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Written by Faisal Anwar
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Livingston were fielding a relatively inexperienced team for the 1st weekend of the season, with only 5 regular 1s XI players available, and three new players to the club playing.
Grange won the toss and elected to bat first. The pitch looked good for this time of the year and the outfield was soft in parts but pretty good considering the winter and spring we've had.
It was a good bowling effort by all the Livi bowlers on a pretty good pitch (the odd one popping and shooting through but reasonably consistent), especially considering that 4 of the 6 Livingston bowlers were making their 1st XI debut (Senthil, Andy Wilcock, Santha and the Spin King). Mark Colings bowled really well for little reward giving only 8 runs in his spell for 1 wicket and Jim came on at the end to mop up the tail.
Overall the fielding wasn't bad either once the game got started (the warm up fielding exercises need a bit of work on  . That said there were a few drop catches, but there were also a few taken, so definitely some room for improvement.
It was a dream debut for the Spin King, ripping through the Grange line up, once he'd got his line and length sorted out, to get his first 5 fer for the season and for the 1's and excellent support from Santha also making his debut, with both bowling in tandem in the middle of the innings to swing the game in Livi's favour.
Grange 2's 110 all out in 43 overs - Spin King 5-29, Santha 2-28
In reply Grange bowled tightly and Livi's top order batsmen found it difficult to score any runs. Wickets fell cheaply and quickly and before Livingston knew it there were more overs bowled than runs scored with three wickets already gone. A partnership between Langy and the Spin King briefly got Livi back on track, but both fell just when things were improving. This bought Jim and Andy Wilcock to the crease who finally showed the rest of the batsman what was needed, racking up an excellent partnership of 50 odd to really drag Livingston back in to the game against a tight bowling attack. Jim in particular was looking in good nick, hitting the first six of the season just behind square leg, ably supported by Andy. Unfortunately just when it looked like Livingston would snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, Jim fell and unfortunately after that with Grange continuing to bowl well, wicket to wicket, the Livi tail struggled to get the ball away falling 17 runs short, with Captain Kirk, batting at 11 due to his injured right wrist, last man standing having not faced a ball.
Livi 1s 94 all out in 48 overs - J Wilson 38 (i think)
So definitely some positives to be taken from the game, but Livingston will be a little disappointed having bowled themselves into such a great position that they couldn't get the result that their bowling deserved. Still the season ahead looks encouraging if the debutants can push on, and with other players to come back in once available.
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