Senior squad for Spanish tour announced

The national selectors have announed the senior squad to represent Israel at the European Division 3 Championships to be held in La Manga, Spain, in early September. The 14-man squad, to be captained by Herschel Gutman, shows a couple of changes from the squad which won a bronze medal at the recently completed Maccabiah Games, and most notably includes three players from the U19 team which will be playing in Belgium next week.

In a clear policy move towards youth, the squad is arguably the youngest ever selected. Allrounder Gabi Schachat, player of the tournament at last years ECC U17 Championships and a consistent performer in the league, as well as Nir Dokarker, a left-handed middle order batsmen who impressed with two half centuries for the youth team during the Maccabiah, have both been included in the senior squad for the first time. Opening batsman Safania Nagavkar, the third of the U19's in the team, keeps his place in the squad despite failing to impress in either of his outings in the Maccabiah, after scoring 140 in a league match over the weekend for the Negev Academy. The Ashdod pair of Raymond Aston and Yaniv Razpurker, so impressive during the Maccabiah, will be expected to form the backbone of the top order, together with Adrian Vard who was Israel's most reliable batsman, and the talented Danny Hotz and Eshkol Solomon. Amongst the bowlers, Isaac Talkar returns after injury to add some pace to an otherwise steady seam attack including David Massil and Eliezer Samson. The most notable absentee from the team is Isaac Massil, who after years of excellent service to the national team as the teams leading allrounder has been omitted as the selectors prefer to give opportunities to younger players.

Commenting on the team, Gutman, who also doubles as team coach said, 'I think the selectors have taken bold decisions putting their confidence in young players, but this is the way to move forward. It is very exciting for Israel cricket that now we have five players who have come through the ICA's youth system in the national squad, including three who were part of the youth team that toured India a few years ago, as well as other exciting young cricketers under age 25. Add to them guys with plenty of experience, and we have a well balanced team looking forward to doing well in Spain'.

Squad: Herschel Gutman (coach/captain), Raymond Aston, Nir Dokarkar, Danny Hotz, David Massil, David Myers, Safania Nagavkar, Yaniv Razpurker, Eliezer Samson, Gabi Schachat, Steven Shein, Eshkol Solomon, Isaac Talkar, Adrian Vard.