LHK INSURANCE ALAN MURRAY CUP PREVIEW – MATCH DAY 3 (JULY 4TH)

The final round of matches in the group stages of the LHK Insurance Alan Murray Cup take place this evening, and with Finals Day on the horizon on July 12^th, there are still groups hanging in the balance for qualification spots.

GROUP A

Group A is a straightforward affair in many ways, should Leinster continue their good form, and beat Dublin University, they will progress to the semi-finals. Pembroke and Dublin University could both qualify, however both would need to turn around hugely improbable Net Run Rate scenarios with Leinster in order to do so.

PEMBROKE VS TERENURE

A strong Pembroke side featuring powerful batters in the shape of JJ Garth & Blake MacDonald at the top of the order, before the likes of Jack Tector, Fiachra & Diarmaid Tucker, Joe Prendergast and wicket-keeper Danny Hogan, will fancy their chances of overturning a massive NRR deficit against Terenure this evening, in the event that Leinster slip up. The bowling is led by Olly Riley and Mark Berry, whilst Padraic Flanagan and Prendergast will back them up. Paul Lawson is the sole spinner in the side this week, and will be looking to add to an impressive record in this competition.

Terenure meanwhile opt to rest some of their seamers with an eye on Saturday’s league tie. Nawaz Khan and Kripesh Shetty are both in the side from their frontline attack, supported by Zeeshan Mumtaz, whilst there’s spin from Jinal Khatri and Niqash Ali, as well as the overseas man Hancke von Rauenstein. The batting is led by the clean striking of wicket-keeper Gareth Morgan at the top of the order, whilst both the captain Dónal Lynch, and von Rauenstein have shown glimpses of form in the two previous games in this competition.

Blake MacDonald will be the key to Pembroke’s hopes of an explosive batting effort here, and if he can dominate early on against Kripesh Shetty, it will put the home side well on top.

KEY BATTLE: Blake MacDonald vs Kripesh Shetty

LEINSTER VS DUBLIN UNIVERSITY

Leinster’s destructive batting line-up has out-gunned both Terenure and Pembroke in the last few weeks in this format, and they are sure to be looking to Younas Ahmadzai, Ben Mitchell and Monil Patel to put them into the box seat in this tie. There’s plenty of depth, with the likes of Joey Carroll, Saqib Bahadur and Mark Tonge also well capable of clearing the ropes. With the ball, Bilal Azhar has been in fine form, alongside Tonge at the top in particular. They will be supported by a plethora of all-rounders, with Carroll, Mitchell and Bahadur, before the likes of Kaustabh Apsunde, who has bowled well in this format recently.

The Students meanwhile will know they have something of a free swing at this game as if they do win it will need to be by a reasonably big margin to swing net run rate. Their batting is therefore reliant on the likes of Macdara Cosgrave, Nic Pretorius and Jamie Forbes to help them score at a quick rate, whilst they’ll be supported in the middle by the skipper David Vincent. With the ball, Jack Atkinson has been their stand-out bowler this term, with much of the support after him coming in the shape of spinners, Vincent and Forbes will certainly feature in that regard, whilst they have also seen Cosgrave, Donncha Tucker and Kshitji Salgaonkar at the bowling crease in their last tie.

Trinity will need to score heavily and quickly to give themselves a chance of qualifying for the finals day, Macdara Cosgrave is likely to be the key man here and if he can dominate early against Mark Tonge it could give the ‘Students’ a fighting chance.

KEY BATTLE: Mark Tonge vs Macdara Cosgrave

GROUP B

Malahide are in pole position in Group B heading into their home game against North Kildare, should they slip up, it would take a modest margin of victory for either North County or Balbriggan over the other in order to see them leapfrog the current leaders.

MALAHIDE VS NORTH KILDARE

The hosts are currently favorites to qualify from Group B, and with a batting line-up that features some real power in the shape of Robbie Foulkes, Matt Ford, Jeremy Martins and Alex Brown, with that quartet will look to continue firing on all cylinders in order to propel their side into the last four. With the ball, James Newland and Kelvin Donnelly will lead the way, with the seam support coming from Andy Sheridan and Robbie Foulkes. The spinners in the side are Liam Foulkes and Timcy Khanduja and the depth of the bowling unit will be vital to the side here.

