Ra'anana makes it two from two; Ramle and Lod share the points in thriller

Local sport was justifiably dominated by basketball this week - apart from junior cricket teams it is not often that Israel sports teams win European championships - but despite the euphoria surrounding Maccabi Tel Aviv's win in the Euroleague, the domestic cricket season continued with one match in Division 1 and two fixtures in Division 2 played over the weekend. Ra'anana continued it's winning start to the season with a comfortable 6-wicket win over Ashdod A in Ashdod on Friday. Lod and Ramle played out a dramatic last over thriller that ended in a tie, whilst Aby Daniels (5 for 31) produced the performance of the week as Neve Yonatan easily overcame the challenge from Dimona C.

Batting first, Ashdod, never recovered from the loss of early wickets, and could manage just 111, which was never going to be enough against a solid Ra'anana batting line up. Against tidy but hardly penetrating bowling, the Ashdod batsmen did not help themselves with some awful shot selection. Des Moss got the initial breakthrough when Rimon Nagawkar played all over a low full toss and was bowled for 6. Danny Brill then struck a double blow by getting Gershon Waskar (12) and captain Menashe Wadawker (0), both clean bowled as he found some late swing pitching the ball full. With Ashdod tottering on 20 for 3, the experienced pair of Hillel Awaskar and Joel Ruben set about rebuilding the innings. Together they added 34 for the 4th wicket before Solly Bergman picked up a sharp catch at first slip as Awaskar, having scored 17, could only manage an edge off the nagging line and length of Eyal Matz. Steven Shein removed Ruben (12), Michael Moses (1) and Yisrael Talkar (0) in quick succession, and Ashdod had slumped from 54 for 3 to 58 for 7. Romi Chaulkar and Danny Malyankar tried a rescue act, with Malyankar playing a couple of sweet shots through the off side. The 42-run stand, the biggest of the innings, was eventually broken when Chaulkar (12) was adjudged leg before wicket attempting a sweep off slow bowler Adrian Vard. Vard picked up a second wicket before Shein (4 for 24) wrapped up the innings as Malyankar, having played well for his 34, got a faint edge and wicket keeper Rafi Zauer held on for a smart catch.

Ra'anana started their run chase in solid enough fashion. Gershon Waskar, struggling with an arm injury, could not add to his 5-wicket haul from last week and bowled just two overs, whilst at the other end Wadawker struggled with his line and gave away too many wides. The first wicket came almost as a surprise, when Vard (8) shuffled across his stumps and played back to a ball he would have been better off coming forward to, and was out leg before to Nagawkar. Danny Hotz (2) didn't last too long, playing a loose shot outside off stump and only managing to edge to Wadawker at slip to give Naguakar his second wicket, which soon became three when Bergman fell in identical fashion as Hotz, having scored a patient 21. Any hopes Ashdod may have entertained of snatching a win were snuffed out as Gal Matz and Rafi Zauer added 36 for the 4th wicket, before Matz played a poor shot and was leg before for 11 with the score on 85. Zauer, joined by Shein, continued to play positively and brought up the 100 with a big 6 over long on. He finished not out on 34, Shein on 10, and Ra'anana secured the win in the 27th over. Only Nagawkar (3 for 33) enjoyed success on an otherwise bleak day for Ashdod.

Chasing 167 to win, Ramle were well on course for victory against Lod, with Arron Abraham (42) leading the way at the top of the order, before Ravi Khanna got the breakthrough with the score on 58.. Ramle failed however to capitalize on their good start, and never managed to put together any substantial partnerships in the middle order. At 117 for 7 Lod looked like the likely winners, although with number three batsman Isaac Solomon still at the wicket Ramle still had hope. Solomon, together, with Yossi Mashilkar, added 42 for the 8th wicket, as Ramle regained the advantage. However with the score on 159, Solomon was run out for a well played 44 and the game took another twist. Mashilkar fell for 12, making it 163 for 9, and with 5 runs still wanted for victory, the last pair came together with any of three results still possible. They managed 4, and with 1 required, and two balls remaining, Siyon Sankar picked up the final wicket, bowling Solly Awaskar for 1.

Earlier, Lod, having won the toss and elected to bat, were boosted by solid contributions from Hannan Sogadson (18), Abraham Penkar (29) and Shimon Penkar (34). Ramle did themselves no favors by conceding 40 extras, enabling Lod to reach 167 for 7 in their allotted 40 overs.

Neve Yonatan scored their second consecutive win of the season, having no hassles in defeating Dimona C in Ashdod. Benzie Kehimkar (49*) and Yaniv Razpurker (39) took the hosts past their target of 104 in just 19.4 overs with 7 wickets to spare, although Sunny Ashtamkar bowled well for Dimona to claim 3 for 29. The visitor's innings was torn apart by Aby Daniels who finished with the superb figures of 5 for 31, as only Sammy Dandekar (28) made any serious contribution.