18 th Maccabiah gets underway July 12 th Cricket fans are in for a treat over the next few weeks, with no fewer than 25 games of cricket played at four venues over 9 days. Australia, Great Britain, India, Israel and South Africa will compete in the senior competition. All games will be played in-line with 50-over one- day international rules with former test star Adam Bacher again the main attraction, title. India is reportedly sending a strong team, including Bension Sagavkar who has Ranji Trophy experience. Australia have been hit by the withdrawal of star player Michael Klinger who has been selected for Australia A, and, with a young team, should do well to repeat their silver medal performance of the previous Games. Both Great Britain and Israel will be eying a place in the final. The Israel team, to be captained by Herschel Gutman, has the advantage of playing at home, on pitches and in conditions very familiar to all the Jerusalem the next target Following the success of the project between the ICA and UK- based charity Cricket 4 Change to introduce Bedouin youth in the Negev desert to cricket, plans are underway for the project to be expanded to Jerusalem, getting both Palestinian and Jewish children involved in the game. Apart from practice sessions and Cricket in Bedouin Negev village games taking place in Hura, kids from the town are brought to Be'er Sheva once a week for practices with local kids, with the goal being to establish a combined Jewish – Bedouin team to take part in an U14 international tournament in the near future. A youth tournament attended by over 80 players was held at Hadar Yosef on the festival of Lag B'Omer. For most of the Bedouin children present, it was their first time in Tel Aviv. ICA partners with Ayelet for some sea, sun and women's cricket Cricket was one of four sports chosen by the Israel non-Olympic sports organization to take part in a fun day on Bat Yam beach to promote sport amongst women. ICA coaches were on hand to assist, the girls and women enjoyed their taste of bashing a soft orange ball to all parts of the beach, and further foundations were laid in the attempts to establish women's cricket in Israel by the end of the year. League tables Division 1 TEAM Played Won Lost Drawn Tied Bat Bowl Penalty Points 1 Be'er Sheva A 7 2 1 4 0 16 29 0 117 2 Ramla * 7 3 1 3 0 5 23 0 112 3 Young Ashdod 8 3 2 3 0 28 24 30 106 4 Ra'anana 1 8 5 1 2 0 24 38 90 88 5 Lions Lod 6 3 1 2 0 17 20 30 83 6 Ashdod A 7 2 2 3 0 14 20 30 68 7 Israel U19 7 2 5 0 0 16 21 30 47 8 Dimona C 7 0 6 1 0 11 23 0 42 9 Neve Yonatan 5 0 1 4 0 11 14 30 27 Division 2 TEAM Played Won Lost Drawn Tied Bat Bowl Penalty Points 1 Ra'anana 2 8 6 2 0 0 13 34 30 137 2 Kiryat Gat 5 4 1 0 0 15 25 0 120 3 Lions Be'er Sheva 7 2 3 2 0 21 27 0 104 4 Tel Aviv Sri Lankans 5 3 2 0 0 12 25 0 97 5 Eilat * 5 3 2 0 0 9 19 0 88 6 Tel Aviv 6 2 3 1 0 15 22 5 80 7 Jerusalem Sri Lankans 5 2 3 0 0 8 19 0 67 8 Lod Petah Tikva 4 1 1 2 0 6 17 5 54 9 Dimona A * 6 1 4 1 0 2 8 0 38 10 Negev Academy 3 0 3 0 0 2 5 30 -23 .