South Africa complete the double over Great Britain

Day 2 of the cricket competition of the Maccabiah saw a South Africa - Great Britain double header, with the countries meeting in both the Open and Junior competitions. The South Africans, defending champions and strong favorites for gold in both events, won both matches relatively easily with the seniors winning by 48 runs and the juniors by 9 wickets.

Batting first in Lod, SA seniors were in trouble at 27 for three and then 50 for 5, but Daniel Grusd (47) and Adam Bacher (36) dug their side out of trouble to reach 186. David Lever then took for 5/29 as GB were dismissed for 138 in reply, with Darren Gerrard scoring 45.

A bit of history was created at the junior game, with Kibbutz Gezer hosting a Maccabiah cricket match for the first time. Plenty of hard work was put in by both the ICA and kibbutz members in an effort to get the pitch ready, and by all accounts it played reasonably well. GB got off to a decent start but then slumped from 30 for one to 80 all out against tight SA bowling. Leg spinner Adam Masarow took 4 for 18 and medium pacer Ryan Krug grabbed 4 for 7. SA then proved batting was not that difficult, easing to their target in 19.5 overs for the loss of just one wicket with Jordan Bortz (24*) and Matthew Garrun (21*) finishing off the job after Anthony Mofsowitz was dismissed for 26.

Israel and Australia will both be looking to bounce back from opening day defeats when they meet in Lod tomorrow, whilst SA juniors return to Gezer to meet Israel.