Israel win gold with convincing win over Belgium

Israel extended their record of consecutive wins in European junior competitions to ten, with a comprehensive victory by 8 wickets over Belgium on the final day of the ECC U15 2nd Division tournament in France. Whilst Israel has played well throughout the week, they reserved their best performance for the final game and proved to be far too strong for a highly rated Belgian side.

For the third successive game Israel lost the toss and was asked to field first. Whilst Oren Chinchulkar started nervously and wasn't at his best, Michael Muchie rose to the occasion and bowled a superb first spell of 3 overs for just 4 runs. Eyal Matz got the breakthrough in his second over, leaving Belgium 21 for 1. The Ronen Waskar and Shai Hayun partnership then got back into action, with Waskar taking 2 wickets in 3 overs to leave Belgium 70 for 3 in the 19th over. The Israeli bowling remained tight, the fielding was superb, and as the pressure mounted on the Belgians so the wickets began to tumble. They eventually completed their 30 overs on 117 for 9. Muchie was the pick with 2 for 18, Waskar finished with 2 for 25, Chinchulkar took two late wickets to finish with 2 for 33 and Matz was again miserly, finishing with 1 for 18. Left arm spinner Solomon Varsulkar did a great containing job in the middle of the innings. His first 5 overs went for just 13 runs and although he conceded 9 runs in his final over, 0 for 22 was a good effort.

Israel's reply again started disastrously. Raz Ben-Zaken, who has played so well throughout the tour, was caught and bowled without scoring, and Israel were 1 for 1 inside the first over. Waskar was once again asked to play a cautious innings as Israel aimed to avoid losing further quick wickets, and once more he performed his job to perfection. He got out just before the first drinks break having scored 4 and added 30 for the second wicket with Hayun in 10 overs. With Hayun playing superbly, Danny Hotz could play with confidence at the other end. He finished not out on 43, Hayun scored a well deserved undefeated 53, and Israel won by 8 wickets with 6 overs in hand.

A short while after the winning runs had been hit Israel was presented with the U15 2nd Division trophy for the first time. France was the surprise team of the tournament, bouncing back from their opening day defeat to Israel with four consecutive wins, including victories over Belgium and Germany, to finish second.