Lazarus stars as Modshem edge past YMCC - The Jewish Chronicle

Saul Weitzman has made a solid start to the Israeli Night League season

YMCC captain Benjy Myers won the toss and elected to put Modshem into bat. Modshem opened with Gary Bloch and birthday boy Josh Hockley. Together they put on a respectable opening partnership of 28. But after an early wicket, Bloch being caught at square leg, YMCC could sense that further wickets were there for the taking.

Toby Green and Jonny Lange were put under real pressure from the YMCC bowlers, with Eli Lister trapping Greene twice in one over. After a shaky start from the pair, they regained their composure and managed to move Modshem on to 41 runs.

Next into bat were Modshem captain Jamie Lazarus and Martin Lange, a late call-up. They knew that Modshem were behind their desired run-rate, so did not take any time getting runs on the board. Neither batsman lost a wicket and together they put on a partnership of 49, with Lazarus top-scoring on 25 and Lange 24.

The final Modshem partnership of TBL and Garth Kaufman managed to maintain the healthy run-rate. They kept rotating the strike and with a score of 39 of their four overs, Modshem set a high total of 129 runs.

After seeing title challengers YMCB win in the earlier game on Saturday night, Modshem wanted to do their best to gain maximum bonus points by winning by at least 60 runs.

But YMCC were intent on spoiling the party. Their opening partnership of Nosson Marks and Joe Neppe put on 29 runs, including a superb shot from Marks over long-off for four. Hockley managed to peg them back with a superbly taken wicket, after lulling them into a false sense of security with several wides.

Next in were Noah Lewis and Ilan Ben David, who performed admirably with the bat, taking YMCC onto a total of 47. With YMCC ahead of Modshem’s total at the same stage, Modshem’s priorities changed from taking maximum bonus points to sealthe victory.

Eli Lister and Ben King were next in to bat for YMCC. Although they tried valiantly to score runs, they came up against a bowling attack of the Lange brothers, Martin and TBL, who bowled a maiden over and 1 for -2 respectively. Modshem restricted their partnership to only 13 runs and a team total of 60.

Last into bat were Chopper Harris and Benjy Myers. Modshem needed to keep them under 10 runs for the partnership to fulfill their aim of maximum bonus points. Another great over from Martin Lange, as well as a wicket from Lazarus, YMCC were on 61 runs after 14 overs. Myers and Harris were in no mood to give up the bonus points so easily and they put on 10 runs in the penultimate over, meaning Modshem would need at least one wicket to have any chance.

Up stepped Garth Kaufman and with his second ball of the over, clean bowled Harris. YMCC now needed three runs to stop Modshem from getting the bonus points. After further dot balls from Kaufman, Myers and Harris managed to get the three runs they needed and YMCC finished on a total of 70 runs.

The Richard Abelson man-of-the-match went to Jamie Lazarus (25 runs and 1 wicket for 4 runs), the Hillel Awasker bowler-of-the-match went to Josh Hockley (2 wickets for 4 runs) and the Benjy Hockley batsman-of-the-match went to Nosson Marks (24 runs).