Lions, Sri Lanka Jerusalem and Ra'anana tussle for T20 final places, Bet Shemesh make local debut

Three teams remain in the running for the two spots available in the T20 final ahead of the final round of matches this weekend. Lions Lod, with an eight wicket win over Sri Lanka Jerusalem on Saturday remain the only undefeated team in the competition, with Ra'anana, who play Lions this Friday, and Jerusalem, who meet Young Ashdod on Saturday, having lost one game each this season and also vying for a top two finish. The outside chance Young Ashdod had of reaching the final disappeared on Saturday with a five wicket defeat to Sri Lanka Tel Aviv.

Bet Shemesh, the younges member of the Israel cricket family, made their long awaited debut appearance on the local stage, traveling to Be'er Sheva on Friday to play a Division 2 T20 match. Despite falling 47 runs short in their chase of 188, the visitors, many of whom with very little experience of hard ball cricket, accredited themselves extremely well and may yet surprise some of their more fancied opponents in their remaining fixtures this season.

Yefet Nagavkar (54*) and Eshkol Solomon (46*) steered Lions Lod to a comfortable eight wicket win with 10 balls to spare over Sri Lanka Jerusalem in the afternoon game in Lod, for whom Manjula (70*) top scored in their total of 156 for six. Earlier in the day, Jerusalem were far too strong for Lod Rangers, who crashed to 90 all out in pursuit of 162. In Ashdod, Sri Lanka Tel Aviv won both their games, first of all chasing 169 to beat Ashdod A with six wickets and an over to spare, and then pulling off an even better run chase, scoring 175 for five in just 18 overs to defeat Young Ashdod.