Israel junior cricketers win European Championships

The Israel U15 cricket team returned home from France this week having won the European Cricket Council U15 2nd Division Championships. Junior cricket in Europe is divided into two divisions. Denmark, Holland, Ireland and Scotland, who have all had youth programs in place for many years, make up Division 1, with the remaining nations, including Israel, playing in Division 2. The Israel Cricket Association started their youth development program just over three years ago, and now boasts a record of having won 14 out of 15 matches played in European tournaments at the U13 and U15 level. Last week's tournament, where Israel won all five games by big margins, confirms her status as the fifth strongest European country in junior cricket, and promotion to Division 1, which many would have predicted would have taken years, if at all, is now a real reality.

Israel arrived in France full of confidence as they had won last year's U13 tournament and this U15 tournament was largely a continuation of that. Added to that, Israel's team was significantly stronger than last year's U13 squad. But being confident and actually completing a victory are two very separate things. Israel's first game against France was an early reminder of this. The batting was poor and ill-disciplined, although somehow a score of 156 was reached and this turned out to be enough as the bowlers did their job. The following day's performance against Greece saw a totally different batting display. Against high quality Greek bowling, the Dimona pair of Raz Ben-Zaken and Shai Hayun played with determination, application and patience to record an opening stand of 93. Ben-Zaken went on to record only the second half century by an Israeli junior batsman, and was eventually out for 55. Israel amassed 182, and then Ronen Waskar took the first five wicket haul ever by an Israeli junior bowler (5 for 18), as Israel recorded a huge win by 76 runs. Israel never looked back from this display. Captain Danny Hotz found form against the Italians, scoring 54 not out as Israel won by 6 wickets, and then Ben-Zaken (42) and Hotz (35 not out) ensured another 6 wicket win, this time over Germany, after a superb bowling display had restricted the Germans to 117.

The game against Belgium on Friday was essentially a tournament final, and Israel reserved their best performance of the week for the big game. Belgium, having elected to bat first, had no answer to Israel's tight bowling and attacking fielding, and a team that scored huge scores of 200 plus against all their other opponents could manage just 120 against Israel. The run chase was again a cruise, as Hayun (53 not out) and Hotz (42 not out) sealed an 8-wicket win with six overs in hand.

Israel's main strength and advantage over the other teams was their depth in both batting and bowling, together with their good fielding. So although the entire team played a part and can be congratulated, there were also outstanding individual performances.

Hotz, as expected, was Israel's leading batsman, scoring 177 runs at an average of 88.5. He handled the pressure on his shoulders whether batting or captaining the side in the field, with professionalism. Ben-Zaken (115 runs at an average of 23) and Hayun (94 runs at an average of 23.5) can also be very proud of their efforts and the way they played. Oren Chinchulkar and Michael Muchie both bowled superbly with the new ball, and opposing batsmen simply had no answer to their pace and accuracy. Medium pacer Eyal Matz took 8 wickets at an average of 9.88, conceding just 3.29 runs to the over, and played a big part in each game. The star of the show was however leg spinner Ronen Waskar. He was named in the final four candidates as the player of the tournament having taken 13 wickets at an average of 7.15, conceding 3 runs per over.

With the U15 trophy in Israeli hands, attention now turns towards preparing the U13 and U17 teams for next years competitions. The U13 team in particular is going to be an exciting combination, made up of entirely home grown players, many products of the ICA's activities in local schools. At the same time efforts will continue to try and gain Israel promotion to Division 1, where, judged on the past three years of performances, it would seem they belong.

ICA Chairman Stanley Perlman told www.israel.cricket.org "The success of the U15 side is justification and reward for all the efforts and hard work put in over the past three years. The hours of planning, practicing and efforts made to raise monies has ensured that Israel cricket has a solid foundation for the future. We have proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that the proof of the pudding is in the eating - three medals in successive years is ample proof of the abilities of cricket in Israel". Perlman, Chairman of the ICA since 1994 and the driving force behind Israel cricket and the development program in particular paid tribute to the teams managers, George Sheader and Yoel Tzurekar, and coach Steven Shein for "their outstanding work, determination and dedication in making the trip such a success".