The sixth round of fixtures in the IBI Corporate Finance Cricket Leinster Premier League takes place this weekend, with just three fixtures to be played, as the Clontarf vs Malahide game is scheduled for the end of the month, this time around is the turn of Merrion to attempt to stop the beast that is the Balbriggan at home juggernaut, whilst Pembroke travel to Phoenix in an effort to beat the park side at the third attempt this season, and finally YMCA travelling to The Vineyard to face The Hills who will no doubt be looking to reverse the form between the two sides from a couple of weeks ago.
BALBRIGGAN VS MERRION
These two sides produced an excellent game of cricket a couple of weeks ago, with Merrion posting a challenging total of 292, only for Balbriggan to come back and chase it down. That game in many ways is something of an enigma in the opening 5 fixtures for this week’s hosts, with their bowling being the main driver behind their results for much of the season so far, particularly in their home fixtures. Merrion’s total that day is the highest score which any side has managed against Balbriggan so far this season by a whopping 135 run margin.
Merrion’s batters will therefore be looking to repeat this dose in Balbriggan, where only once in 4 games so far has a team batted through their full 50 overs, on which occasion the home side managed 278/6. The visitors are without Stephen Doheny this weekend who is on international duty, but do have the in-form Jack Carty opening the batting, as well as Max Sorensen returning to the side this week to add some powerful hitting to the side. John Anderson was a century maker last time out against Balbriggan and will no doubt take confidence into this fixture off the back of that. With the ball, Muhammad Sinan, Hugh Kennedy and Jack Carty make up a good seam attack, however as has been seen numerous times this year in Balbriggan, with the short square boundaries the bowling of spinners is incredibly important, Tom Stanton and Amish Sidhu have been in good form for the most part this season, but will almost certainly need to out-bowl their opposite numbers if they are to give their side a good chance at victory.
Starting off in the same area, Dylan Lues, Farooq Nasr and Malcolm McGregor account for three very clever spinners who have each bowled well at various points in the season so far this year, when Lues and Nasr’s abilities with the bat are considered as well, the trio are very much crucial to the balance of the side and missing any of them would weaken them significantly. Connor Fletcher, similarly to Anderson, will be high on confidence coming into this game having made a classy century in Anglesea Road a couple of weeks ago, whilst Greg Ford and Chris de Freitas have both been in good form of late and will be aiming to continue in that vein. In the seam bowling department, Ryan Hadley and Andrew Darroch have bowled well in tandem so far this season, however the form of Kashif Ali in particular at home has been tremendous, and he will again be a key bowler for the side.
Given their bowling abilities have been showcased numerous times already at home this season, Balbriggan’s seamers will be bouncing into this fixture, the opening spell of Ryan Hadley to Jack Carty will be of great importance to the game, with the Queensland native needing to see off the New South Welshman to give Merrion any chance of halting Balbriggan’s current run of bowling their opposition out in every home game they’ve played so far.
KEY BATTLE: Ryan Hadley vs Jack Carty
THE HILLS VS YMCA
The Vineyard plays host to a game which ended up being extremely one-sided in the reverse fixture, however even with that considered, much has changed in the last couple of weeks and as a result, it’s likely The Hills will be the side able to take more from their 9 wicket loss in Claremont Road than YMCA can from their victory that day! The home side saw three of their middle order get starts and not kick on in that game, and will be looking to each of Dylan Blignaut, Mark Donegan and Levon Shields through the middle to build a powerful innings. Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin comes into the game off the back of a brilliantly compiled 67 on Monday on Leinster Lightning duty, and his ability to make big scores has been vital to The Hills’ success in games so far this season, he will be the rock which the home side look to build their total around. With the ball, their bowlers will likely look to attack more earlier in the innings this weekend after YMCA’s consummate run chase in the last fixture, and in that regard they’ll be looking to Blignaut and skipper Tómas Rooney-Murphy in the hope of early wickets at the top of the order.
YMCA’s side has changed significantly in the context of that game since, with Jack Tector having injured his shoulder whilst batting last week, he misses out of this game, whilst skipper JJ Cassidy is also absent and is replaced behind the stumps by debutant Adam Rosslee. With the bat, Tim Tector will play a big role in the side, whilst Rory Anders will be aiming to translate his big hitting in the t20 format into the longer form of the league. With the ball, Jamie Forbes and Aaron Bailey will be the left-arm spinning options in the middle overs, however much of what way this game will swing will become apparent during the opening spells of Mikey O’Reilly and Reuben Wilson, whilst Finn Conaty and Tom Anders will provide more options and variation with the ball.
Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin’s form has been imperious in the main so far this season, and as a result the beginning of The Hills’ batting innings will be vital. Mikey O’Reilly’s skills with the new ball will be vitally important in attempting to dismiss the home side’s premier batsman and setting the tone for the remainder of the innings.
KEY BATTLE: Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin vs Mikey O’Reilly
PHOENIX VS PEMBROKE
The Phoenix Park sees Pembroke the visitors this weekend with the away side having lost in both their fixtures against Phoenix so far this season. They will be aiming for a win in this fixture in an effort to keep some pressure on the league leaders as the season begins to gather momentum. Theo Lawson’s good form in the number 4 slot has been vital for the Sydney Parade outfit in recent weeks, whilst opening batsman Diarmaid Tucker has consistently given the side good starts in recent weeks, giving his side a foothold in the game in several fixtures and being important to their success so far. Poonish Mehta’s form with both bat and ball in recent weeks has been spectacular, he’s done an excellent job leading the seam attack in spite of his recent injury, and will be supported by the returning Joe Prendergast along with Piyush Sharma. In the spin attack, Paul Lawson and Donncha Tucker have been reliable so far this season, and the return of Gavin Hoey has bolstered their options in that regard, between those three they will look to turn the screw on Phoenix’s middle order to stop them from scoring in the free manner which they are most comfortable with.
Phoenix will be without their star man George Dockrell who is on international duty, however their skipper Tyrone Kane was in excellent form with the ball last weekend against his former club Merrion, his new ball partnership with Theo Dempsey flourished last weekend in the absence of Oliver Hald, however the left-armers return from international duty will only bolster the seam attack, and possibly go some of the way towards making up for the absence of Dockrell. Ben White and Dev Ranolia will be the two main spinners in the side this week as a result of that and after performing so well last weekend, they will be aiming to continue that form into the coming weekend. Given the form of their bowlers, Phoenix’s batting unit will really need to stand up this weekend to back up their team-mates in that regard. At the top of the order Stephen Black has been generally showing the ability to make a start but as yet hasn’t kicked on, whilst Will Bennett at number four has also shown the aptitude to spend some time in the middle, but perhaps hasn’t quite scored quickly enough early in his innings to be dominant at the crease. Tyrone Kane and Adam Chester are explosive in the middle order, and that pair are really the key to the side, if they arrive at the crease in a situation where they can play freely, they become an extremely dangerous batting prospect, in particular with the heavy hitting of Oliver Hald and Theo Dempsey, who was their hero in the reverse fixture, to follow them.
With Tyrone Kane having plenty of flexibility as to what point in the innings he bowls thanks to the return of Oliver Hald, it’s likely we will see him match up against Pembroke’s in-form overseas man Poonish Mehta when the Indian comes to the crease. Mehta has found himself in excellent form of late really capitalising on good starts for his side and if Phoenix are to prevent that happening this weekend, it’s likely that Kane will need to be the man standing in his way.
KEY BATTLE: Tyrone Kane vs Poonish Mehta