IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE PREVIEW – ROUND 8 (JUNE 28TH)

The eight round of fixtures in the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League sees the league table beginning to take real shape as to who will make up the Premier League and Championship after the mid-season split.

A win for Pembroke will mathematically confirm them in the top 6 with three games to spare, however they face Malahide this weekend who will be hoping to claw themselves back closer to the league leaders. Balbriggan sit in third and will hope a victory against bottom-of-the-table Rush will see them leapfrog Malahide again. Clontarf’s efforts to get into the top 6 sees them travelling to The Mardyke to take on Cork County. Leinster and Merrion face off in a 4^th vs 5^th fixture, whilst North County host Railway Union and will be hoping to close the gap to the sixth placed side. Finally in the Phoenix Park, there’s a local derby, with Civil Service hosting Phoenix.

MALAHIDE VS PEMBROKE

A mouth-watering clash at the top of the table sees Pembroke facing arguably their biggest test of the season so far as they travel to The Village to take on the in-form Malahide. The home side will look to Robbie Foulkes to get them off to a good start with the bat, as he is likely to open the innings alongside wicket keeper Matthew Langan once again. Adam Doyle at three is the ideal foil for the red-hot Jeremy Martins at number 4, whilst the Ford brothers both made contributions in last weekend’s victories, and good form for that duo could see the Village scoring quickly towards the back end of their innings. On the bowling front, Martins and James Newland make up a potent new-ball pairing, whilst the return of former Leinster Lightning seamer David O’Halloran adds another dimension to the side. Robbie Foulkes’ cutters offer a good variety and plenty of control, whilst Timcy Khanduja’s leggies are a strong spin option for the home side.

Pembroke meanwhile are hamstrung this weekend by the unavailability of several international stars as Ireland take on India, meaning none of Lorcan Tucker, Tim & Harry Tector or Gavin Hoey are available. This will see JJ Garth likely joined at the top of the order by Macdara Cosgrave, whilst a return for Andy Balbirnie would bolster the batting line-up significantly. Addison Sherriff was in fine form last weekend, passing half-centuries in both games against Balbriggan, whilst Jack Tector and Greg Hollins will follow him in the middle order. On the bowling front, Byron McDonough will share the opening duties with Olly Riley, whilst a return to the bowling crease for Sherriff would no doubt be a welcome boost. Mark Berry offers a further seam option, whilst in the absence of Hoey and Harry Tector, Paul Lawson will be the frontline spinner, with support potentially coming in the shape of Macdara Cosgrave, as well as the potential inclusion of Harry St Leger, who recently debuted in their trip to Cork County.

Jeremy Martins has the knack for taking big wickets this season, and he is likely to be thrown the ball early in Addison Sherriff’s innings this weekend, if he can knock over the Pembroke overseas player, it will give Malahide a chink of light to chase after.

KEY BATTLE: Jeremy Martins vs Addison Sherriff

CORK COUNTY VS CLONTARF

The Mardyke proved to be a happy hunting ground for Clontarf last season, and they will be hoping for a similar batting display this weekend. This weekend their unit will be made up of the usual opening pair of Séamus Lynch & Mitchell Thompson at the top of the order, before David Delany appears at number three. Sam Morgan adds his hard hitting at number four, with Eoghan Delany holding the innings together from number five. From there, the hard hitting of John McNally and Fionn Hand will take over, with Andrew Delany and Ethan Marshall another pair of left-handers in the lower order who are capable of clearing the ropes. ‘Tarf are also affected by the call-up of Reuben Wilson this week, meaning Hand will likely open the bowling alongside Nawaz Khan, with the seam bowling support coming from McNally and Marshall. The left-arm orthodox of Cillian McDonnell sees him the spin option in the side, as they will be heavily reliant on their seamers this time out.

The hosts meanwhile have been dealt a blow this week with the transfer of Raj Undre to Merrion. This however does coincide with a period of relatively good availability, as it could be argued that only Thorne Prophet is missing from their strongest side this weekend. Benji Marris will appear at the top of the order along with a new partner this weekend, which could be Sunil Gautam, who has featured at the top of the order previously this term. Josh Hartill will continue at number three, whilst Donald Marakassery, Brian Upman and Tiago Oelefse will bat through the middle order. With the ball, the openers will likely see Zubair Khan and William Shields, with Oelefse the third seamer in the side. They feature three spinners in the side this weekend, with the left-arm orthodox from the skipper Diarmuid Carey, off-breaks from Bakhtyar Nabi, and leggies coming from Nabeel Anjum, meaning the Leesiders are well prepared to take advantage of the generally spin-friendly conditions in the Mardyke this of the season.

