Five-wicket haul for Thomas is weekend highlight

In a full weekend of matches in Division 1, the race for the title remains wide open with Tel Aviv, Ra'anana and Lions Lod all winning comfortably. Ramle maintained their charge for promotion from Division 2, defeating Dimona C by 12 runs, whilst in Division 3, Rishon Le'zion won their second consecutive match, defeating Dimona A by 3 wickets in a tight finish.

Without any major contributions from the batsman, Lions Lod managed 190 against Young Ashdod, thanks in part to the 57 extras conceded by the fielding team. In reply, Young Ashdod were dismissed for 139, with Isaac Massil taking 3 for 29.

Tel Aviv bounced back from two consecutive defeats, to defeat Ashdod A by 5 wickets. Paul Thomas returned the outstanding figures of 5 for 28, and Sanjay Gupta took 3 for 10, as Ashdod were all out for just 93, unable to recover from being reduced to 25 for 5 earlier in the day. Having been in trouble at 34 for 4, the Tel Aviv pair of Dovi Myers and Stanley Perlman (25) added 51 for the 5th wicket to secure the victory. Myers continued his excellent run of form, scoring 33 not out.

Be'er Sheva remain without a win this season, crashing to a 175-run defeat to Ra'anana at Hadar Yosef. Batting first, Dani Hotz (50) and Rafi Zauer (48) were the leading scorers as all of the top 6 made useful contributions for Ra'anana. Be'er Sheva's batting proved no better than their bowling, crumbling to 97 all out. Craig Mischel (3 for 11) and Des Moss (3 for 18) did the damage for the hosts.

Ramle strengthened their grip on the top of the Division 2 table with a good victory over Dimona C, in a match played Saturday at Hadar Yosef. Daniel Pingle (32) top scored for Ramle, who struggled to 134 all out. Dimona would have fancied their chances of reaching their target, but three late wickets for Arik Shetty (3 for 6), including the big wicket of Jacky Divekar (23), left Dimona C all out for 124.

Sammy Benjamin scored 51 as Rishon scored 137 for 7 to defeat Dimona A by 3 wickets. Dani Divekar (29) was Dimona's top scorer in their innings of 136.