Desert Storm - 2003 season gets underway

"Sand stops play" is not the kind of phrase you would find attached to the scorecard of a match played at Lords or the MCG, but that was indeed the case in the Premier League game between Be'er Sheva and Ra'anana in Be'er Sheva on Friday. The game was abandoned without a ball being bowled, and once again Israel can probably claim a cricket first - the first country where a cricket game was declared a "No Result" due to the weather conditions, and neither rain nor bad light was the reason. Whilst no play was possible in the Friday game, a full schedule of games was completed on Saturday.

Ramle (142/6) defeated their hosts Dimona 'C' (139) by 4 wickets in the only Division A game of the day.

Three Division B fixtures were also played, with the Negev Academy, essentially a team of U16 players playing under the captaincy of their coach George Sheader, scoring a sensational win over Petah Tikva in Be'er Sheva in their debut league game. Yossi Satamkar and Shai Samuel both scored 58, helping Petah Tikva to 210 all out. 14-year old legspinner Ronen Wasker took 4 for 41, with Oren Chinchulker taking 3 for 37. Although Sheader top scored with 65 for the Academy, valuable contributions all the way down the order ensured the Academy could sneak home for the win with just 1 wicket remaining.

Dimona 'A' restricted hosts Kiryat Gat to 146 all out, with Yaniv Dokarkar (4 for 32) and Maor Shmuel (3 for 37) doing most of the damage. The visitors then cruised to their victory target, boosted by an undefeated 44 from Benny Nigrekar, to complete a 8-wicket win.

In the other game of the day, the Diamond Cricket Club, playing their first league game, lost to Lod Cricket Club.by 116 runs in Lod. Shimon Penkar top scored with 52 in Lod's 219. In reply, the Diamond batsman could muster just 103, with medium pacer Ravi Khanna (5 for 22) the chief destroyer.

The season continues this weekend with a Premier League double header at Hadar Yosef. 2002 champions Lions Lod host Be'er Sheva 'A', and Tel Aviv play Ashdod 'A'. In Division A, Lions Be'er Sheva entertain Young Ashdod, with Neve Yonatan hosting Ramle in Ashdod.