On Saturday Livingston played host to Linlithgow for their second meeting of the season in East League Division 1. Linlithgow won the toss and elected to bowl first on a hard wicket with a light covering of grass.

The away side took their first wicket in just the 3rd over when Rory Thomson dismissed J. Casley with the score still on nought. However, Livingston battled hard and despite a few loose shots, made their way to 69 before Alan Williamson dismissed home skipper A. Ali to a simple catch at point by Grant Raven.

The Livingston middle order batted well in the conditions and looked to be positive at every opportunity as the ball evaded the fielding side with increasing regularity.

Livingston posted what seemed a respectable but not insurmountable total of 179 for the loss of 9 wickets from their 45 overs. A. Ali top-scored with 51 runs and was ably supported by K. Khalid (32) and Heather Short (31). Best bowling figures for Linlithgow came from Grant Raven with 3 wickets for 23 runs and Paul Brookes 3 for 30 runs.

Paul Brookes opened the batting with Alan Williamson for Linlithgow and the pair made 46 before Brookes was well caught at mid-off by A. Ali from the bowling of Hamad Ahmed.

Rory Saunders joined Williamson briefly before clipping another simple chance to Ali in the mid-off region. John Strachan and Alan Williamson then took Linlithgow to 80-2 before Williamson was bowled by A. Ali for a well made 41.

Thereafter, the Linlithgow innings unravelled thanks largely to excellent bowling from the home side who made full use of the conditions. The runs dried up and wickets began to tumble at regular intervals. Where in the first innings the ball was evading the fielders, in the second, the batsmen seemed unable to find the gaps.

Linlithgow struggled along to a final total of 119 all out in the 43rd over.

Livingston won the match by 60 runs and collect the maximum 20 points in while Linlithgow took 7 points from the match.

Next weekend Linlithgow face Royal High Corstorphine at Boghall in a 1pm start.