Tel Aviv win Division 2 in style

Tel Aviv secured a return to Division 1 cricket in 2005, winning Division 2 comfortably. After losing their first game of the season to Dimona C, they proceeded to win 7 games in a row to guarantee promotion. The final victory in the streak came against Dimona C, who won the toss and elected to bat.

Brett Kree snapped up two early wickets (the first a juggling act at slip by Stanley Perlman and the second a superb catch at point by Eldad Graham) to have Dimona reeling at 13 for 2.

However Dimona persisted and after 20 overs were 94 for 2. That's when Tel Aviv decided enough was enough. Frank Auger was introduced into the attack and picked up 3 quick wickets. Jacky Divekar (57) and Sammy Dandekar (23) had put on 81 for the third wicket, but then the humidity got to the men from the Negev, and from 94 for 2 collapsed to 130 all out; losing their final 8 wickets for just 36 runs in 11 overs. Auger (3 for 24), Brett Kree (3 for 40), his brother Darryl (2 for 8) and Perlman (2 for 20) all got amongst the wickets. Most impressive were the Kree brothers who obviously learnt something with the national team in Belgium.

Needing 131 for promotion, Tel Aviv got themselves into an unnecessary tangle. Leigh (10), Thomas (5) and Brett Kree (2) all found the Dimona seamers a handful. At 26 for 3 Perlman strode to the wicket to join the ever solid Auger. They put on 50 in 12 overs before Auger was adjudged leg before. Lushenko Perreira (25*) then joined Perlman (58*) to take Tel Aviv to their winning target.

In his final league innings of the season Perlman showed remarkable restraint. In an innings of over 90 minutes, he hit the ball in the air only twice. All his shots were either square cuts or cover drives on the carpet.

Tel Aviv have therefore completed a successful season, based on their team spirit and availability of players.