Lions Lod clinch league title but relegation battle continues

Two of the three teams at the bottom of the table were in action at Hadar Yosef last weekend, with Be'er Sheva losing by 10 wickets to champions Lions Lod, and Tel Aviv losing narrowly by five runs to league runners up Young Ashdod. That means that this week's final league game between Be'er Sheva and Tel Aviv will determine which team will be relegated to Division 2 next season, although Dimona C are not safe from relegation either. The picture at the top of the table is much clearer, where Lions Lod clinched yet another title without losing a game.

Lions Lod bundled out Be'er Sheva for just 121, with Benny David taking 3 for 23. Lions then knocked off the runs without the loss of a wicket. Shalom Rubin scored 65 and David 30.

Tel Aviv went into their penultimate game knowing they had to win or at least accrue as many bonus points as possible. Young Ashdod won the toss on a hot and sticky day and after 10 overs were well on their way at 65 without loss. However Dovi Myers put the breaks on the score and coupled with excellent ground fielding by the half way stage Young Ashdod had not passed 100. They eventually got to 216 for 9 in their allotted 40 overs with Avi Talkar playing a very aggressive, yet responsible innings of 55 not out. Danny Malyankar chipped in with 34 and Raymond Aston made 29. For Tel Aviv Stanley Perlman took 3/34 to put the breaks on the Ashdod total, to take his tally for the season to 13/134.

Tel Aviv could not have got off to a more disastarous start with a run out in the fist over. Wickets fell steadily and after 13 overs Tel Aviv were way behind at 48/3. Perlman then joined Myers with everything to play for. Riding their luck the two former Herzlians flayed the Ashdod attack, putting on 143 runs in 100 minutes in an excellent display of limited overs batting. However with the target reduced to 27 runs needed off five overs tragedy struck when Perlman (49) was run out and Myers (68) was bowled soon after.

The Tel Aviv middle and lower order collapsed and from 191/3 they could muster just 211/8, losing the game by 5 runs. To the credit of Young Ashdod they never gave up hope and proved themselves worthy runners up for 2007.

In Divison 2, Ra'anana 2 defeated Negev Academy by 16 runs at Hadar Yosef on Friday, despite a heroic performance by Alex Ozer. Chasing 132 to win, Shlomi Korman (3 for 15) took three early wickets to leave the Academy innings in ruins, and although Nir Dikorkar (18) and Levi Divekar (7) steadied things somewhat with a 5th wicket stand, by the time Ozer came to the wicket all hope seemed lost. However he played shots all around the ground, marshalled the tail brilliantly and turned an impossible situation into a potentially winning one. But he was eventually out bowled for 54. Earlier tight Academy bowling, with Divekar and Shifron Wasker taking three wickets each restricted the hosts to 148. Gabi Schachat top scored with 32.