Lions Lod off to flying start, Grass leads Kiryat Gat thrilling win

The Massil brothers helped defending champions Lions Lod to a winning start, defeating Young Ashdod by 179 runs in Ashdod on Saturday. Ramle and Ashdod A also won in Divison 1, whilst in Division 2 on Friday, Kiryat Gat sneaked a 1-wicket win over Ra'anana thanks to a century from Stephan Grass.

A century from David Massil (106), 48 from his brother Isaac and bowling figures of 5 for 35 for his other brother Gershon took Lions Lod to an easy win over Young Ashdod. Anim Solomon also contributed to Lod's massive 323 for 8, scoring 76. In reply Young Ashdod were all out for just 144.

Tel Aviv and Ramle played in Hadar Yosef on Friday, with Raymond Talkar putting in a fine all round performance to take Ramle to a 48-run win. Talkar (48*), Shimon Penkar (39*) and Isaac Samson led Ramle to 188 for 5. Sanjay Gupta scored 46, but Talkar (4 for 32) helped dismiss Tel Aviv for 140.

In Be'er Sheva on Saturday, Ashdod A bounced back from their defeat last week to beat their hosts by 66 runs. Romi Chaulkar (55) top scored in Ashdod's 222, and Be'er Sheva could manage just 156. Nissim Reuben (4 for 35) was Ashdod's best bowler and Shimshon Chordekar followed up his 3 for 43 with the ball with a score of 43 for Be'er Sheva.

In Division 2, Kiryat Gat edged out Ra'anana 2nd's by 1 wicket in a real classic played in Kiryat Gat. Batting first, Shlomi Korman (42) got Ra'anana off to a good start, and big hitting from Anthony Harris (48) towards the end of the innings took Ra'anana to 260 for 9 in their 40 overs.

Although losing early wickets, Kiryat Gat managed to keep their run chase going thanks to Stephan Grass, who was clearing the short boundaries with ease. With just a couple of runs required to win and four wickets in hand, Kiryat Gat were heading for an easy win, but two wickets in a row for Gabi Schachat suddenly gave Ra'anana hope, and when he trapped Grass leg before for a brilliant 109, 10 runs were still required with just one wicket in hand. The hosts last pair survived a nervy couple of overs, but held on for an exciting win.