with these local derbies often needing skippers to lead by example, his battle with Tomas Rooney-Murphy is one that will set the tone of the game, whoever comes out on top will no doubt be full of confidence and exuding that throughout their side.
KEY BATTLE: Greg Ford vs Tomas Rooney-Murphy
YMCA VS CLONTARF
The winless Clontarf travel to Claremont Road to face YMCA who currently lie 2nd in the table after a comprehensive rout of The Hills in last weekend’s action, that was led by a brace of centuries for Jack and Tim Tector, with opener Jack having already enjoyed plenty of good form in the four games which have been played so far this season. Their middle order wasn’t required at all last weekend however the likes of Rory Anders and Aaron Bailey have also show glimpses of good form in recent weeks. With the ball, Mikey O’Reilly and Reuben Wilson will be supported by Tom and Rory Anders, with Jamie Forbes being the main spin bowling option in the side.
Clontarf will be aiming to arrest the slide of the last few weeks, they are yet to win a league game this season and their last 50 over victory was against Championship side North County in the Senior League Cup semi-final. Their batting centres around the form of PJ Moor and David Delany, whilst skipper Eoghan Delany will be hoping to rekindle some of his form of years gone by to help his side get off the bottom of the table. With the ball, David Delany and Mick Granger provide an excellent opening partnership, whilst Fionn Hand will be the next seamer up to provide wicket taking options, the spinners in the form of former YM man Cillian McDonnell and David Vincent will be supported by Paul Ryan in a well-rounded attack.
Jack Tector’s good form has been a staple of the opening four games this season and Clontarf will need to dismiss him if they are to have a chance of restricting the YMCA batting effort. Mick Granger’s opening spell will be the time when ‘Tarf have the most chance of dismissing the opener and if they can it will give them a real start in the game.
KEY BATTLE: Jack Tector vs Mick Granger
PEMBROKE VS MALAHIDE
A fully loaded Pembroke side host Malahide who are just one position behind them in the league having won just one of their opening 4 games, however the away side are also back to their full complement this weekend, welcoming back skipper James Newland and both Mike and Ali Frost to the side. Ryan Hackney’s excellent form will be the rock which the away side will hope to build their innings around, whilst Matt Ford and Fintan McAllister will be the men who they will be looking at to support him in the batting innings. With the ball, Cameron Shoebridge and David O’Halloran will be the key to supporting their skipper as seam bowling options, but Mike Frost’s return to the team will be a very important aspect in bolstering their spin bowling attack.
Pembroke on the other hand can call upon the services of internationals Andy Balbirnie, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy and Lorcan Tucker for this game, alongside Leinster Lightning’s Gavin Hoey and skipper Theo Lawson meaning their side looks as strong as it probably can at any stage this season for this fixture. Overseas player Poonish Mehta returns having been rested for the Alan Murray Cup game, whilst the remainder of the home side is made up of two batters in excellent form in JJ Garth and Diarmaid Tucker, and two bowlers who have provided consistent performances throughout in Paul Lawson and Piyush Sharma.
Malahide’s skipper James Newland has bowled excellently in his appearances so far this season, and he will be the man aiming to take the key wicket of Andy Balbirnie, if he can do so it’s a major hurdle jumped in the Pembroke batting line-up.
KEY BATTLE: Andy Balbirnie vs James Newland
MERRION VS PHOENIX
Finally in the Premier League we have this weekend’s featured game, where Merrion host Phoenix in Anglesea Road, both sides have won two games in the league so far this season, and that makes this round vital as the winner will move towards a title challenge, with the loser potentially falling towards the foot of the table. Phoenix will be looking to their interprovincial stars, Tyrone Kane and George Dockrell to provide the goods with both bat and ball in this game with support with the bat from Nicolaas Pretorius, Will Bennett and Adam Chester. Whilst with the ball they will be hoping that Theo Dempsey and spinners Ben White and Dev Ranolia can cause problems for their hosts with both having had good starts to the league campaign thus far.
Merrion meanwhile have seen some good individual performances power them to victories in the past number of weeks however it is last week’s defeat to Balbriggan which has arguably given them the most hope form wise, with Jack Carty and Mike Lewis both in the runs, whilst John Anderson’s unbeaten century showed he’s still every bit as capable of putting together scores as he has been in years gone by. The Anglesea Road side’s bowling stocks arguably look slightly shorter than they have in the past however and they will be relying heavily on Muhammad Sinan and Jack Carty as their two main seamers, whilst their left-arm spinning duo of Amish Sidhu and Tom Stanton will need to bounce back from a difficult outing against Balbriggan and produce good performances if they are to restrict this Phoenix batting line-up’s scoring rate in the middle overs which ultimately could prove the key in preventing them making a big score.
With Merrion’s batting needing to give it’s bowling every chance in this game, a fast start will be vital in terms of allowing them to make a big score, Jack Carty will aim to provide just that and the left-hander’s battle with Theo Dempsey will be a period of the game where the rate and weight of runs scored will set the tone and either set Merrion up to make a big total, or potentially allow Phoenix get on the front foot and stamp their authority on the game.
KEY BATTLE: Jack Carty vs Theo Dempsey