North Kildare meanwhile boast a batting unit that can be explosive at the best of times, and will look to the likes of Husnain Maroof and Josh Uddin to put them ahead of the game with the bat, whilst their new man Yash Kalasannavar has been in good form and that trio could see them putting together a total that could see some nerves in the Malahide dressing room. With the ball however they are very much reliant on Maroof’s early spell to take wickets, and he is supported by a number of seamers including Nazmus Monon, Ali Elahi and Adeel Haider, whilst the spin comes from Nurulain Boda and Uddin, who will both bowl off-breaks.

Malahide will fancy James Newland’s chances of taking early wickets here, and if he can knock over Husnain Maroof it’ll be all roads to finals day for The Village.

KEY BATTLE: James Newland vs Husnain Maroof

NORTH COUNTY VS BALBRIGGAN

North County’s explosive batting unit is led by Jamie Grassi and Suliman Safi for this tie, whilst Hunter Kindley and Brian Dunphy are the other two big-hitters that they will be looking to see contribute in this local derby. Eddie Richardson and Mohammad Sherzad will feature in the middle order, most likely alongside all-rounder Alan Joseph Mathew. With the ball, they’re without Abdul Ghaffar this week, meaning Richardson will have a new opening partner, likely to be one of Sean Sludds, Jake Devane or potentially Kindley, whilst the spin will come from Mathew, supported by Brandon Morris, and leg-spinner Johan George who starred at this week’s U17 Interpros.

Balbriggan meanwhile will look to Greg Ford, Chris de Freitas, Seb D’Oliveira and Jordan Hollard to produce the hard-hitting efforts with the bat, especially when the extra net run rate they would need to make up compared to Malahide is considered. The bowling unit is consistent as ever and features Matt Hollard, Kashif Ali and Andy Darroch, whilst Dylan Lues is set to be the key spinner once again. Cian Rooney deputises for Connor Fletcher behind the stumps, with the usual gloveman nursing a sore rib, whilst Bhavesh Lakhotia also returns to the side with Cameron Rowe resting.

Dylan Lues will relish the opportunity to bowl to Suliman Safi here, and if he can knock over County’s main man, it will give the Brigg a massive chance of victory.

KEY BATTLE: Suliman Safi vs Dylan Lues

GROUP C

Group C is as simple as it could be, The Hills and Clontarf have both won their opening two games, and the winner in The Vineyard tonight will progress. The Hills currently sit top on Net Run Rate.

THE HILLS VS CLONTARF

The only straight shoot-out of the evening sees The Hills batting unit led by Ollie Horlock and Muzamil Sherzad, whilst the big-hitting Nathan Rooney will look to be aggressive from the outset. Matthew Weldon has shown some good form, whilst it will be interesting to see if Cian Nulty is utilised higher up having tucked-in to Leinster’s bowling at the back end of last week’s league game. With the ball, they will look to Sean McNicholl and Shazil Ahmed for early inroads, whilst Tómas Rooney-Murphy and Nulty are the next two seamers in line. Febin Manoj returns to lead the spinners, with support for him coming in the shape of Horlock’s off-breaks.

Clontarf meanwhile welcome Curtis Campher into their side for the first time this season as he returns from injury. He’s likely to feature high up in a batting order that will see Séamus Lynch, Mitchell Thompson, Eoghan Delany, John McNally, Pat Xie and skipper David Delany all keen to contribute. That top 7 is sure to be the envy of most teams that are lining out this evening and ought to have the firepower to really worry their hosts. Bowling wise, Reuben Wilson and Delany lead the way, whilst McNally provides good support. Fionn Hand played as a batter only last weekend and a return to the bowling crease would be welcome for the Castle Avenue men. Cillian McDonnell is the main spinner in the side, with support for him likely to be in the shape of Xie’s off-breaks.

Cillian McDonnell was in excellent form last week in this side’s Irish Cup victory, if he can dismiss Nathan Rooney it will take a lot of the wind out of The Hills’ sails.

KEY BATTLE: Nathan Rooney vs Cillian McDonnell

ADAMSTOWN VS RUSH

The only confirmed ‘dead rubber’ of the evening sees Rush’s power packed batting line-up led by Nathan McGuire and Abid Taniwal, whilst there’s a return for Hashir Sultan, and Craig May is included having made a century in the 2^nd team last weekend. Brothers Jack & Finn McGee and Nasir Totakhil round out the unit. Jarred Barnes and Allan Eastwood will lead the seamers, with Alex Neary also a regular feature in the side. Conor Butterly is also rewarded for some good 2^nd team form last weekend with a place for this fixture. Meanwhile, Totakhil and McGuire will deliver their spin options with their usual precision.

