Moses slams another huge ton as Young Ashdod stay top

For the second time this season, Shmuel Moses smashed another huge hundred, following his 162 earlier in the season with an even bigger 176 against Be'er Sheva in Ashdod last weekend. Although Lions Lod easily defeated Tel Aviv, they remain 12 points behind, although with a game in hand, in one of the closest title races in recent years. It is also tight at the bottom of the table, where Dimona C gave themselves a big chance of avoiding the drop with an upset win over Ramle.

Be'er Sheva may have a weak bowling attack, Ashdod may be a small field, but a batsman still has to score the runs, and 21-year old Shmuel Moses certainly scored plenty of those. His 176 is the highest score in Israel in recent memory, and by all accounts it was a chanceless knock of powerful and clean hitting. Eitan Benjamin chipped in with 64, and Young Ashdod amassed 390 for 9, despite a five wicket haul for Shimshon Chordekar (5 for 71) for Be'er Sheva. Three wickets each for Efraim Gerrard (3 for 14) and Benjamin (3 for 28) left the visitors on 158/9 after their 40 overs, losing by 232 runs.

Ramle were one of the teams expected to challenge for the title this season, but slumped to their second defeat of the season, as Dimona C climbed off the bottom of the table with a narrow 15-run win at Hadar Yosef. Sammy Dandekar (38*) and Oren Chincholkar (36) contributed as Dimona reached 193 for 9, and then Sunny Ashtamkar (4 for 42) helped dismiss Ramle for 178, despite 32* for Eliezer Samson.

Menashe Wadhawker starred for Ashdod A in their 5-wicket win over Ra'anana in Friday's fixture, taking 3 for 29 as Ra'anana managed just 181, with Rafi Zauer (40) top scoring. Wadhawker then hit an unbeaten 71*, which together with Joel Rubin's 56 gave Ashdod the easiest of victories with more than 10 overs to spare.

Lions Lod remain the only team in Division 1 with a perfect record, knocking over Tel Aviv for just 77 (Yefet Nagavkar 3 for 21) and easing to victory for the loss of just two wickets.

In Division 2, Kiryat Gat completed their league season with a 6-wicket win over Eilat. Rimon Nagavkar (44) and Roger Meyer (32) scored runs as Eilat posted 173 batting first, but Kiryat Gat had no hastle reaching their target with Noel Wasker (41*) leading the way.

Raz Ben Zaken showed timely form ahead of the Israel U19 tour to Jersey next week, scoring 64 and then taking 4 for 28 as the Negev Academy scored their first win of the season, defeating Lions Be'er Sheva by 27 runs. Apart from Ben Zaken, George Sheader (62) and Safania Nagavkar (37) both scored runs in the youngsters total of 255 for 8. Ronen Wasker (4 for 45) and Norman Sankar (3 for 46) were amongst the wickets for Be'er Sheva, who were all out for 228 in reply.