William Shields will hope to put the hosts on top early on in this game, if he can dismiss the dangerous Séamus Lynch, it could crack the door open for the home side, however, if Lynch dominates, it could be a long day in the dirt for the hosts.

KEY BATTLE: William Shields vs Séamus Lynch

MERRION VS LEINSTER

Up next there’s a crucial tie in Anglesea Road, where Leinster and Merrion do battle in a game that is likely to see the winner go clear in the top 6 race, with the loser coming under pressure from the sides below. Leinster have a very settled side to choose from, missing only Gareth Delany and Jai Moondra to international duty this time out. They are however comfortably covered with both bat and ball in spite of missing their two star players, Tom O’Connor and Bilal Azhar both offer good options to open the bowling alongside Mark Tonge in the absence of Moondra, whilst Joey Carroll is another good seam option in the side. Meanwhile on the spin bowling front, Saqib Bahadur has been leading the line for much of the season and is set to do so once again, with support from the left-arm offies of Tom Johnson, who has rediscovered some good bowling form in the past couple of weeks. With the bat, Ruben Newton will join Johnson at the top of the order, whilst it’s likely that Tristen de Beer will follow the usual number 3 & 4 of Monil Patel and Younas Ahmadzai into bat, after his sensational century in Monday’s District Cup Finale which led South Leinster to the title. Carroll, Tonge and O’Connor will look to add plenty of impetus later in the innings for the visitors.

Merrion meanwhile are boosted by the addition of Raj Undre for Sunday’s fixture, and he’s set to attempt to cover the loss of Stephen Doheny, another man on international duty, in this game. Danny Forkin is battling a hamstring injury and they’ll hope he can overcome that to also feature at the top of the order, whilst Swapnil Modgill has shown glimpses of form in recent weeks without really piling up the big score that the Merrion faithful would like to see. Seb Dijkstra and John Anderson are another pair who have made runs in recent weeks and will look to continue in that vein, with Jamie Forbes and Corne Botha the men who can clear the rope later in the innings. With the ball meanwhile, Mikey O’Reilly has been in excellent form with his left-arm swing for much of the last month, whilst Botha has found his stride also bowling with the new ball, there’s more seam from Sean Stanton and Andy Doheny, whilst the frontline spinner in the side is Peter Forkin who is one of two off-spinners in the side alongside Modgill.

In the absence of Moondra, Leinster’s quick start with the ball will be contingent upon Mark Tonge finding his stride. If he can knock Swapnil Modgill over, it could throw the cat amongst the pigeons in the Merrion batting ranks.

KEY BATTLE: Swapnil Modgill vs Mark Tonge

RUSH VS BALBRIGGAN

Rush come into this game still winless in the league and desperately needing to kick-start their league campaign. Much of whether they can turn Balbriggan over this weekend revolves around the exploits of Kiwi Isaac Bird and skipper Nathan McGuire, with both more than capable of piling up a huge score when they are on a going day. The most feared player in the side however is undoubtedly Abid Taniwal, who’s ability to clear the rope almost at will in some innings makes him incredibly dangerous. They are supported in the batting unit by the McGee brothers, Jack and Finn, who will also keep wicket, whilst the all-rounders in the side who can also contribute include Alex Neary and Nasir Totakhil. The bowling has benefited from the return of Jarred Barnes in recent weeks, and he leads the seam attack which also features Neary, Asher Abbasi, Conor Butterly and Jawid Oryakhil. The spin comes exclusively from the all-rounders, as Totakhil’s left-arm orthodox leads the way with support in the shape of Bird and McGuire giving the skipper plenty of options.

Balbriggan meanwhile must do without Ireland debutant Matt Hollard this weekend, meaning Seb de Oliveira will be the senior man with the new ball, he’s likely to be supported by Ruan Strauss, whilst Andy Darroch is the other seamer in the side who has been used in recent weeks. Skipper Dylan Lues usually leads the spinners, however he is missing this weekend, and in the absence of Hollard could well have been the option to open the bowling this time around, that means the spinners are led by the off-breaks of Kai Curran, who impressed last week in their outings against Pembroke, whilst Jordan Hollard also provides strong support as the second offie in the side. With the bat, a return for Cameron Rowe at the top of the order this weekend is a very welcome addition to the away side, and he’ll be joining his regular opening partner Connor Fletcher. Prashan Naidoo will feature once again at number three, with the stand-in skipper Chris de Freitas at number 4 and having looked in good form last weekend. Kai Curran has made a strong start to life in Ireland and provides another classy left-handed option in the middle order, whilst Seb de Oliveira and Jordan Hollard provide depth at 6 and 7, with Hollard in particular very nearly pulling off an heroic innings in last weekend’s Senior Cup game.

