Games we play: Cricket

The Massil brothers helped defending champion Lions Lod to a winning start in the Israel Cricket Association Division 1.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
cricket 88 (photo credit: )
cricket 88
(photo credit: )
The Massil brothers helped defending champion Lions Lod to a winning start in the Israel Cricket Association Division 1 by defeating Young Ashdod by 179 runs in Ashdod on Saturday. Ramle and Ashdod A also won Division 1 matches, while in Division 2 on Friday, Kiryat Gat sneaked a one-wicket win over Ra'anana thanks to a century from Stephan Grass. A century from David Massil (106), 48 from his brother, Isaac, and bowling figures of five for 35 for his other brother, Gershon, took Lions Lod to an easy win over Young Ashdod. Anim Solomon also contributed to Lod's massive 323 for eight, scoring 76. In reply, Young Ashdod was all out for just 144. Tel Aviv and Ramle played in Hadar Yosef on Friday, with Raymond Talkar putting in a fine all-round performance to take Ramle to a 48-run win. Talkar (48*), Shimon Penkar (39*) and Isaac Samson led Ramle to 188 for five. Sanjay Gupta scored 46, but Talkar (4-32) helped dismiss Tel Aviv for 140. In Beersheba on Saturday, Ashdod A bounced back from their defeat the previous week to beat their hosts by 66 runs. Romi Chaulkar (55) top scored in Ashdod's 222, and Beersheba could manage just 156. Nissim Reuben (4-35) was Ashdod's best bowler and Shimshon Chordekar followed up his 3-43 with the ball with a score of 43 for Beersheba. In Division 2, Kiryat Gat edged out Ra'anana 2nd's by one wicket in a real classic at Kiryat Gat. Batting first, Shlomi Korman (42) got Ra'anana off to a good start, and big hitting from Anthony Harris (48) towards the end of the innings took Ra'anana to 260-9 in their 40 overs. Although losing early wickets, Kiryat Gat managed to keep its run chase going thanks to Grass, who was clearing the short boundaries with ease. With just a couple of runs required to win and four wickets in hand, Kiryat Gat was heading for an easy win, but two wickets in a row for Gabi Schachat suddenly gave Ra'anana hope, and when he trapped Grass lbw for a brilliant 109, 10 runs were still required with just one wicket in hand. The hosts' last pair survived a nervy couple of overs, but held on for an exciting win.