A new look 2s team travelled to sunny Dunfermline for their opening game in Division 6. The game was played on their artificial after some overnight rain, and with Dunfermline captain convinced it was going to rain later in the day, the game was reduced to 30 overs a side
The 2s are much changed from last year with the return of Faisal Anwar (aka the Spin King), following a year out recovering from Achilles surgery last summer, captaining the side this year, and the very welcome return of Kashif Khalid and Suresh Babu. The side also featured 3 excellent junior prospects in Jack Jarvis, Sadhil Jindal and Craig Andersen, the first two having been selected in the Under 14s Forth Valley team (more on that to come). Skipper Anwar called ‘tails never fails’, and it duly did, so the Kingfishers were invited to make first use of the artificial.
Kashif and Suresh opened the batting and got us off to a good start before Suresh was LBW with the score on 21 after 5 overs. This bought vice-captain Neil Jarvis to the crease, but Kashif was out soon after in the 7th over unfortunately losing his footing on the artificial and ending up run out. Skipper Anwar came in at 4 and with Neil set about putting some runs on the board and building a partnership. They added 31 in the next 7 overs before Cap’n Anwar was given out lbw by the ‘neutral’ umpire. Those of you who have followed Livi CC over the years will be accustomed to the inexplicable top order collapse that occurs now and again and today was no different as 3 wickets fell in quick succession to leave the Kingfishers on 65 for 5 at the midway point. However, some excellent middle / lower order end batting from first Mark Gray and Asam, and then Mark and Jack Jarvis, saw Livi add 47 runs in the final 14 overs, with Mark registering his highest score for the 2s and an excellent knock from Jack not out 19 (surpassing Jarvis senior in the process). In the end we reached 112 from our 30 overs, which at the time felt a bit short but was an excellent effort in the end from the team, and gave something for the bowlers to defend. Kashif top scored with a breezy 24, but there were important contributions from Mark Gray (13) and Jack Jarvis (19 no).
Given the reduced over game, it was decided that teas would be had after both innings, so a quick turn around and Livi were back out in the field. Kashif and Sushil bowled really well and kept it tight, putting Dunfermline under pressure early on, with Sushil getting the first wicket in the 6th over with the score on 15. Some lusty hitting from the other opener (one of an inordinate number of left handers in their team) helped Dunfermline get a footing in the game. But, in hindsight, the turning point in the innings was Kashif clean bowling the dangerous left hander with the score on 29 in the 9th over. Kashif and Sushil took a further wicket each after a bit of juggling in the slips from Neil and some very sharp work behind the stumps by Gordon, stumping their number 4 who had decided to not come back into his crease. With the score 31 for 4, Livi were in a dominant position. Cap’n Anwar bought himself on to bowl (captain's perogative :)), and was quickly into thewickets, taking four wickets in his first three overs, and despite his best efforts not quite being able to get that fifth wicket – as the Chairman pointed out later ‘4 fers’ (i.e. jug avoidance) are his speciality. With Dunfermline reeling on 46 for 8 off 17 overs, needing another 65 to win, Skipper Anwar took the opportunity give some of the youngsters in the team some much needed experience at this level and Sadhil, Craig Andersen and Jack bowled well. The final two wickets were a run out by Kash off Suresh’s bowling, and Jack finally wrapped up the innings clean bowling their number eleven off only his third ball. Pick of the bowlers were skipper Anwar with 4 for 6 runs, Sushil 2 for 8 runs and Kashif 2 for 23 runs from 6 overs each.
A great team effort from everyone involved, with contributions from everyone. It’s always good to get off to a winning start, and hopefully this will be the first of many to come, but if the 2s can continue working hard and playing positive cricket for the rest of the season, who knows what they can achieve this year. There will arguably be harder games to come but it was great to see the team working well together, and the juniors adding to their experience. Next up for the 2s are Melrose at home next weekend, weather permitting.
  Livingston | 2nd XI | v |   | Dunfermline & Carnegie II | Date: | 2015-04-25 |
Type of Match | League Division 6 | at | McKane Park |
Livingston | 112 for 7 (30.0 overs) | Dunfermline & Carnegie II | 72 all out (28.3 overs) |
Result: | Livingston win by 40 runs |
    | Batsman | How Out | Bowler | Runs | 4s | 6s | 1 | S Balasubramanian | lbw | H Shahzad | 6 | 1 |   | 2 | K Khalid | run out |   | 24 | 4 |   | 3 | N Jarvis | ct C Hill | C Hill | 16 | 2 | 1 | 4 | F Anwar | lbw | A Cameron | 13 | 1 | 1 | 5 | SK Jindal | lbw | A Cameron | 0 |   |   | 6 | M Gray | bowled | C Hill | 13 |   |   | 7 | A Ghaffar | lbw | J Honeyford | 4 |   |   | 8 | J Jarvis | not out |   | 19 |   |   | 9 | G Young | not out |   | 1 |   |   | 10 | S Jindal | dnb |   |   |   |   | 11 | C Anderson | dnb |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | Extras | 16 |   |   | Total |   |   | 112 for 7 |
    | Bowler | Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wkts | Wds | NBs | Avg | Econ |   | 1 | H Shahzad | 6.0 | 0 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 26.00 | 4.33 |   | 2 | G Phillip | 6.0 | 1 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ~ | 5.17 |   | 3 | C Hill | 6.0 | 2 | 22 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11.00 | 3.67 |   | 4 | A Cameron | 3.0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 | 2.00 |   | 5 | N Walker | 4.0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ~ | 1.25 |   | 6 | J Honeyford | 5.0 | 1 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 18.00 | 3.60 |   |
    | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |   | Score | 21 | 34 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 81 | 108 |   |   |   |   | Bat Out | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 6 |   |   |   |   |
  Innings Of: | Dunfermline & Carnegie II |
  | Batsman | How Out | Bowler | Runs | 4s | 6s | 1 | H Shahzad | bowled | K Khalid | 23 |   |   | 2 | G Phillip | lbw | SK Jindal | 0 |   |   | 3 | J Parsonage | bowled | F Anwar | 6 |   |   | 4 | C Lee Edwards | st G Young | SK Jindal | 0 |   |   | 5 | C Hill | ct N Jarvis | K Khalid | 1 |   |   | 6 | S Wetherspoon | bowled | F Anwar | 0 |   |   | 7 | C Reid | ct K Khalid | F Anwar | 0 |   |   | 8 | N Walker | bowled | F Anwar | 6 |   |   | 9 | D Walley | not out |   | 20 |   |   | 10 | J Honeyford | run out |   | 2 |   |   | 11 | A Cameron | bowled | J Jarvis | 0 |   |   |   |   |   | Extras | 14 |   |   | Total |   |   | 72 all out |
    | Bowler | Overs | Mdns | Runs | Wkts | Wds | NBs | Avg | Econ |   | 1 | K Khalid | 6.0 | 2 | 23 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11.50 | 3.83 |   | 2 | SK Jindal | 6.0 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4.00 | 1.33 |   | 3 | F Anwar | 6.0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1.50 | 1.00 |   | 4 | N Jarvis | 2.0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ~ | 4.50 |   | 5 | S Jindal | 4.0 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ~ | 2.75 |   | 6 | S Balasubramanian | 2.0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ~ | 2.50 |   | 7 | C Anderson | 2.0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ~ | 2.00 |   | 8 | J Jarvis | 0.3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 | 2.00 |   |
    | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |   | Score | 15 | 29 | 31 | 31 | 36 | 38 | 38 | 46 | 68 | 72 |   | Bat Out | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |   |
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