LHK ALAN MURRAY CUP FINALS DAY PREVIEW (JULY 12TH)

Saturday sees one of the marquee days on the calendar taking place in Dublin 4, as the LHK Alan Murray Cup Finals Day is set to be fought out.

Four sides have remained unbeaten throughout their three group games, and earnt their places in the semi-final stage of the competition, with a pair of mouth-watering ties in store to decide the afternoon finalists.

At 11:30 in Anglesea Road, The Hills and Phoenix will face off, meanwhile over in Sydney Parade, Malahide will take on the reigning champions Leinster. The winners of the two ties will face off in Sydney Parade at 4pm, with full coverage of both the semi-final and final in Pembroke CC featuring on Cricket Leinster Youtube, including commentary led by Craig Senior along with the likes of Andrew Poynter and Jim Bennett throughout the afternoon.

AT ANGLESEA ROAD

THE HILLS VS PHOENIX

The Hills made their way to this final off the back of three excellent victories, two of the more comfortable variety against Rush and Adamstown, before a nail-biting 10-run win against Clontarf last week secured their semi-final slot. Ollie Horlock has been the key man for the Skerries outfit so far in the competition, with scores of 28, 67 and 72 contributing to their victories, whilst last week he was supported excellently by the big hitting Nathan Rooney, who can be as destructive as anyone on his day. Around those pair, the likes of Muzamil Sherzad, Matthew Weldon & Yaseen Sherzad will look to complement with their own contributions, with Andy Kavanagh and Tómas Rooney-Murphy rounding out the batting unit.

With the ball, Sean McNicholl leads the way as usual, with Cian Nulty likely to partner him with the new ball. Other seamers in the side include the skipper Rooney-Murphy, alongside Shazil Ahmed, both of whom have been in good form of late. The potential trump card in the bowling attack is the return of mystery spinner Febin Manoj, who the Milverton outfit will hope can pick up some key wickets in his four overs. Ollie Horlock is the second spinner in the side, although on a fresh wicket in Anglesea Road, he may not be required to bowl as much as in previous ties.

Phoenix meanwhile will also be looking to take advantage of any life in the brand new wicket, as they boast a seam attack full of wicket-taking ability for this fixture. Tyrone Kane and Tom Malone offer an excellent opening duo with their right and left arm seamers respectively, whilst Raghav Grover is as strong a change bowler as you will find on show this weekend, that trio are sure to make up 12 overs between them. Amish Sidhu and Ben White are the two regular frontline spinners in the team, and with White in particular coming into this game off the back of a strong week in the IP20s, they will hope to put on another good show. The sixth bowling option almost inexplicably is George Dockrell, who is another man who has returned to form with his bowling in the last few weeks in the IP20s, and the fact that the Phoenix bowling stocks stretch that deep really is somewhat frightening.

With the bat, the Park side’s top four is possibly one of the most impressive around on paper. Shane Getkate and Eknoor Singh will open the batting, with both in excellent form of late, they are followed by Tyrone Kane, who is already a centurion during the group stages, whilst the small matter of Dockrell will likely follow him at number 4. Skipper Adam Chester and Aussie Joe Cotgreave are next up, with both also well capable of clearing the ropes, however with the top four they boast, Phoenix are sure to be hoping that these two are only required to add the finishing touches to their batting efforts.

Ollie Horlock is, by a distance, the key man for The Hills in this game, without his runs they are unlikely to have made it this far, and against a power-packed Phoenix line-up it’s likely to be the same again. If he can get on top against Tyrone Kane early on, it will give The Hills some real hope that they can provide what would certainly be called an upset!

KEY BATTLE: Ollie Horlock vs Tyrone Kane

AT SYDNEY PARADE

LEINSTER VS MALAHIDE

At the same time, over in Sydney Parade, another pair of power-packed sides will face off. Reigning champions Leinster have been able to over-power their opposition in each of their three games so far, with scores of 192, 171 and 199 centring primarily around Younas Ahmadzai and Monil Patel making some significant contributions in those ties. They do boast plenty more power hitting ability, in the shape of Ben Mitchell and Tom Johnson in particular, whilst Tristen de Beer and Saqib Bahadur are two more players well capable of clearing the rope when given the chance.

With the ball, Leinster’s skipper Bilal Azhar is an excellent left-arm operator, alongside two further quick bowling options in the shape of Mitchell and Jai Moondra, whilst Mark Tonge will definitely feature in the side, there’s also the option to include another right-arm seamer in the shape of Devan Keenan. The spin comes from Bahadur and Johnson, providing right and left arm options respectively.

Malahide meanwhile are led by skipper James Newland with the ball alongside his vice-captain Kelvin Donnelly, whilst Jeremy Martins and Andy Sheridan round out the seamers in what looks like a very strong fast bowling line-up. The spin will come from the right-arm offies of Liam Foulkes, with support potentially there in the shape of Timcy Khanduja’s leg-breaks.

On the batting front, Robbie Foulkes has been the key man for the team all season, none moreso than in this format, and alongside Matt Ford, they are the pair that could change the game in just a matter of balls. Aside from that pair, they will look to the likes of Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin, Alex Brown and gloveman Matthew Langan to help propel their side to a reasonable total.

This game will doubtless come down to Malahide stalling Leinster’s batting, and once again they will look to their skipper James Newland to pick up the key wicket of their former player Younas Ahmadzai, if Newland can knock him over, it will give The Village a fighting chance.

KEY BATTLE: Younas Ahmadzai vs James Newland