IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE PREVIEW – ROUND 8 (JUNE 22ND)

The 8^th round of fixtures in the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League takes place this Sunday, and after last Saturday’s total wipeout in Dublin, the only move in the league table saw Cork County leapfrogging The Hills at the bottom of the table with a one wicket win.

PEMBROKE VS CORK COUNTY

In Sydney Parade, the league holders play host to Cork County, in a tie that the home side will be absolutely gunning to take advantage of to keep themselves in contention to retain their title. The home side’s batting is led at the top by Tim Tector and JJ Garth, with Blake MacDonald at number three. Jack Tector’s good form in the middle order sees him accompanied by Macdara Cosgrave and stand-in gloveman Danny Hogan. The bowling attack is led by Mark Berry and Andrew Boulton, with all-rounder Daniel Murray fresh off the back of a Leinster Lightning debut set to be the third seamer in the side. Their spinners are front and centre again however, with Paul Lawson’s off-spin backed-up by Gavin Hoey’s leggies, that duo make up the main wicket-taking threat in the side.

Cork County meanwhile are no doubt delighted to see PJ Moor back in their side this weekend, having missed last Saturday’s victory against The Hills. He leads the batting alongside wicket-keeper Benji Marris and overseas Mark Andrianatos, whilst Brian Upman and Thorne Prophet will also appear in the middle order as County look to be somewhere near full strength this time around. There’s a welcome return for all-rounder Ehsan O’Sullivan, who’s off-breaks will join Bakhtyar Nabi and skipper Diarmuid Carey in the spin bowling stakes, whilst they can choose from their usual trio of seamers, as Zubair Khan and Andrianatos are set to be supported by Suliman Safi.

Cork County will be hoping to see PJ Moor in the runs in this tie, and if he can get through the opening spell and dominate against Gavin Hoey, it could give the Leesiders a fighting chance with the bat.

KEY BATTLE: Gavin Hoey vs PJ Moor

MERRION VS CLONTARF

The featured action comes from Anglesea Road, as fifth placed Merrion play host to second-placed Clontarf in a repeat of the Leinster Senior Cup tie of last month. Merrion welcome back Adam Rosslee and Stephen Doheny to their side when compared with last weekend, and they bolster a batting unit which looks as strong as any others in the league. Doheny will be alongside Swapnil Modgill at the top of the order, whilst overseas man Connor Blaxall-Hill precedes Rosslee in the middle order. John Anderson follows that quartet in what would not feel unlike an impenetrable wall at times in this team. Jamie Forbes, Grant Glutz and Max Sorensen provide the power in the engine room, before the bowling unit is exposed. Sean Stanton will likely share the new ball with Melvin Devaraj, whilst there’s medium pace from Sorensen. The spinners include the left-arm orthodox of Tom Stanton, whilst both Blaxall-Hill and Modgill have regularly proved to be very canny operators so far this season.

Clontarf meanwhile will be boosted by yet another victory on Friday evening in the Alan Murray Cup, with their side having lost just one game all season. This is thanks in no small part to their very settled batting unit, featuring Séamus Lynch and Mitchell Thompson at the top of the order, followed by Eoghan Delany and Pat Xie. Whilst that quartet were responsible for plenty of early season success, David Delany and John McNally have been the pair who have done serious damage in recent weeks, and with a unit in extremely strong form, they appear likely to once again cause trouble on Merrion’s excellent batting tracks. With the ball, they will be looking to Reuben Wilson to lead the way alongside the skipper, whilst McNally provides good support with his seamers. Cillian McDonnell and David Vincent appear most likely to be the two spinners in the side this time around, and once again they boast an attack that should be extremely difficult to get on top of.

Merrion have persisted on opening with spin with mixed results so far this season, and this time around it could well prove to be the key once again, if Tom Stanton can get the better of Séamus Lynch, the home side should be well on top.