This game could swing on how well Rush can control the stroke-play of Chris de Freitas in the middle order for Balbriggan, if Nasir Totakhil can control his scoring rate, it could prove key for the home side.

KEY BATTLE: Nasir Totakhil vs Chris de Freitas

NORTH COUNTY VS RAILWAY UNION

A vital game in the race for the top six takes place in Inch, and North County will be hoping to see their batting fire them into a strong position in this game. The unit is led by Lochie Hardy, who comes into this fixture off the back of another excellent showing last week against Malahide when he made 90, Suliman Safi provides good support to his opening partner and fellow left-hander, with the duo having shared several strong stands already this term. The pressure comes on just below them however, as John Devane, Eddie Richardson and Jamie Grassi will all be looking to add bigger and more frequent scores than they have thus far this season. The all-rounders after them, including Alan Joseph Mathew and Jake Devane, will add some ballast at the back-end of the innings. On the bowling side, Richardson and Abdul Ghaffar are likely to share the new ball, whilst they could also call upon Husnain Maroof and Sean Sludds to bowl their left and right arm swingers respectively. The spin comes from Mathew and Brandon Morris, who deliver varying styles of right-arm off-spinners.

Railway Union meanwhile come into this game off the back of a comprehensive victory over Merrion last weekend, Ashil Prakash was the star of the show in that game, taking a remarkable 7-for to roll their opposition over for just 166. He joins Abhay Tipnis as the frontline spinners in the side, whilst they have also included the left-arm orthodox of Kathan Shah in their side this time around. The seam attack is without Liam McCarthy who is on Ireland duty, meaning they are balanced out by just three right-arm seam options, including Sumit Kumar and Digamber Mishra, whilst the slingers of Musa Shinwari round out the attack. Their batting unit is settling down, with the opening duo of wicketkeeper Bruce Whaley and Prakash offering equal parts aggression and pragmatism, before left-hander Rob O’Brien at three, another man who is fresh off success in the Leinster Schools victory this week. Philippe le Roux reprises his role at number 4, where he was crucial last week making an unbeaten 75 in the run chase, whilst Tipnis and Hayden Hamilton round out a very strong top six for the away side.

Lochie Hardy is a huge wicket for North County here, and it would be no surprise to see him in the runs once again, it could well be down to Digamber Mishra to dismiss the Inch overseas player, and if he can, it will give Railway half an opening.

KEY BATTLE: Lochie Hardy vs Digamber Mishra

CIVIL SERVICE VS PHOENIX

Hedayat Khogiani and Edson Silva have been to the fore with the bat for Civil Service in recent weeks propelling them to their first Premier League victory, rapidly followed by a second in the last two gameweeks! Arjun Chandrasekar is the stand-in skipper this weekend in the absence of Deepak Jayachandran, and he’ll feature in the middle order, alongside the likes of Abhishek Arvind Kare, Simranjeet Singh and Vijay Adhikari, alongside the all-round duo of Zaman Safi and Dev Ranolia. There’s a welcome sight in the side this week as Mubasher Siddique will open the bowling once again alongside Noor Ullah, whilst there’s support in the right-arm seam department from Safi, who has arguably been the pick of their bowlers this season without necessarily getting the just rewards. It’s likely that both Ranolia and Ramgokul Srinivasan will be given the chance to roll out their respective off-breaks early in the piece on home turf this time around.

Phoenix meanwhile will be without George Dockrell this time around, leaving something of a hole in their middle order. Shane Getkate has been the key man of late at the top of the order, where he’ll feature alongside Johit Munjal, whilst the absence of Dockrell sees a promotion in the line-up likely for all-rounder Amish Sidhu. He’ll feature in the middle order alongside Tyrone Kane and Raghav Grover. With the ball, Sean McNicholl leads the way alongside James Maginnis, whilst beyond that duo it’s much to do with their spin attack, as Amish Sidhu and Ben White will prove crucial to the side, particularly on the traditionally turning Civil Service wickets. They could be supported by a number of options including Tanvir Hasan, who features in the Alan Murray Cup action this Friday evening as well.

Shane Getkate made a century when these sides met last season, so no doubt Civil Service will be keen to see the back of him, and if Mubasher Siddique can knock him over, Service will fancy their chances of making it three in a row in the league.

KEY BATTLE: Mubasher Siddique vs Shane Getkate

IBI CORPORATE  FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE

MATCH DAY 8 – JUNE 28^TH – All 12 Noon Start

At The Village, Malahide vs Pembroke

At The Mardyke, Cork County vs Clontarf

At Anglesea Road, Merrion vs Leinster

At Kenure, Rush vs Balbriggan

At Inch, North County vs Railway Union

At Civil Service, Civil Service vs Phoenix