Hat trick hero Aston stars for Young Ashdod; Myers leads the way for Tel Aviv

A superb all round performance by Raymond Aston provided Young Ashdod with a crushing 177 run win over city rivals Ashdod A. Aston scored 51 with the bat, and followed that up with a hall of 6 for 36 with the ball, including a sensational hat trick. Tel Aviv opening batsman Dovi Myers was the other individual to star in Division 1 action over the weekend, batting for 36 overs in scorching temperatures to score a fine 93, which helped Tel Aviv to a comfortable 36-run win over Ra'anana.

In one of the most one-sided derbies in recent history, Shai Penkar (78), Danny Malyanker (67) and Aston (51) all pulverized the Ashdod A bowling attack, and Alex Ozer (32*) applied the finishing touches to a massive total of 298 for 9 in 40 overs for Young Ashdod. Menashe Wadhawker (4 for 59) was amongst the wickets, but together with the other bowlers, was unable to stem the flow of runs.

Joel Reuben (37) and Hillel Awasker (20) made a bright start, adding 50 for the first wicket, but after both batsman were removed by Abe Aston, his son Raymond picked up the first 3 of his 6 wickets, reducing Ashdod A to 93 for 5. Dad Abe picked up another (97 for 6), before Raymond's hat trick put Ashdod A out of their misery. Such was the excitement that at first none of the players realized that a hat trick had been taken, as it was split between a wicket on the last ball of an over, and two wickets on the first two balls of his next over.

Tel Aviv scored their first victory over Ra'anana since 2003 in a game played on Friday at Hadar Yosef. Winning the toss and choosing to bat, Tel Aviv openers put on 65 for the first wicket before Stanley Perlman (25) holed out to the square leg boundary after being frustrated by the leg side line bowled by Sammy Samson. Dovi Myers (93) and Shai Samuel (32) then took the score to 188 with 3 overs to go, both falling in the same over to Gal Matz, who in between also added the wicket of Steve Leigh (0), to give Ra'anana something to smile about after a long and hot morning in the field. Tel Aviv completed their 40 overs with 200 for 5 on the board, largely thanks to the brave effort by Myers who batted for 3 hours, showing his excellent temperament and a wide range of shots. After a successful 2005 season he must surely get the nod for the Israeli side.

Ra'anana openers Rafi Zauer (26) and Martin Gribble (14) set off at a useful pace, with the score at 45 after 10 overs. However Tel Aviv veterans Mike Mohnblatt (2 for 38) and Perlman (2 for 19) then got among the wickets and Ra'anana were struggling at 115 for 5. With no Ra'anana batsman able to build an innings, they stuttered to 164 all out. Tel Aviv were especially sharp in the field, in particular wicket keeper Steve Leigh who excelled with 2 catches and 2 stumpings.

Three fixtures in Division 3 were also played over the weekend. Sitar Eilat amassed 227 all out against Ra'anana 2 in Dimona, with David Wiseman (3 for 16) the most successful of the visiting bowlers. In reply, Charlton Book top scored with 45, but Ra'anana fell short of their target by 77 runs.

Safania Nagaukar once again showed his class, almost single handedly securing a 5 wicket win for the Negev Academy over Rishon L'Zion. Nagaukar took for 3 for 15 to help dismiss Rishon for just 108, and then scored 60 not out to take his team to their target in just 17 overs.

Rafi Varsulkar (39*) led Dimona A to a total of 160 for 7 in their 40 overs against Kiryat Gat in Dimona on Saturday, and although Sasson Solomon took 4 for 19 with the ball, Kiryat Gat completed a comfortable 5-wicket win.