Cricket: Ra’anana makes it 3 in a row to open up big lead

Both Ra’anana and Young Ashdod began the season with title aspirations.

By HERSCHEL GUTMAN
cricket israeli indians 311 (photo credit: Gerrit Grundling)
cricket israeli indians 311
(photo credit: Gerrit Grundling)
Ra’anana made it three wins in a row with a 80-run win over Young Ashdod on Friday, while Lions Lod crushed Beersheba 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 Division 1 action.
Both Ra’anana and Young Ashdod 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 Beersheba 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 aggressively 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 Beersheba 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 wicketseach. Netanel Borgarkar scored an aggressive 82 for Lod Rangers, butthat was not enough to earn his team a win over Kiryat Gat in a gameplayed in Lod. Rangers scored 233/7 in their 37 overs in reply toKiryat Gat’s 253/8 declared in 43 overs. Guru top scored with 51* andRaymond Talkar took 3/43.
In one Division 2 fixture played on Sunday, Tel Aviv began their season with a loss away against Eilat.
This week’s matches sees the unbeaten Neve Yonatan side compete againstthe Israel XI (a combined Israel team playing in the league inpreparation for July’s European Cricket tournament)
There are also four Division 2 matches on tap, with Lod entertainingLions Beersheba, Dimona ‘C’ entertaining Sri Lanka Tel Aviv, PetahTikva looking for their first win of the season against Dimona ‘C’ andTel Aviv hosting Sri Lanka Jerusalem.