Livi under 14s recorded their first win of the season with a close fought and just quite frankly crazy game of cricket at Penicuik (10th June 2019).

 

 

Being a player or two short (young Jagat won his badminton tournament at school and was late....we can let him away with that though), coaches and captains agreed to allow Livi to bat first to let Jag arrive.  This was to prove to be a good decision on the part of Penicuik as the very green wicket (which had puddles on it just the previous day) was allowing the ball to move off the seam and the Penicuik bowlers were hitting it nicely into the surface to get full effect.  Openers Arsh and Srikar departed for very little on the board with Marc and Zuhair coming in from the middle order.  Marc struck a fine 4 through the covers off his first ball (like his dad would) but was quickly undone soon after again by excellent use of the track by the bowlers...an in swinging leg cutter which took off stump was the report from the umpire.  Jagat in next but only lasted 2 balls...much to his annoyance and it took him 20 minutes to get over it apparently.  Watch this space.

 

Zuhair batted on and supported the excellent Duncan who was finding the gaps by batting intelligently.  Once Zuhair retired (not out), Matthew was in and he also supported Duncan well...vocal as ever, he was doing the calling.  Many runs were taken in this little spell boosting the total.  Whilst Matthew was soon bowled, Yashas also supported Duncan to add runs.  Late in the innings Marc and Arsh were asked to bat again, along with the returning Zuhair and Livi managed to post 79 runs.  Duncan top scored and retired on 12.  One of his best innings.

 

In response, after the umpire had shined the pink ball to the max, Jagat bowled with great ferocity and purpose.  In his 3 overs, 6 wickets were taken, all clean bowled.  Other highlights of this spell included one broken Kookaburra bat for the oppo's fine player Fraser (sorry wee bud) and a hatrick taken over two overs.

 

At the other end, Srikar was getting the ball to swing away and was very difficult to play plus took a wicket.  After the first 6 overs, Penicuik were 24-7.

 

New bowlers required, and the skipper Arsh brought him self and Marc on to slow the pace down.  Whilst Marc took a wicket LBW, the rest of his bowling were nasty pies or wides (like his dad would), thus after 8 overs Penicuik were at 30-8 with only the last wicket remaining.

 

Gallantly and with a lot of composure, the last two bats Lewis and Calum batted from over 8 till over 20!  The total ticked along nicely due to a number of wides and no balls...height no balls rather than front foot.  Some how, Penicuik managed to get to a point where victory was in sight with 12 runs required off the last 3 overs.  Livi bowlers at the death Zuhair and Yashas were visibly shaking (as was the Livi coach) with the adrenaline running through them.  This is just great experience for the juniors to get to such a physical state of being....however, this resulted in a few pies bowled and we went to 6 runs required in the last over.

 

Its very much worth noting at this point that Penicuik had offered a fielder throughout the game and each had fulfilled their purpose with zeal and determination.  This was sportsmanship of the highest quality and is a testament to the ethos instilled by the coaches and parents of these exemplary cricketers.

 

With so few remaining, Zuhair shivered up to bowl the last over.  Lewis almost hit a four to take it to very very close, but this was stopped at the boundary by Marc....leaving Calum to face the last few.  Zuhair bowled his mystery spin and the unfortunate bat for Penicuik lobbed it up to Zuhair who crocodile caught it to win the game (does the coach have a word about that???).  Madness ensued behind the umpire.  Penicuik 75 all out; Livi win.

 

Thanks you to Penicuik for hosting and giving us a great evening.  We look forward to seeing you in August at Dresselrigg.