Tel Aviv fight on as Lions Lod confirm supremacy; Super Shai too good for Ramle

Lions Lod confirmed their status as the best team in Israel, when, two weeks after having won the Premier League, they beat second placed Ra'anana by 72 runs at Hadar Yosef on Friday. Lod amassed 251 for 9 in their 45 overs before the Massil brothers, Isaac and David reduced Ra'anana to 58 for 7, essentially ending the game as a contest after less than 15 overs into Ra'annana's reply. Lower order batsman Steven Shein and Danny Brill led a remarkable fight back, but it was a case of too little too late. Tel Aviv lived to fight another day in their battle to avoid relegation, inflicting a heavy defeat on Be'er Sheva. To remain in the Premier League they now need to do what no other team has managed this season, and defeat Lions Lod this week. Star of the day was Young Ashdod's Shai Penkar who scored 103 not out and then took 5 for 37 as his team beat Ramle by 79 runs in Division 1.

Having won the toss and elected to bat, the foundations for another big Lions Lod score were laid by Mahendra Jaiswar and Shalom Rubin, who added 122 for the second wicket. Rubin, the more aggressive of the two, was first to go when he mistimed a drive with his score on 66. Yefet Nagavkar scored 33, adding 50 for the 4th wicket with Jaiswar, who was eventually sixth man out for a solid 53. Isaac Massil, batting lower down the order than usual as Lod gave a few of their lower order players a chance nearer the top, blasted 37 towards the end of the innings, as Lod finished on 251.

David Massil has been in superb form with the ball all season, and he started the Ra'anana slide when he got Adrian Vard (2) caught at slip by brother Isaac with the score on 9. Just one later Ra'anana's star batsman, David Silver, perhaps the one player capable of taking on the Lod bowlers, was run out going for an unnecessary second run and was out for 0. 10 for 2. Then Isaac started getting the inswinging yorker going, and clean bowled both Des Moss (4), and Sammy Benjamin (8). The innings was turning into a farce, and when Danny Hotz (17) edged behind and Gal Matz (5) was caught, Ra'anana were 58 for 7 with the Massil's having taken 3 wickets a piece. Rafi Zauer and Shein took the score to 84 before Zauer (26) tried to pull Nagavkar and was caught at square leg. Any thoughts Lod may have had of an early finish were dashed as Shein, batting at number nine, and Brill, batting at number ten, frustrated Lod for 14 overs, during which time they added 91 for the 9th wicket. At the drinks break after 36 overs Ra'anana were suddenly within reach of a most unlikely win. A few balls later the bubble burst, as Shein drove tamely to be caught at cover for 49, and Brill was last man out next over for 42.

Tel Aviv scored their second win of the season over Be'er Sheva, but, ironically, they could still be relegated whilst Be'er Sheva survive. That will depend on whether Tel Aviv can complete their season with a win over Lions Lod. Batting first, Stanley Perlman continued his magical season, hammering 79, which, together with contributions from Frank Auger (39) and Steve Leigh (48) took Tel Aviv to 255 for 6 in their 45 overs. Be'er Sheva were never in the game, dismissed for just 153 as Mike Mohnblatt (4 for 40), Perlman (2 for 32) and Auger (2 for 24) all bowled well to compliment their good batting performance.

Young Ashdod edged closer to securing their promotion to the Premier League, when they easily overcame the challenge mounted by Ramle at Hadar Yosef on Saturday. Shai Penkar returned an extraordinary individual performance. Batting first, Young Ashdod reached 251 for 7, with Penkar scoring 103 not out. Moshe Charikar took 3 for 46 for Ramle, who managed 172 in reply. Joel Saigaokar top scored with 66 and Harish Shetty scored 34, but Ramle slumped from 102 for 2 to 172 all out as Penkar carried on with the ball where he had left off with the bat - destroying Ramle's middle order to finish with five for 37 off his 9 overs.

Keeping the pressure on Young Ashdod at the top of the Division 1 table are their city rivals Neve Yonatan. Sapnol Penkar blasted an undefeated 104, Benzie Kahemkar scored 77 and Shimon Shirgoakar 66 as Neve Yonatan amassed 328 for 6 against Lions Be'er Sheva in Be'er Sheva. Lions, who remain without a win this season, were not about to reverse that trend and were all out for 127, with Abe Daniels taking 3 wickets, handing Neve Yonatan a huge win by 201 runs.

In Division 2, the Negev Academy proved a class above Dimona A, winning by 6 wickets. Dimona A were dismissed for just 123, as the Academy spinners, Raz Ben-Zaken (3 for 41) and Ronen Waskar (4 for 24) were simply too good. Ben-Zaken then scored 35 with the bat, Bar Ilya contributed 23 and Oren Chinchulkar 30 as the Academy secured the easy win.