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King Solomon leads Israel home

Eshkol Solomon put in a man of the match performance

Steven Shein
23-Jul-2013
Eshkol Solomon put in a man of the match performance, taking five for eight in six magical overs before scoring an undefeated 43 to steer Israel to a six wicket win over Great Britain in Ashdod.
Chasing 98 to win in a 50 over game should be a formality but if there is one team renowned for complicating small chases it's Israel. At 33 for four memories of the two wicket win with just a handful of balls remaining chasing 70 odd must have been flooding back. But Solomon added to his resume of impressive international innings with a typically confident knock, ably assisted by Gabi Schachat (14*). The two shared an unbroken 65-run stand for the fifth wicket, taking Israel past their target in 37 overs.
Earlier in the day GB made a brisk start to their innings taking advantage of short pitched bowling to race to 20 in just 4 overs. But once local boy Yaniv Razpurker had found his line and struck twice, and Raymond Aston chipped in with a crucial run out, the visitors lost their way. Teenage leg spinner Josh Evans tied up the batsmen going for just 16 runs in his 10 overs before Solomon wrapped things up. Granted the newly laid pitch and heavy outfield did not making batting easy, 97 was well below par.
In the days other game Australia opened up the tournament, handing India their first defeat in three matches. That leaves Australia, India and Israel all with two wins from three with South Africa likely to join them playing Canada tomorrow.