Winning Start for Largo Cricketers

Largo scored an emphatic home win over Clackmannan in the first game of the league campaign largely to a superb century by Guy Robinson.

Largo lost the toss and were asked to bat on a wicket that was surprising unaffected by the heavy rain over the past week, surely a testament to the fabled Largo square. The loss of Walker and Duncan allowed Guy Robinson to be joined in the middle by Bob Mowat and these two began to repair the early damage inflicted on Largo by the visiting side. Guy was the more patient of the two but after surviving a few nasty blows from the Clacks pace men, was soon punishing any slack bowling and started to show the large home support the variety of cricket shots he has in his batting locker. By contrast, Bob was reliant on electrifying hand-eye coordination and formidable strength for his runs and it was little surprise he was first to fifty, but it was not long before Guy had passed this land mark. This did nothing to curb their stoke playing and the onslaught was relentless as they punished the tiring Wee County bowling.  Clackmannan finally got a reward when Mowat was bowled for an outstanding 80. His runs came of 126 balls and included 5 fours and 4 sixes, one which soared over the top of the Largo pavilion. Robinson was undisturbed by the loss of his batting partner, and joined by Asman Ali took the Largo total above 200. He reached the magical three figures in the last over of the innings and was unbeaten for a stupendous 101. This came off 158 balls and included 8 fours.

Clackmannan were set the daunting target of 258 for victory and started off in the worse possible manner when the opener Ramsey was run out off the fourth ball. Mowat fresh from his batting endeavours shared the opening bowling duties with Barclay and tied down the top end for an impressive 13 overs without break. Only Gordon Oliver showed any genuine stroke play and with other Clackmannan batsmen coming and going without really getting started it was only a matter of time before their innings was complete. This was brought to a hasty conclusion when Doc Matthews cleared up with figures of 4 for 22 and the visitors were all out for 112.

A great start for the Largo team in a game sponsored by  Boyack Homes, Kirkcaldy