Wins for Lions Lod and Ra'anana in Division 1

Ra'anana made it three wins in a row with a 80-run win over Young Ashdod on Friday, whilst Lions Lod crushed Be'er Sheva by 10 wickets, Ashdod held on for a tense draw against Neve Yonatan and Lod Rangers and Kiryat Gat also played out a draw, in a full weekend of Divsion 1 action.

Both Ra'anana and Young Ashdod would have began the season with title aspirations; Ra'anana eager to maintain their winning momentum and Young Ashdod keen to bounce back from a disappointing draw in Be'er Sheva in their opening game. Bowling first in overcast and damp conditions, the Young Ashdod seam attack blasted out the Ra'anana top order, with Danny Malyankar (3/52) and Mansula Jayasinger (2/37) reducing the visitors to 90 for 5, which became 109/6 when opener Josh Evans was dismissed by Raymond Aston for an excellent 47. At 120 for eight Ra'anana were in deep trouble, but a 86-run 9th wicket stand between Mati Guralnek (41) and Des Moss (32) completely swung the game around, taking Ra'anana to 211. Young Ashdod began their chase agressively with Malyankar (26) and Penkar (23) dealing mostly in boundaries in adding 51 inside 10 overs. However once the first wicket fell, the remaining batsmen offered little resistance. Gerrit Grundling (4/54), Evans (3/40) and Gabi Schachat (3/17) combined to dismiss Young Ashdod for 131 in less than 27 overs.

In Saturday's matches, the Ashdod derby produced a tense draw. Neve Yonatan batted out their maximum 45 overs in scoring 182/9, with Ashdod replying with 142/9 in their allotted 35 overs. Menashe Wadhawker scored 43, but the heroes were Nissim Reuben and Leor Waskar who combined in a 21-run last wicket stand which ensured a draw for their team. Lions Lod made light work of a weak Be'er Sheva team, with Yefet Nagavkar and Isaac Massil knocking off the target of 104 without the loss of a wicket. Earlier Shailesh Bangerra and Eshkol Solomon had taken three wickets each. Netanel Borgarkar scored an agressive 82 for Lod Rangers, but that was not enough to earn his team a win over Kiryat Gat in a game played in Lod. Rangers scored 233/7 in their 37 overs in reply to Kiryat Gat's 253/8 declared in 43 overs. Guru top scored with 51* and Raymond Talkar took 3/43.

In one Division 2 fixture played on Sunday, Tel Aviv began their season with a loss away against Eilat.