Israel win by 6 wickets

Israel captain Danny Hotz scored an undefeated 55 to steer his team to an easy 6-wicket win over Italy at the European Championships being played in France. Having been asked to field first, the Italians were unable to really score freely against tight Israeli bowling and their total of 108 was never going to be enough to seriously challenge the Israeli batting.

From the moment Michael Muchie grabbed a wicket with the first ball of the second over Israel were on top in the contest. Full credit goes to the Italian batsmen for playing with application and determination, but two quick wickets for left arm spinner Solomon Varsulkar left them at 64 for 3 in the 18th over. Muchie returned to grab another wicket, which signalled the start of a dramatic batting collapse. 87 for 4 became 107 all out, as Eyal Matz excelled, taking 3 wickets for 4 runs in his second spell, and there were two run outs as well.

Having spent almost 2 hours fielding in temperatures of above 40 degrees, the Israelis got off to a shaky start, losing Bar Ilya for 8 and Shai Hayun for 2 within the first 2 overs. But Raz Ben-Zaken continued his good form from yesterday, adding 34 for the 3rd wicket with Hotz before he was caught at mid wicket for 17. Vice captain Oren Chinchulkar joined his captain, and together they took the score to 91, before Chinchulkar fell for 12, also caught playing uppishly on the on side. Hotz remained unphased, and went to a well deserved half century, before Muchie (4*) hit the winning runs to secure the victory.

Today's win means Israel finish top of their group, and qualify for the upper group in the next stage of the tournament, together with France who also qualified from Group 1 after defeating Greece this morning Belgium and Germany qualified from Group 2. Israel plays Germany on Thursday morning, before meeting Belgium on Friday afternoon. The Belgians would seem to be the team to beat, as they have also shown good form in the early stages, winning all their games, including a good win over the Germans today.