Nagawkar leads Lions Be'er Sheva to last eight with magnificent 131

Rimon Nagawkar hit a brilliant century to steer Lions Be'er Sheva into the last eight of the ICA Cup, as they defeated Dimona C by 5 wickets. With the added advantage of playing at home, Dimona were the fancied team going into the match, with Be'er Sheva having had a miserable season thus far, winning just one match to finish bottom of Division 1. Although six batsmen all reached double figures, none could go on to make a really big score, and the visitors would have been delighted to bowl out their hosts for 224, on what is a batsman friendly wicket. Although the game was wide open with Be'er Sheva at 66 for 3, Nagawkar and Moshe Saul added 110 for the 4th wicket to grab the initiative for their team. Saul was out for 45, but Nagawkar just kept going, eventually out with his score on 131 with just 5 runs still needed to win. His superb innings included twenty three boundaries, four of them 6's.

Lod scraped their way through to the quarterfinals with a narrow 3-run win over Diamond Cricket Club in an intense encounter played at Hadar Yosef on Saturday. Batting first, Lod were dismissed for 199, of which Shimon Penkar top scored with 38. But the main contributor to the innings was that gremlin, Mr. Extras, who added 58, including 41 wides conceded by the wayward Diamond bowlers. Having got off to a good start in their run chase, the Diamond innings came unstuck as Lod medium pacer Ravi Khanna picked up 3 quick wickets. Middle order batsman Prashant contributed a useful 33, but when he became one of Avner Waskar's 3 wickets, the task for the lower order batsman was always going to be a big one. Despite their efforts, they completed their 45 overs on 196 for 8, with Khanna claiming 4 for 32.

Young Ashdod ensured their good season would continue for a little while longer, as they beat Ramle by 22 runs in Ashdod. Missing a couple of key players, Young Ashdod weren't at their dominant best, but still had enough firepower for their visitors. Shai Penkar (27), Raymond Ashton (26) and Israel U15 star Alex Ozer (22) all made contributions, but the majority of Young Ashdod's 196 runs were gifted to them by their opponents - 63 extras in total, including 42 wides and 15 no balls. Aaron Abraham took 3 for 27 in an otherwise poor Ramle bowling performance. The quality of bowling hardly got any better in the second half of the match. The Young Ashdod bowlers seemed determined to play the perfect hosts and return the runs Ramle had given them earlier. They were uncharacteristically also way off target, conceding 38 wides, but Ramle couldn't take advantage. Abraham completed a good match by top scoring with 30, and although Yaakov Mashilkar added 25 not out down the order, Ramle were bowled out for 174.

The draw for the quarter finals will be made later in the week.