Be'er Sheva earn first win as Ra'anana melt in Negev heat

It may have been that Ra'anana could not handle the rocky outfield, or the hot desert sun, maybe simply the fact that Be'er Sheva played well and Ra'anana played poorly. Whatever the case, the tables were turned up side down as Be'er Sheva gave themselves a chance of remaining in Division 1 again next season, outplaying Ra'anana, who went into the game still harboring title aspirations, and romping to a 92-run win.

Hero for the home side was Mishra Harindar, who played with patience, discipline and showed good shot selection in compiling an excellent 60 not out. Benny Gudker (28) played well at the top of the innings, falling to a spectacular catch by Danny Brill, who sprinted round from fine leg to hold on to a ball skied just backward of square leg. Shimshon Churdekar (34) also played well, during a period between the 7th and 14th overs when the home side scored 65 runs. None of the Ra'anana medium pace bowlers could adapt to the conditions and for the most part were woeful. Slow bowler Adrian Vard (2 for 32) bowled tidily and Gal Matz (2 for 33) produced a good second spell to finish off the innings with two late wickets.

Avraham Benjamin (2 for 32) built up a lively pace and claimed two early wickets, Des Moss (9) and Vard (32), before drinks, as Be'er Sheva's bowlers set about defending the 226 set by the batsmen. Wickets continued to fall one of the other, due to a combination of tidy bowling, indifferent shot selection and some genuine misfortune. Although at one stage it seemed as though Ra'anana may not make it to 100, lower order batsmen Danny Brill (15) and Eyal Matz (13*) added 31 for the 9th wicket to take Ra'anana to 134 all out.

Negev Academy moved to the top of Division 3, as they recorded a comprehensive 88-run win over Kiryat Gat, and previous leaders Diamonds were defeated by a narrow 2-wickets away to Dimona A to drop to second on the table.

The pitch in Kiryat Gat was hardly conducive to positive batting, and batsmen from both sides struggled to score. However there was one exception as Oren Chinchulkar stood head and shoulders above everybody else, scoring 63 not out which essentially was the difference between the teams. The Academy was all out for 153, and Kiryat Gut were dismissed for just 65. Spin twins Ronen Waskar (3 for 17) and Solomon Varsulkar (3 for 21) were once more the destroyers for the youngsters.

There was no shortage of controversy and tension in a tight, low scoring clash in Dimona. Batting first, the Diamond batsmen came unstuck against the left arm swing of Sanjay Gupta (5 for 22) and were bowled out for just 105. It could have been worse had lower order batsmen Sahil not chipped in with 26 not out. Gupta led the Dimona reply, but when he was dismissed for 45 the game was suddenly wide open. Amit Shah (3 for 39) and Sahil (4 for 44) enjoyed the conditions as Diamonds applied the pressure, but the home side managed to sneak home with 2 wickets still standing.