KEY BATTLE: Tom Stanton vs Séamus Lynch

BALBRIGGAN VS MALAHIDE

This pair faced off in a brilliant battle on Friday evening, and this fixture sees two near identical sides facing off once again. The main change for Malahide sees James Newland returning to skipper the side, and he will lead the bowling unit alongside Jeremy Martins and Andy Sheridan, whilst there’s also a return to the side for Diarmuid Burke, who will likely take the new ball. With the bat, they will look to build around Robbie Foulkes at the top, whilst Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin in the middle order is sure to be a key man once again. They have some hard-hitting in the shape of Sheridan and Martins, however will miss Matt Ford in this regard. They will no doubt be keen to see what impact the new face of Alex Brown can have in his league debut.

Balbriggan will hope to see Connor Fletcher get them off to a quick start at the top of the innings, and whilst it appears he will be accompanied by a new partner this weekend, it remains to be seen if it’s a promotion for one of their middle order, with Cam Rowe and Chris de Freitas both providing potential options here. There’s no doubt however that they will be hoping that if one of this pair does shift up the order that they can continue their decent form of late. Skipper Greg Ford is sure to remain in the middle order, whilst this approach could also see their all-round trio of Dylan Lues, Jordan Hollard and Sebastian D'Oliveira shifting up a position each to allow the team to take advantage of Lues’ much improved form this season. With the ball, they remain devoid of Sam Willemse, however Matt Hollard and D’Oliveira have found themselves providing more than useful cover for the left-armer, and whilst they are missing their opener, Kashif Ali and Andy Darroch provide good change-up options to Ford. Lues and Jordan Hollard continue as the spinning pair in the side, with the pair set to be crucial to the side’s chances of victory this weekend.

Robbie Foulkes is the star man for the home side, and if he can get on top against Seb D’Oliveira early in the piece, it could put Malahide well on top.

KEY BATTLE: Robbie Foulkes vs Seb D’Oliveira

RAILWAY UNION VS PHOENIX

Railway once again see themselves without Liam McCarthy, however they do have Philippe le Roux return for this game, meaning he takes over from Rob O’Brien to skipper the side, whilst there are some players in decent form around the teenager in the batting unit. Not least in the shape of ‘coach’ Lotli Sesele who has proved his worth in spades in recent weeks for the side with bat in hand, whilst Srihan Karpe and Hedayat Khogiani are two more men who will be aiming to show their abilities to go big. Ryan Smith features alongside Karpe in the middle order before we reach the all-rounders in the shape of Gethin Kelleher and Muhammad Sinan. On the bowling front, Stuart de Klerk and Sumit Kumar add to the seaming stocks in the absence of McCarthy, and will make up a battery of four alongside Kelleher and Sinan. Ashil Prakash and Karpe are joined by Hamza Maan in the spin bowling stakes this time around, meaning the home side have no fewer than 7 frontline options that they could call upon.

As far as Phoenix are concerned, whilst they are sure to be without the bowling of Ben White through injury, much could rest on whether George Dockrell appears. Their form has been key in recent weeks, particularly Dockrell’s batting, which has on a couple of occasions dug ‘Nix out of some serious problems. Eknoor Singh and Shane Getkate are the pair who were in the runs last weekend, and in the absence of their hard-hitting Leinster Lightning man, that pair will be under pressure to perform once again. Tyrone Kane and Joe Cotgreave will appear in the middle order once again, with the batting unit likely to be rounded out by the skipper Adam Chester and gloveman Nic Pretorius. On the bowling front, home conditions have tended to suit Amish Sidhu nicely over the past two seasons, and Phoenix will be hoping that this trend continues to help alleviate the loss of White and Dockrell, whilst Dev Ranolia is the other left-arm spinner likely to get to roll his arm over. Levon Shields’ leg-spin was given a run out against Pembroke, and if he returns to the side, this could be another viable option. The seamers are led by the right-armers of Kane and Raghav Grover, whilst debutant Tom Malone impressed on Friday evening and could feature again, with support likely to come in the shape of Theo Dempsey.

Railway’s key man has been Rob O’Brien for a number of weeks, and he is likely to face off against Phoenix’s new face Tom Malone in this tie, whoever gets the better of this battle is likely to shape Railway’s batting innings.

