Maccabi-AJAX cricketers bounce back in round two
The first competition points of the season were earned by Maccabi-AJAX's First and Second XIs in round 2.
Maccabi-AJAX’s First and Second XIs earned their first competition points of the new MCC Club X season in Melbourne in round 2 last Sunday with wins that went down to the wire.
Their First XI, in division 1, bowled first after Old Melburnians won the toss at Gary Smorgon Oval and got straight to work with accurate line and length and good fielding, to heap pressure on the top order.
It worked, with Benji Jones (3/13), captain Bailey Melzak (3/20) and Benji Gore (2/17) taking wickets at regular intervals, Josh Rotstein removing the number 3 batter for 24 and a handy run out towards the end, all combining to send Old Melburnians plunging from 2/61 to being all out for 101 in the 40th over.
The Maccabi men got off to a great start with the bat, led by Amir Meyerowitz who made 39 and opener Benji Jones patiently reaching 16 off 35 balls.
But then a huge batting collapse saw them lose six wickets for just eight runs – including three ducks – suddenly taking them from a very strong position to being on the brink of defeat.
Experienced all-rounder Josh Jones saved the day, remaining cool, calm and collected when facing 22 balls to finish unbeaten on eight crucial runs, with tailender Noah Goldberg not out on two from nine balls, to get them over the line to 9/102.
It was another close win for the Jewish club in division 3, when their second XI won the toss and chose to bat first in an away match against MCC.
A brilliant unbeaten 111 off 110 balls by opener Simeon Goldenberg that included 2 sixes and 11 fours, saw Maccabi-AJAX set a decent total of 3/200 from their allotted 40 overs, with Elijah Mills (26), Jeremy Hoppe (22) and Asher Kave (19) also chipping in.
Challenging conditions for the Maccabi bowlers were balanced by high energy in the field and an excellent senior debut by Avi Segman, who took two wickets.
Things seemed to be in control when MCC were 7/162, but no more wickets were taken and MCC’s tailenders were into double figures and rapidly reducing the deficit. Tight bowling by Simon Fisher (2/42) proved crucial at the death, enabling his team to restrict MCC to 7/196 on the final ball of the match to earn a four-run win.
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