Adamstown are led by Niranjan Shankar in the absence of regular skipper Kunal Nagare, with the batting set to feature the likes of Aditya Gupta, wicket-keeper Rohit Gulati and up-and-coming players including Sid Biju, Niranjan Muthu and Arvind Olaganathan, who accompany the more experience hands of Prabhanshu Kamal and club-stalwart Bradley Fernandes in the side. With the ball, Kamal and Shankar will both provide good spin options, whilst Nithin Pradmaprabhu is always a key man, it will be interesting to see if there’s chances given to the younger players, and this could see Aryan Adelkar also featuring with ball in hand.

It will be a long evening for Adamstown if they don’t dismiss Nathan McGuire early on, and the hosts will be hoping Prabhanshu Kamal can win that battle.

KEY BATTLE: Prabhanshu Kamal vs Nathan McGuire

GROUP D

Lastly in Group D, Phoenix have put themselves in the box seat to qualify having beaten Merrion last time out, however if they do slip up against Railway Union, the Anglesea Road side would fancy their chances of overturning the Net Run Rate deficit on home soil against Civil Service.

MERRION VS CIVIL SERVICE

Merrion’s batting for this tie is likely to hinge on the prosects of Connor Blaxall-Hill and Adam Rosslee, alongside Swapnil Modgill. That trio are the main big hitters in the side, however their last tie did see Danny Forkin in the runs and he will be keen to reproduce something along those lines once again. Max Sorensen and John Anderson round off the batting line-up. With the ball, they will be looking to Sean Stanton and Andy Doheny to lead the way, whilst Melvin Devaraj and Tom Stanton are two other strong operators in this format. Forkin is likely to provide an option with his left-arm spin, whilst both Blaxall-Hill and Modgill will feature prominently with their offies.

Civil Service will look to their skipper Deepak Jayachandran to lead the way with the bat, whilst he’s likely to be supported at the top by ‘keeper Kushal Narang. Simranjeet Singh and Vijay Adhikari are two men capable of clearing the ropes. With the ball, they are without frontline seamers Sunny Malik, Naveed Khan and Mubasher Siddique, meaning they will be reliant on the likes of Suman Dey, spinner Aamir Bafanda and Ankit Gusain to provide some inroads.

Merrion’s batting will look to over-power the under-strength Civil Service bowling unit, and if Connor Blaxall-Hill gets off to a good start against Aamir Bafanda, he could prove very hard to stop.

KEY BATTLE: Connor Blaxall-Hill vs Aamir Bafanda

PHOENIX VS RAILWAY UNION

A youthful Railway Union side, skippered by Srihan Karpe, visits Phoenix. Karpe will feature prominently in the batting line-up alongside wicket-keeper Peter le Roux, all-rounder Mark Canniffe as well as the likes of Connor Walden, Sankeerth Karpe and Ted Hasler. With the ball, there’s a massive element of the unknown at first team level, however they will hope the likes of Farman Afridi, Digamber Mishra and Fakhar Zaman can lead the way, with support coming from Jaagrat Srivastava, Karpe, Canniffe and Hasler.

Phoenix meanwhile will be looking to secure a place in Finals Day with a victory. Their batting is led by Eknoor Singh and Shane Getkate at the top, whilst Tyrone Kane provides massive firepower in the middle. Joe Cotgreave and Adam Chester will also feature in the middle order, and after pointing out previously that T20 is an important format for them this season, the skipper is likely to be seeking a statement performance to propel the side into the last four. Tom Malone and Kane lead the way with the new ball, with support from Raghav Grover, whilst the spin twins of Dev Ranolia and Amish Sidhu complete a fine attack that should put Railway under a lot of pressure.

Tom Malone has been hugely impressive for the hosts since his return from injury, and they’ll be hoping he can deliver a strong opening spell to Srihan Karpe in this fixture.

KEY BATTLE: Tom Malone vs Srihan Karpe

LHK INSURANCE ALAN MURRAY CUP

MATCH DAY 3, JULY 4^TH, ALL 18:00 START

At Sydney Parade, Pembroke vs Terenure

At Observatory Lane, Leinster vs Dublin University

At The Village, Malahide vs North Kildare

At Inch, North County vs Balbriggan

At The Vineyard, The Hills vs Clontarf

At Airlie Park, Adamstown vs Rush

At Anglesea Road, Merrion vs Civil Service

At Phoenix, Phoenix vs Railway Union