Review

Anxious moments v Italy

With opening day jitters now becoming somewhat of a trend for Israel junior teams, a batting collapse came very close to costing Israel the match. Played at Forfar against Italy, the Italians were bowled out for 111. Superb bowling from the spin twins, Solomon Varsulkar and Ronen Waskar yielded seven of the wickets to fall.

At 60/2 Israel were firmly in the box seat but a combination of good bowling and poor batting saw Israel collapse and lose six wickets for the addition of just 31 runs.

Lower order batsmen Adiel Yaakov and Yehuda Gordon stemmed the tide and then began to edge Israel closer to victory.

With only two runs needed, Yaakov was out leaving everyone on the edge of their seats.
Varsulkar joined Gordon at the crease and the two nearly conspired a run out when an edge to short third man saw both of them mid pitch. The throw was off target and the scores were level.

Varsulkar then produced the winning run backward of point and Israel had managed to get out of a hole they still couldn't comprehend they had dug.

Hotz stars against French

That first win had given Israel a lot of confidence and they played well against France.

At 88/1 France looked set to post a mammoth total but Waskar and Varsulkar again did the damage bowling out France for 146. Waskar took three wickets and Varsulkar had 1 for 8 from his 10 overs.

The Israeli batting was a bit shaky and at 19/3 the situation wasn't all that bright. However Michael Muchie and Dani Hotz batted sensibly adding 68 for the 4th wicket until Muchie went for 26.

Hotz took over and with captain Gal Matz giving him as much of the strike as possible Hotz finished the job off in style. He finished with an unbeaten 82. Matz had 18 as the two had put on 77 to steer Israel home with 12 overs spare.

Easy win against Germany after early hiccup

Israel finally batted first and already had 48 after seven overs against Germany with openers Shai Hayun and Safania Nagauakr looking good. The picturesque Falkland ground then resembled the Falkland Islands as five wickets fell in the next five overs. Hayun (23) and Naguakar (17) were both caught behind, Muche (1) ran himself out, Ozer (3) patted a full toss back to the bowler and after a rain delay, Matz (0) called for a suicidal single and was gone as well. 48 for 0 had become 54 for 5.

Hotz was the last of the recognized batsmen and he was joined by Waskar. The two flourished putting on 88 until Hotz holed out for 64. Waskar then went on the attack and added some more runs till he was gone for 43. Yaakov added an invaluable 17 at the close as Israel scored a more than defendable 213.

Two early wickets to Gordon provided the early inroads allowing for the duo of Varsulkar and Waskar to do their thing. Three wickets a piece saw Germany bowled out for 129.

The Israeli ground fielding and catching was superb and some of the catches taken were some of the best you would ever see, particularly efforts by Hotz at slip and Gordon, diving goal keeper style to hang on to a stinging shot on the long on boundary.

Crushing win over Belgium

Icy conditions and persistent drizzle couldn't stop Israel's momentum as they inflicted a heavy defeat on Belgium.

It was never going to be easy to bat in those conditions and Belgium could only manage 64 before being bowled out. Varsulkar and Yaniv Razpurker each picked up three wickets and Yaakov and Matz chipped in with two each.

The threat that the match could be rained out meant Israel had to chase the runs quickly. Hotz smashed an unbeaten 26 and finished off the match just moments before the rain resumed.

Gibraltar one hurdle too many

Despite efforts to avoid having Israel playing on Shabbat, the fixture against Gibraltar was not changed and the Saturday game meant that the observant Hotz and Gordon would be missing from Israel's line up

They were two pretty big shoes to fill but Israel's bowlers fought back bravely to restrict Gibraltar to 234, after a much bigger score seemed likely.

A third wicket stand of 128 between Philips (65) and Aswani (69) was the foundation of the innings. Varsulkar took 4 for 42 and Matz and Razpurker took 2 wickets each.

Left arm seamer Artur Arutinyan broke the big partnership with his first ball of the tournament, finishing with 1 for 12 in 3 overs.

Chasing a score of that size was never going to be easy. 15 year old Naguaker (1) struggled against the pace bowlers and was out early on. Hayun scored 23 and Matz added 34.

Someone needed to go on and post a big score if Israel was going to win. Unfortunately Oren Chincholker was run out for 33 after looking like he may have been able to pull it off and Razpurker's effort of 27 was too little too late. Israel were eventually bowled out for a 192. A tough loss but a more than fair effort.

Apart from the outstanding achievements of Hotz and Varsulkar, both of whom were somehow overlooked for the 'Man of the Tournament' award, other positives for the team was the superb captaincy of Matz. His field placements and bowling changes were spot on and his motivational skills were a key factor in the team's success.

Shai Hayun, who amazingly will still be able to play in two further U19 tournaments, was flawless behind the stumps and showed once again his potential with the bat, scoring very attractive twenty-somethings at the top of the order. His challenge now is to turn those twenties into fifties.

Yaakov and Razpurker were both fantastic with the new ball, setting the tone for the other bowlers to follow.

Despite the individual achievements mentioned, the entire squad, most of whom have been together since 2001, once again represented Israel with pride and distinction and played the game in the spirit in which it should be.

Full scorecards are available on the ECC website.