Livingston under 12s have set the standard for forthcoming 2019 cricket season with an excellent effort in the Edinburgh indoor leagues when they came second to Carlton CC on Sunday the 31st of March.

Previous rounds had seen the wee scheme team come second (again) to Carlton in the initial leagues with 4 wins from 6 matches including victories over both Gala and East Lothian. A squad of 10 players had been utilised in the build up to the finals day and all had acquitted themselves well and shown maturity and skill levels which will benefit themselves and the team in the summer.

On the finals day, the team selected took heart from the previous efforts and the whole team performed. In the semi final, Livi inserted Watsons on a flat indoor pitch and proceeded to take wickets and catches, along with excellent run outs to limit Watsons to just 18 runs. Recall in juniors, 5 runs are taken off the total for a wicket and all the players in the team bowled and contributed with wickets or catches to set a very achievable target.

In response, Livi batted with sense and touch, finding the gaps and the short back wall boundary for many sixes. In particular, a shout out to captain Srikar and his bestie Matthew (both still just 9) who scored 61 runs (albeit with 2 wickets to make it 51 runs on the board) from 16 balls with 8 sixes. This is a rate that even the IPL would be proud of and is Livingston's first 50 partnership of the season. Final score for Livi was near the 80 mark and victory was achieved.

With just a quick bathroom break between games (mostly for the coaches), Livi were straight into it for the final against a strong and spirited Carlton. There is great familiarity between these two teams as they have played against each other on numerous occasions and over many years now. Carlton batted first and scored a mighty 90 runs but this was kept relatively low due to some wonder catches including a one handed, left handed by Jagat and one off the boot of the umpire to Marc V. In response, with spirited batting again from the 9 year olds as well as some nice shots and sixes from Haris and Lennon, and a tense few middle overs, Livi came up short by 40 runs by only managing 50.

The wee team from the scheme showed great courage and team spirit in these games against top Edinburgh opposition and they will take this camaraderie into the 2019 season which starts away to Grange under 14s on Monday the 29th April.