KEY BATTLE: Rob O’Brien vs Tom Malone

THE HILLS VS NORTH COUNTY

The Fingal derby looks set to be hotly contested, as The Hills see Mark Donegan and Nathan Rooney’s return extended into this tie, and they will be looking for that duo to bolster a batting line-up that is led by Ollie Horlock and James Cusack at the top, whilst Donegan will likely slide into the middle order, Matthew Weldon sees himself continue in the side as a batter only, whilst Andy Kavanagh and the skipper Tómas Rooney-Murphy look set to round out the middle order. With the ball, they are led as usual by Sean McNicholl, with the skipper likely to share the opening duties with him, Shazil Ahmed is another option available to Rooney-Murphy before looking to his trio of spinners in the shape of frontline man Febin Manoj, and the pair of offies in Horlock and Cusack.

North County meanwhile look like a side reborn in recent times, and they come into the derby as favorites without doubt. Their batting unit continued in it’s new shape last weekend, and this continued to bear fruit, with Niall McGovern shifting back to his familiar role at the top of the order, joined by Suliman Safi who pushed up from three. Hunter Kindley and Eddie Richardson then took on the key positions at 3 and 4, and between this quartet, North County have arguably their heaviest run-scorers all coming one after another in what is an extremely tough task for any bowling unit. Even now with this re-jig, it means that the big hitting duo of Jamie Grassi and Brian Dunphy can play with a dangerous level of freedom in the middle order, this ultimately proving vital in their Irish Cup victory last weekend. Their seamers will be crucial in this game against a top-heavy Malahide batting order, with Richardson and one of Abdul Ghaffar and Usman Azhar set to reprise a strong new-ball partnership, with the control of Azhar and extra pace of Ghaffar both offering very different skills. They will then look to their duo of off-spinners in Alan Joseph Mathew and Brandon Morris to tie down the middle order of Malahide, with the bowling attack having remained relatively consistent over the past number of weeks.

North County’s spinners will have their work cut out against the power hitting of Nathan Rooney in the middle order, if he can get on top against Alan Joseph Mathew, it’s set to give The Hills a real foothold in this tie.

KEY BATTLE: Nathan Rooney vs Alan Joseph Mathew

RUSH VS LEINSTER

Rush take on Leinster and have a batting unit which is now starting to find some form around their main man Nathan McGuire, as last weekend’s victory saw runs for each of Ehtesham Ahmed, reeling in the years as he made 42, however he is replaced this time around by Saadat Gull. Abid Taniwal,  has proved to be destructive on plenty of occasions, and gloveman Finn McGee, who is the latest on the conveyor belt of excellent keeper-batsmen to be produced by the Kenure side. Nasir Totakhil provides some solidity at the top of the order, whilst Jack McGee is the other man in the top 6 who has some proven pedigree at this level, and could find this game an opportune time to cash in back on home soil. A return for Hashir Sultan would be a welcome boost to the team. Taniwal leads the seamers and is the quickest of the 5 who generally turn out for the home side, whilst Jarred Barnes and Allan Eastwood still make use of their extra bounce to great effect. Asher Abbasi and Alex Neary are the other pair in the side, both of whom have provided some glimpses of brilliance in spells they have bowled so far this season. The spin as usual comes from Totakhil, who has been relentless in his wicket-taking ability, and McGuire’s offies remaining as reliable as ever.

Leinster’s batting line-up will see Tom Johnson and Ben Mitchell at the top of the order, with Monil Patel in superb form at number 3 following his 158 just a couple of weeks ago against North County. Leinster’s middle order is in such strong form that numbers 4 through 8 could almost be picked out of a hat,  so it will be interesting to see what way Joey Carroll, Saqib Bahadur, Younas Ahmadzai and Mark Tonge are sent out to play this game, with this line-up having a feeling that nearly every batter coming in can be more destructive than the last! With the ball, Jai Moondra and Bilal Azhar have shown some really strong form, whilst Mark Tonge has generally shared the opening duties with that pair and really found some rhythm this term. Kaustabh Apsunde rounds off the seamers in the line-up, with the spin coming from the two opening bats, as Johnson and Mitchell can both provide a left-arm option, whilst Saqib Bahadur’s mystery-spinners have often proved tricky.

The seamers of Taniwal will likely do battle with Ben Mitchell early in the piece here, and if Rush’s left-armer can knock over Leinster’s left-hander, it will give his side an excellent chance.

KEY BATTLE: Abid Taniwal vs Ben Mitchell