Lions edge Neve Yonatan in high scoring thriller; Be'er Sheva move top of Division 2

A century for Shalom Rubin, 93 not out by Yaniv Razpurker, five wickets for Naor Gudker and a first defeat for Petah Tikva Lod highlighted an action packed weekend of league matches.

In the only Division 1 fixture of the weekend, Lions Lod maintained their undefeated run, but not before being pushed all the way by Neve Yonatan in a run feast in Ashdod. Shalom Rubin carried his bat in scoring a brilliant 110*, Eshkol Solomon made 69 and Anim Solomon contributed a quick 52* as Lions amassed 286 for just 2 wickets. Despite the daunting task, the hosts made a real fight of it, with Yaniv Razpurker finishing undefeated on 93*, and Ariel Oskar scoring 68, as Neve Yonatan finished 21 runs of their target on 265/9.

Be'er Sheva A moved top of the Division 2 standings with a good 26-run win in Be'er Sheva over the fancied Sri Lanka Jerusalem team, who were making their league debut. Menashe Valvotkar (45) and Shimshon Chordekar (32) led Be'er Sheva to 171, despite Keerthi taking 5 for 32 for the Lankans. ICA CEO Naor Gudker then showed his prowess with the ball, taking 5 for 45 to dismiss Sri Lanka for 145.

Petah Tikva Lod lost their top spot, sinking to their first defeat, losing to Diamonds by 12 runs at Hadar Yosef. Anis Zaveri and Raju Shah each scored 31 as Diamonds reached 187/9. Jacob Levy took 4 for 31 for Petah Tikva, who replied with 175. Manish Mehta took 3 for 36.

In a friendly match played in Ashdod on Friday, an Invitation X1 beat Israel U17 by 5 wickets. Itamar Kehimkar shone for the youngsters, scoring 89*. Shlomi Korman scored 36, but the total of 235 wasn't enough against a powerful batting line up for who Akiva Lieberman top scored with 60*.