ICC/CricketEurope

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Switzerland launched their bid for the Under 15 title with a thoroughly convincing 180 run win over Israel.

Batting first the Swiss racked up a mammoth 290 for six in their 35 overs, with seven of their top eight batsman recording double figures.

They were given a flying start, with Merrennage Fernando and James Hadden putting on 48 in just 2.1 overs, with Fernando being particularly brutal on anything erring in line or length.

Hadden was first to go for five, bowled by 13 year old spinner Guy Admon, with a ball which turned quite a bit.

Fernando carried on his merry way, crashing 13 fours on his way to 58, before being caught and bowled by Admon.

That was one of the few catches that Israel managed to cling onto in a truly poor display in the field – no fewer than ten catches went down, with the ground fielding being little better.

To be fair to Israel, their young side got the worse of the conditions, fielding in the sweltering afternoon sun.

Switzerland continued piling on the runs, with Ross Cameron (35) and Luca Illien (34) hitting 12 boundaries between them. A feature of the Swiss innings was the sheer number of boundaries – 41 in total!

Another feature was the steady partnerships throughout, as Israel were never able to take wickets in clusters.

Wadan Yousafzai (47) and George Gaillet (40*) put on 79 for the sixth wicket, while Gaillet and 12 year old Simon Henderson (18*) added an unbroken 36 in just 4 overs to put the gloss on a near perfect batting display.

None of the Israeli bowlers would have been rushing to the score books to study their figures at the interval, with the exception of Levi Kamarlekar (2-27).

In reply none of the Israeli batsmen really got to grips with the Swiss attack, with Extras (41) being the most prominent contributor by some significant distance.

Three batsmen did make double figures, with Levi Kamarlekar completing a fine all round display by top scoring with 20. Daniel Bergman (16), and Eitan Halabi (14) were the other contributors of note.

Despite the concession of 34 wides, the Swiss bowlers were on the whole much too strong for Israel. Nicholas Mayo (2-11), Ross Cameron (2-14), and Merrennage Fernando (2-27) had the best figures, while James Hadden (1-13), George Gaillet (1-13), and Simon Henderson (1-1) were the other wicket takers.

An emphatic win for Switzerland, who by virtue of this comprehensive win have given themselves a real chance of topping the group.