Maccabi-AJAX First XI win minor premiership
Two of Maccabi-AJAX’s men’s cricket teams have qualified for this Sunday’s Mercantile Cricket Association semi-finals and both have a strong chance of winning.
In Sunday A Grade, the Maccabi First XI finished the regular season as minor premiers, with 10 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses.
Last Sunday, they completed the regular season by cruising to a 4-wicket win over cellar-dwellers Monash Uni, bowling them out for just 78, with Josh Jones the pick of the bowlers, taking 3/12 off 6 overs.
Firsts captain Zak Fleisher-Sharbanee described being minor premiers as “a huge achievement for our side – we’ve been the most consistently-performing team in the comp”.
His team hosts the Indigos in a semi-final this Sunday, from 12.15pm at Gary Smorgon Oval.
“Similarly to us, the Indigos’ strength is their pace bowling,” he said.
“So the key to success for us will be our batters getting through those early overs, when the ball might do a bit, and then to really capitalise.
“We are at our strongest now on paper, but to get the win we’ll need to make sure we show up, and that everyone is firing on all cylinders.”
In C South Grade, Maccabi-AJAX Third XI completed the regular season in equal 4th place with Power House on 30 points, but qualified for the finals due to having a higher net run rate.
Thirds captain Zak Pollack said, “It feels amazing to make the finals, as it’s been a really difficult season, and I’m so proud of this team.”
He knows this Sunday’s semi against top-placed Carnegie at Koornang Park will be a big challenge, but said, “We give ourselves a really big chance, if we can play at our best. We came super close to beating them recently, and we feel we match up really well with them.
“It seems like everyone has been stepping up for us recently, so the key will be how we start the match, with both bat and ball.”
In Sunday B Grade, Maccabi-AJAX’s season came to an end, as they finished 6th.
Players in all Maccabi-AJAX teams observed one minute’s silence, and wore black arm bands, in their matches last Sunday, in tribute to Australian spin bowling legend Shane Warne, who suddenly passed away, aged 52, early on the previous morning.
comments