Lod avoid the drop with late season rally

Lod Cricket Club defeated Neve Yonatan by 20 runs in Ashdod on Saturday to ensure that they will remain in Division 2 next season. Shimon Penkar starred for the visitors, scoring 20 runs with the bat, taking 5 for 21 with the ball, and taking 4 excellent catches in the field. Lions Be'er Sheva kept their promotion hopes alive with a comfortable 60-run win over Dimona A in Division 3.

Shimshon Razpurker returned the remarkable figures of 5 for 14 in 8 overs for Neve Yonatan, dismissing Lod for 145, of which Suji scored 40. Neve Yonatan faltered with the bat however, as Penkar produced a great bowling spell of his own. Israel U17 bowler Yaniv Razpurker showed his allround talents by scoring 43, but apart from Benzie Kehemkar (14) nobody could reach double figures and Neve Yonatan crumbled to 125 all out. The result means that regardless of what happens in the remaining two fixtures of the season, Ramle will be relegated. Should Lod lose their final game, and Ramle win theirs, both teams would finish level on 10 points, but Lod would stay up on the basis that they defeated Ramle in their fixture. Tel Aviv have already secured the Division 2 title.

The heat at the top of Division 3 was turned up a further notch in Dimona on Saturday, with Lions Be'er Sheva giving themselves a chance for promotion by defeating Dimona A. Samson Ashtamkar once again led the way for Lions, top scoring with 46 in his teams' innings of 169. Yohushua Dudekar (5 for 22) and Sanjay Gupta (3 for 31) both bowled well for the home team.

Dimona have relied heavily on Gupta for their runs this season, and when he was caught behind off Moshe Saul for 20, Lions must have known half their job was complete. The remaining batsmen failed to mount any challenge at all, with Saul (4 for 44) and Raymond Waskar (3 for 8) combining to dismiss Dimona for 109.