VITALLITY FIRST TEAM LEAGUE PREVIEW - MATCH DAY 5 (JUNE 21ST)

Round 6 of the Vitallity First Team League takes place on Saturday this week for the first time with the Alan Murray Cup and Premier League action sandwiching it on either side. This weekend’s actions sees Cork Harlequins host Adamstown while North Kildare will travel to the Phoenix Park to take on Civil Service. Terenure have the bye and can rest on their laurels for this weekend after defeating Cork last week to get their season back on track.

The table heading into this weekend is an interesting one, North Kildare still sit on top but the gap has closed as is to be expected with them having had the bye on the week just gone. Terenure have leapfrogged Civil Service and now sit second in the table just ahead of Civil Service after their narrow loss to Adamstown. However with Terenure having no opportunity to earn points this weekend and North Kildare surely raring to go after their weekend off the table could look very different come Saturday evening.

CORK HARLEQUINS VS ADAMSTOWN

Cork’s tough start to the season continued at the hands of Terenure on Sunday, they will have felt reasonably confident at the halfway point but a sensational 93 from Sid Nair dashed their hopes of getting on the board for 2025. They will none the less feel confident on their home patch against an Adamstown side that have had their own trials this season.

Shivam Kislay and Sumantu Powale are likely to open the batting for Cork and will try and get their team off to a solid start. Cork boast a very strong middle order who will be disappointed not to have fired on a more consistent basis on the weeks preceding this. They will likely line up with Brewster, Hickey and Seanon Jones in some formation, the middle of that trio in Hickey will no doubt be brewing with confidence after a blistering 68 in the last round against Terenure.

With the ball Munster will likely have a left arm right arm new ball pairing in the ever present Seanon Jones and Mustak Mardan, these two are a dangerous duo and will look to put the Adamstown top order under pressure from the word go. They will also have the exploits of Brewster and Laubscher to call on when required along with the spin of Adam Hickey in a well-rounded attack.

Adamstown have had a turbulent start to their time in Leinster senior cricket but will be riding high coming into this weekend after prevailing in a low scoring thriller that saw them get over the line by 5 runs.

Adamstown’s batting is led by young Sid Biju who will likely be joined in the top order Aaditya Gupta and Hamid Ali, together this trio will try to ensure a solid start in conditions that will no doubt feel alien when compared to the pastures of Airlie Park. The middle order has had a boost with the return of Niranjan Shankar and he will be joined by Dinesh Antony Kidagan David and the skipper Kunal Nagare in a strong top 6 that the Dublin West side will surely be confident of doing some damage. They will also have the utility of their star man Prabhanshu Kamal who will slot in wherever the game situation dictates for his side.

Their bowling will be led by the new ball pairing of Nitin Padmaprabhu and the aforementioned Antony Kidagan who both had good days out against Civil Service. Elsewhere they have a trio of spinners to call on in Kathan Shah, Nirajan Shankar and Prabhanshu Kamal who all offer something different for their skipper in a well rounded attack with bountiful amounts of talent.

Adam Hickey is the man in form for Cork Harlequins, Kathan Shah has enjoyed an impressive start to 2025 and will be tasked with keeping him quiet through the middle overs.

Key Battle – Adam Hickey vs Kathan Shah

CIVIL SERVICE VS NORTH KILDARE

Civil Service will be looking to bounce back this week after enduring a disappointing loss to Adamstown away from home, they will feel confident that their form in weeks prior will allow them to prevail and that last week was nothing but a blip on their march towards the 2026 premier league.

Their batting is lead by their skipper Deepak Jayachandran who has been in stunning form this season, peeling off centuries with ease. Civil Service’s top order will be rounded out with Kushal Narang and Ankit Gusain who have both shown glimpse of what they are about this season. The middle order will be made up of new man Karthikeyan Jawahar, Dhiraj Shetty and the big hitting of Arjun Chandrasekar. Civil Service will look to this quintuple to deal the bulk of the damage in their batting effort on Saturday.

As a bowling unit Civil Service have a huge amount of options at their disposal, Naveed Khan and Suman Dey will likely share the new ball the former brimming with confidence after his ‘3 for’ last week. They will also have Aamir Bafanda, Vijay Adhikari and Ankit Gusain to call on when needed along with the left arm spin of Ramgokul Srinivasan who also enjoyed a strong showing in the last round.

North Kildare are in poll position to join 11 other teams in the 2026 premier league. This is thanks in no small part to their batting unit which has powered them to several victories this season. They are led by Yash Kalasannavar who is ably supported by some extreme power around him in the likes of skipper Husnain Maroof, Josh Uddin and the Ahmadzai brothers.

With the ball they are led by their skipper Husnain Maroof’s left arm seam, he will likely be joined on the new ball duties by Abdul Aryan. North Kildare will also have the Ahmadzai brothers in Asadullah and Adnan along with Nurulain Boda to call on, lastly they have the spin of new man Ali Elahi to call on should he be required.

Yash Kalasannavar is the key wicket for Civil Service, if he gets going his team will be on top. Naveed Khan will be tasked with removing him early and putting his team in the box seat.

Key Battle - Naveed Khan vs Yash Kalasannavar