Lions rampant; Neve Yonatan win thriller

The match between Lions Lod and Ramle played last week at Hadar Yosef was a much anticipated affair. Ramle, after three impressive victories, were seen as the one team capable of perhaps testing the dominant team in the country, Lions Lod. However Lions brushed aside their latest challengers with a 101-run victory. Division 2 saw Neve Yonatan edge a thrilling game against Diamonds by 4 runs, whilst there were two one-sided games in Division 3 - Eilat beat Negev Academy by 150 runs and Kiryat Gat recorded perhaps one of the biggest winning margins in Israel history, crushing Rishon Le'Zion by 328 runs.

Winning the toss and batting first, the Lions opening pair of Shalom Rubin (31) and Yefet Nagavkar (20) handled the highly rated Ramle new ball bowlers to give their team a good start. Massil (59) then continued his excellent form, and Anim Solomon (77) relished the opportunity to play a long innings, as Lions reached 245 for 5 in their 40 overs. Ramle could manage just 144 in reply, with Janeth Silva, Rubin and Solomon all taking two wickets.

A fine innings of 81 from Aby Daniels led Neve Yonatan to a score of 204 against Diamonds in Ashdod on Saturday. Diamonds then lost two early wickets, but Chirag Modi (40) and Shailesh Bothra (82), and then Anis Zaveri (34) seemed to have sealed the win for Diamonds. However the lower order could not complete the job, as Daniels (3 for 25) and Benzie Kehimkar (2 for 25) bowled Neve Yoanatan to a narrow win.

Rishon, playing with eight players, scored just 35 against Kiryat Gat at Hadar Yosef on Saturday. Of the eight players, four made zero, as Avner Direkar (5 for 12) enjoyed his spell. Earlier, Avshalom Sankar (70), Meilik (67) and Samson Finle (59) all made half centuries in Kiryat Gat's total of 363 for 7.

Sitkar Eilat remain top of Division 3 after they easily beat Negev Academy by 150 runs on Saturday. Opening batsman Kaku (135) and Roger (107) scored centuries in a total of 323. Never in with a chance, Nevev did well to score 173 and give some respectability to the scoreline.