Israel announce squad for U17 European Championships

Israel have announced their squad for the 2008 ECC 2nd Division Championships which will be played in Germany from August 9 - 15. The team includes three players with experience from last years U19 tournament, Levy Divekar, Shlomi Korman and Gabi Schachat. Five of the squad, Divekar, Korman, Shachat, Nir Dikorkar and Itamar Kehimkar were also part of the Israel youth team that traveled to India last year. 15-year old fast bowler Shalom Kristi becomes the first player from Eilat to be selected for a national youth team.

The team has plenty of bowling options, with no-less than ten fast or medium pace bowlers. Israel is grouped together with Germany, Isle of Man, Italy and France in Group A. Group B consists of Belgium, Gibraltar, Greece, Spain and Switzerland, with the winners of each group meeting in the tournament final on August 15.

Israel boasts an excellent record in European youth tournaments and coach Steven Shein is optimistic about the teams chances "The squad has been practicing very hard since February and is the best-prepared team we have ever sent abroad. If the boys play to their potential I am sure we will be very difficult to beat and achieve our goal which is to win the tournament".

Full Squad: Mikki Cohen (Ra'anana), Nir Dikorkar (Negev Academy), Levy Divekar (Dimona C), Itamar Kehimkar (Neve Yonatan), Shlomi Korman (Ra'anana), Shalom Kristi (Hapoel Eilat), Gil Nojman (Ra'anana), Nadav Razpurker (Neve Yonatan), Gilon Samuel (Ashdod A), Gabi Schachat (Ra'anana), Rafi Schachat (Ra'anana), Jordan Talkar (Petah Tikva Lod), Shifron Waskar (Negev Academy, George Sheader (Manager), Steven Shein (Coach)