Shimmin Wilson Peel and St John’s (PSJ) will take on the Callin Wild Development XI at Mullen-e-Cloie in Isle of Man Cricket Association’s Premiership this Sunday.

The winners of this match could end up as the top dogs of the opening round of matches before the league splits after the first seven games have been played.

The Development XI have won four of their five games and, although they faltered last week, they will ensure that PSJ take the game seriously.

Ollie Webster has been in destructive form all season, with some excellent back up from the middle order batsmen. Kieran Cawte will always provide some early fire with the ball and Russell Miller can then follow up by taking some decisive wickets.

The Development XI can call upon a couple of older hands to give advice and direction to the younger members of the team but, on the whole, it is the younger players who have been successful against their older opponents.

This Saturday, Baker Tilly Isle of Man Cronkbourne welcome their old tenants Valkyres to their Tromode home. Cronkbourne have had a mixed season by their normal high standards and they may not have a team that they would like to describe as full-strength, but they manage to keep on winning.

A victory on Saturday will take them into contention for the top spot. Young players, Corbin Liebenberg and Theo Helfrich have been given the chance to shine and they continue to improve.

Valkyres had a good start to the season but they will need to improve again to beat Cronkbourne. They have shown an unfortunate tendency in a couple of games to bowl badly in the first section of a match, which means that they need to rein in their opponents in the remaining stages.

Valkyres have a good set of bowlers who can give problems to many batsmen; they just need to do it consistently throughout the match.

Newfield Castletown welcome Hannan Law Crosby to King William’s College on Saturday. Town have only won one game so far in the Weekend League, so they will be hopeful of a change in fortune.

Tom Kennaugh has posted good scores in both the weekend and midweek matches, but there seems to be no-one else at present who can stay with him. Dan Laughlin batted well against Valkyres as did Jonathan Wells, so they may have gained some confidence for the game against Crosby.

The latter side have not done well so far this season, but three wins from their remaining matches would leave them in contention for a top-four finish. They have good young bowlers, such as Ed Walker and Jacob Butler, to back up their older attacking options. This, coupled with a good top-order of batsmen, should ensure that they can keep Castletown at bay.

CTH Insurance welcome Ramsey Crookall Finch Hill to their Ramsey home, with the home side having been unable to get off the mark this year to date. They came close to a win against the Development XI but fell short in the last over. They have some good young players, such as Luke Ward and Jenson Eve who took three wickets last weekend.

Ramsey just need one or two of the older players to get into form and take the game to the opposition.

Finch Hill claimed a good win against Valkyres last weekend in a high-scoring game. George Burrows is in excellent form and they can call upon a number of excellent bowlers and batsmen to back him up. They could also get into a top-four spot if they win their games in hand and they should consider themselves favourites for this game.

The Weekend League standings can be found at http://iomcacomps.play-cricket.com/website/websites/view_division?id=85366

Andy Coulson