Two victories for Livingston Senior Teams Print
Written by Administrator   
Thursday, 17 May 2018 19:20

Livingston 1st XI v Tranent & Preston Village - Rise of the Waterboy
Last Saturday saw Livingston taken on another newly promoted team, Tranent & Preston village at home for the third match of their league campaign. Livingston were hoping to carry their amazing form forward and get a third win on the trot in the league especially after a disappointing loss on Tuesday in the Park trophy to Holy Cross.
It was a great start to the day as the heat rained down, the players gathered around to discuss the challenge ahead of them. Livingston were clear favourites going into the game and it was clearly reflective within the team as they felt it would be one of easier games of the season so confidence was high especially after last week’s dominating performance.
Livingston decided to complete the toss early, so they could prepare for the challenge ahead, the toss went against Livingston for 3 times in a row with Tranent puting them in to bat. They took it on the chin and planned ahead, this was a chance for the middle order to be exposed for the first time this season and show what they are capable of.
Kashif and Hannah went into bat, hoping to carry the fine form forward with the pair making a great start as they rotated strike whilst getting a few boundaries before Kashif fell for 9. This brought in Livingston newcomer Jamie who was batting for the first time for the club. Jamie and Hannah put in a solid batting performance and partnership before Hannah was dismissed for a fine innings of 28. Fall of Hannah lead to fall of wickets for Salman and Fahad at 5 and 12 respectively before Hamad came in to bat gun blazing, as Livingston's top order gave the team a strong platform to take it to the opponents and build on the great start. Jamie’s classy batting debut came to an end at a well-deserved 39, this didn’t deter Hamad as he carried on with his power hitting exploits before falling for 39 not too long after. The flamboyant innings of Hamad had it all with a couple of magnificent sixes. The end of Hamad’s innings brought in Ali, Mark and Ahmed respectively as they carried the momentum forward and contributing 12, 8 and 18* respectively towards the back end to finish at 194. The last 15 overs saw Livingston make 100+ runs due to some spectacle hitting to post a mighty total and gave the confidence to defend.
Tranent were quick off the mark and had a very impressive start which caught Livingston by surprise but it didn’t last very long against an impressive bowling attack. Mark managed to pick up 2 wickets with his outstanding leg spin in his first spell to deal a blow and to apply much needed pressure. However, undeterred Tranent's opener carried on taking risks to get quick runs, but it didn’t last very long as Ahmed came on and got his man for a much-needed break through. It brought the end to Tranent’s danger man who ended his account at 41. Tranent showed some tenacity with Vickram and Russell putting together a good partnership, but Livingston bowlers were determined for the win. Meanwhile Livingston got the result from the 2s game who had won by two runs while defending a total of 62. The result was met by loud cheers on the pitch and Livingston picked up the intensity in the field. It was followed by a break through courtesy of Fahad who picked up the wicket of Vickram, who ended his tally at 38. It was all downhill from there for Tranent as Livingston bowlers made light work of the lower order batsman to wrap things up with Tranent managing 172 and falling short by 22 runs. It was an excellent team performance with Fahad picking up 3 wickets with 2 each from Mark & Ahmed and Hamad & Hannah getting one each. It was spinners that reigned supreme in the Livingston bowling attack. This bought the end to another successful outing for Livingston with man of the match medal being presented to Hamad for his outstanding hitting to give Livingston the platform to get the win.

 

Livingston 2ndt XI v Tranent & Preston Village - As close as it gets
On 12th May 2018 the fixture between Livi 2s and Tranant & Preston at Preston Village went ahead as planned as the weather was mainly sunny with occasional passing clouds with some side wind at the ground which looked to assist the bowling with some swing.
Tranant & Preston advised that they will play on the artificial since the groundsman could not cut the square and the grass on the outfield was also a fair length which was going to slow the ball limiting the full value of the batsman’s shots.
Livi Captain Shazad lost the toss and having been asked to bat first decided to open with Robert Bowering and new comer Habib Bukhari who has looked promising in the nets with a good batting technique.
Robert fell early in 3rd over caught behind at a score of just 1 but Captain Shazad and Habib managed to see out the opening bowlers and pick up 1s and 2s along the way but Habib after an LBW shout turned down wandered out of his crease and was runout with the score at 19 after 11 overs.
Shazad was now joined by Shrey but both fell fairly quick with Shrey bowled without troubling the scorers and Shazad LBW on a full delivery at which point Livi were in danger of being bowled out for a very low score.
Kamlesh and Sadhil then Asam saw out the middle overs but scoring became difficult and all 3 eventually fell with the tail now exposed but all the batsman managed to scramble a few runs with the team eventually being bowled out to a below par 64 score.
At this point it was clear that the only way to win was to also bowl the opposition out and keep tight bowling and fielding as was the main talking point in the dressing room by Captain Shazad.
With a target set at 65 it was always going to be tough and the only way to win was to bowl out Tranant and Shazad went in to attack mode and rallied his troops to bowl tight and asked the fielders to stay on their toes giving nothing away. 

Abdul took charge and struck in his 2nd over to take out opener A. Dobbie with an in swinger clean bowled for a duck. At this moment there was some laughter with the the non striker, I. Barker who walked up to us to ask us the time as he had to go soon to which we suggested he should get out quick.
As the innings restarted with the new batsman, in the next over I.Barker hit a 4 and a six which put us on the back foot and it looked like the match would be over soon if this continued. Abdul however had other plans and bowled a short one which I. Barker tried to work to the leg side but got a top edge and was caught by Mark Collings at square leg which was a relief as he was looking to take the game away from us.
The very next ball the new batsman P. Dawce got a surprise in swinger and was clean bowled which set the tone for us and everyone started to believe we could actually win it from here.
3 wickets for Abdul in his 1st 3 overs put us in strong position with the captain constantly encouraging his team to keep their focus.
With the score at 23 after 9 overs Sushil was next to strike with 2 wickets in 2 overs to get Livi back on track. Kamlesh return also brought further 2 wicket with a caught behind and clean bowled. The umpire gave an out verdict to a run out but this was then over turned as it was decided that the keeper had no control of the ball as the stumps were broken and with some of our players agreeing we demonstrated great sportsmanship and the batsman was recalled.
There was some further controversy when Shrey bowled a perfectly straight bowl to the no3 batsman but much to our surprise the umpire remained unmoved. Shazad once again rallied his troops and encouraged them to keep going and with some superb bowling changes kept the runs dry. This pressure led to Shrey eventually striking with 2 wickets 4 overs apart with an LBW and a bowled.
With 9 down and 2 to win there was extreme pressure on both sides but the Livi players did not lose heart and sensing a victory persevered, with our most economical bowler Mark Collings clean bowling the no 6 batsman who had showed tremendous resilience and temperament to stand his ground for the majority of the innings and the celebrations began for an extremely hard earned victory.
Abdul finished with 3 for 11, Kamlesh 2 for 19, Sushil 2 for 9, Mark 1 for 2 and Shrey 2 for 10.

Last Updated on Thursday, 17 May 2018 19:22