Eshkol Solomon century leads Israel to first win

Israel bounced back from three consecutive defeats at the ICC Europe Division 2 Championships in Guernsey with a 30-run victory over Gibraltar on Saturday. Batting first, Israel's form batsman Eshkol Solomon became only the second Israeli to score an international century, playing a lone hand in guiding Israel to 200, to which Gibraltar replied with 170.

Shailesh Bangerra (27) and Josh Evans (17) gave Israel a useful start, adding 44 for the first wicket, before a dramatic collapse left the Israeli innings in tatters at 102 for 7. With partners running out, Solomon, aggressive at the best of times, took the attack to the bowlers, and received useful support from the lower order, adding 39 with Itamar Kehimkar (8), 22 with Eliezer Samson (1) and then an invaluable 37 for the final wicket with Raymond Talkar (3*). Solomon was eventually last man out for a superb 120 off just 116 balls, including 13 boundaries and one six.

Sharing the new ball, David Massil and Raymond Talkar were both at their best, Massil conceding just 16 runs off his 10 overs, and Talkar 31, as well as picking up 3 wickets. 17-year old leg spinner Evans then bowled a terrific spell, taking 4 for 21, as Gibraltar sunk deeper and deeper into trouble, reduced to 118 for 8 before batting out their 50 overs and finishing on 170 for 9.

Israel's chances of qualifying for the World Group Division 8 tournament in Kuwait later this year were effectively dashed on Friday with a 65-run defeat to France. A combination of impressive French batting, particularly up front, and very ordinary Israeli fielding, allowed the French to post 271, with Steven Shein (3 for 45) and Massil (1 for 37) the only bowlers able to somewhat keep a check on the French scoring rate. Requiring almost 5.5 runs per over was never going to be easy, and Israel hardly helped themselves with another day of cheap dismissals. Evans (0) was bowled first over, Raymond Aston (13) dragged one on to his stumps, Solomon (16) ran himself out looking for a single that was never on, Gabi Schachat (21) skied a full toss straight to mid wicket and when Daniel Hyman, after a scoring an impressive 50, was also run out, Israel were 125 for 5 and requiring a miracle. Herschel Gutman (25) fell to a good catch trying to clear the long off boundary, with Bangerra (24) and Massil (16*) at least giving the Israel scorecard some respectability.

Israel meets Germany in the final game tomorrow.