WINS FOR MERRION, CIVIL SERVICE, RAILWAY UNION, CLONTARF, BALBRIGGAN AND MALAHIDE - IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE

It's as you were at the top of the table in the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League, however Pembroke's winning run came to an end after 7 games with defeat to Malahide, whilst Balbriggan's victory sees them holding firm in third spot. Wins for Merrion & Railway Union solidify their respective positions in the top 6.

Today's featured action came from Anglesea Road, where both sides were satisfied after the toss, Leinster winning and electing to bat on a day where Merrion also wanted to bowl.

Merrion's pitch assessment proved to be correct, as they bowled an excellent opening spell, Mikey O'Reilly providing the swing from one end, whilst Corne Botha's pace was causing problems at the other. Botha's first victim was Joey Carroll, castled by a beauty, before Younas Ahmadzai nicked off to Olly Mollins off the same bowler. Tom O'Connor left a straight ball onto his pads to be dismissed first ball, and Botha was on a hat-trick.

Whilst he didn't convert the chance, it was only the next over in which he dismissed Monil Patel, and when his opening spell came to a close, he'd claimed the first four wickets to fall. Peter Forkin's arm ball deceived Saqib Bahadur to trap him in front, and Merrion were reaping the rewards of bowling wicket-to-wicket early on.

This brought Tristen de Beer to the crease, and he and Mark Tonge built a small partnership, adding 20, before de Beer's power game saw an unfortunate end to Tonge's innings, as Seb Dijkstra deflected a thunderous straight slap onto the bowler's end stumps with Tonge short of his ground to see him run out for 14.

De Beer played something of a lone hand from there on, negotiating the return of Botha, who claimed his fifth wicket when he dismissed Aviral Shukla, before the biggest partnership of the innings came for the last wicket, Rian Cassidy adding 10 of his own. De Beer brought up his 50 off 54 deliveries, hitting three fours and three maximums, however Cassidy was dismissed next ball with the score on 140. Botha finishing the pick of the bowlers with 5/26, supported by 2/27 for Peter Forkin.

Merrion's chase started swiftly, however Mark Tonge dismissed both openers, Raj Undre and Swapnil Modgill, in quick succession. This brought Seb Dijkstra and John Anderson together, with the duo taking low-risk options and finding the boundary regularly, as they added 42 in just 7.2 overs before Anderson was adjudged LBW off Joey Carroll for 15.

Corne Botha quickly followed in a similar manner, seeing Jamie Forbes join Dijkstra, and the pair batted very positively, adding 47 through hard running and clever placement. The former was ultimately Forbes' downfall, as he took on Mark Tonge's arm from long-leg, found short of his ground with just 15 needed for victory.

Dijkstra however remained composed, stroking a cover drive to the rope to bring up his half-century, before hooking Tonge to the fine-leg rope for four to seal a 5 wicket win in just 25.3 overs.

Elsewhere, the first result of the afternoon saw Civil Service winning a local derby against Phoenix, restricting their neighbours to 137 all out thanks to 5/34 for Noor Ullah, claiming the first five wickets to fall, supported by 3/22 for Zaman Safi and 2/28 for Dev Ranolia. The hosts made quick work of the chase, Edson Silva slapping an unbeaten 69, sharing an unbeaten stand of 60 with Hedayat Ullah Khogiani (38*) as the chase took just 18.2 overs.

Railway Union bowled North County out for 129, in spite of 41 for Lochie Hardy, thanks to 4/31 for Ashil Prakash, once again in the wickets after last week's 7/19, whilst there were also two apiece for Abhay Tipnis and Digamber Mishra. Railway's chase suffered a minor tremor at the start, moving to 50/3 as Alan Joseph Mathew claimed all wickets to fall, however Tipnis and Rob O'Brien shared an unbeaten stand of 80 for the fourth wicket to claim a 7 wicket win with a third of the innings to spare.

In the Mardyke, Clontarf were indebted to a fine bowling performance in restricting Cork County to 162 all out inside 42 overs. Nawaz Khan was the pick of the bowlers taking 4/27, whilst there was 3/27 for John McNally, and David Delany's return to bowling saw him claiming two wickets. Clontarf saw plenty of players chipping in to the chase, as 20s for Séamus Lynch and Sam Morgan got them going, before the match-winning stand was shared by Fionn Hand, who ultimately top scored with 48, and Andrew Delany, who saw the game through to the finish line, making an unbeaten 24 in a 4-wicket win.

There was an absolute run-fest in Rush, as Balbriggan recovered from 67/4, with the first four wickets all claimed by Alex Neary, and then 188/6 to make an imposing 383/6 in their 50 overs. Connor Fletcher's 136 from 132 balls was the mainstay of the innings, however the star of the show was Jordan Hollard, who bludgeoned 119 from just 51 deliveries, including eight boundaries and eleven maximums. Neary largely escaped the carnage, claiming 4/38 from his 10 over spell. Rush were in the game as Neary then blasted 68 from just 38 deliveries, adding 112 with Isaac Bird. Kai Curran's 4 wickets cost 91 runs and allowed Bird to keep Rush up with the run rate, however when he was dismissed, the innings fell apart, Rush losing their final five wickets for just one run. Seb de Oliveira and Jordan Hollard both claimed 3/28 in a fine performance.

Finally in The Village, Malahide inflicted Pembroke's only defeat of the season so far on them, chasing down 272 with 19 balls to spare thanks to 84 from Jeremy Martins, whilst both Greg Ford (38) and Adam Doyle (32) chipped in with handy runs, before Matt Ford guided the side home with an unbeaten 59. Addison Sherriff and Byron McDonough the pick of the Pembroke bowlers with two wickets apiece. Earlier in the day, Pembroke's 271/9 was set up by half-centuries from both Macdara Cosgrave and Andy Balbirnie, who supported top-scorer JJ Garth (97) however James Newland's excellent comeback spell stunted the Pembroke innings, as the left-armer finished with 4/46, as Pembroke could add only 32 runs in the final 6 overs.