Malyankar stars in huge derby win for Young Ashdod; Eight wickets for Maisels as Tel Aviv continue improvement

Danny Malyankar turned in a superb individual performance, scoring 103 and then taking three wickets, as Young Ashdod continued their strong start to the season with a convincing 140-run win over local rivals Ashdod A in a Division 1 league game in Ashdod on Saturday. In two Divison two games played Friday, Tel Aviv defeated Kiryat Gat by 5 wickets and Be'er Sheva A were far too strong for Ra'anana 2, easily chasing down their 88-run target with eight wickets in hand.

With Shmuel Moses (67) and Shai Penkar (80) adding 118 for the first wicket, and then Penkar and Malyankar putting on another century stand (113) for the second, allowing Youn Ashdod to amass 313 for three wickets in just 35 overs. Malyankar (three for 26), Kapila Esrato (three for 34) and Raymond Aston (three for 46) then shared nine wickets between them as Ashdod A were bowled out for 173, Young Ashdod collecting a maximum 40 points for the win, including the 10 bonus for the early declaration.

After two years at the bottom of the league pile the rejuvenated Tel Aviv team continued their good start to the season with a five wicket win over the fancied Kiryat Gat team at Hadar Yosef on Friday. Josh Maisels was the star for the home side, bowling from the eastern end he mesmorised the Kiryat Gat batsmen finishing with the astonishing figures of eight for 26 in eight overs, one of the best bowling performances in Israeli cricket. With his deadly leg spinners turning a meter the batsmen were unable to fathom him out, as Kiryat Gat crashed to 99 all out in 27 overs. After lunch Tel Aviv started off confidently until skipper Steve Leigh played a poor shot and with Tel Aviv at 41 for four the game could have gone either way. However Tel Aviv were once again rescued by Stanley Perlman (34 not out) who with Maisels put on a quick 45-run partnership to take Tel Aviv home with five wickets in hand.