Bowlers Rip through West Lothian

Largo 1^st XI got their 2007 East League Division 2 campaign underway on Saturday in emphatic style.  After a couple of warm up matches and a convincing win against Cupar in a preseason friendly last week it was the important business of the league this week for the Largo men as they look to go all the way this year in the promotion hunt after narrowly missing out last year.  In a match sponsored by Buckler Ltd, Dundee,  West Lothian II were the visitors to East Drive and under sunny skies and a pitch that looked in superb condition Largo skipper Ally Duncan lost the toss and was asked to bat.  New opening partnership Craig Walker and Asman Ali found the going quite tough in the early exchanges as the Raven brothers bowled very tight lines.  Walker and Ali settled in nicely after a while and with good running between the wickets and dispatching the bad balls they set a nice foundation for the rest of the team.  Walker was first to go bowled by Carver for a well crafted 29.  Robinson joined Ali at the crease and without his usual immaculate timing he was still managing to find the gaps in the field and pick up crucial runs.  Ali was the next to go, caught at mid wicket off the bowling of Norris for a hard working 25.  With the openers job done it was up to the middle order to see Largo over the 200 mark and post a challenging total for the visitors.  Former opener Mohammed Sharif came in at number 4 and with Robinson they both really started to put the Wests bowlers under lots of pressure as quick running and masterful boundaries were ever increasing and the 200 was looming for Largo .  No matter what Wests threw at them they were no match for the sheer power of Sharif and the deft touches of Robinson.  Just as these two were on the brink of taking Largo over the 200 mark with the last 10 overs still to go Robinson was struck on the pad and out LBW to M.Raven for a valuable 46.  Sharif was joined at the crease by son Safiyaan and watching these two literally reduce the Wests bowling attack to nothing more than average was a joy to watch as boundary after boundary was struck as well as a few big maximums disappearing into the distance.  At the end of the 50 overs the Sharifs had taken Largo to an imposing 241 for the loss of only 4 wickets, as Safiyaan was caught on the boundary with only one ball of the innings left for a fine 34 and Sharif senior left unbeaten for a wonderful 84.  This was certainly the total Largo were looking for and went into the tea interval very much the happier team.

 Wests innings began quite brightly as Whitton and M.Raven looked to play their shots and found a couple of early boundaries that would perhaps settle the nerves and lift an already demoralised team.  However, this was not to last as Sharif senior struck and bowled M.Raven for 6.  Norris joined Whitton and these two looked to be settling in again when a superb stop by Nicky Rintoul at point from a powerfully struck shot from Whitton suddenly seemed to lift the Largo team and after a couple of loose overs from change bowler Barclay he struck twice in quick succession when two sharp slip catches from Mowat first removed the dangerous Whitton and then K.Smith for only 6 and Largo were very much on top again.  The introduction of Rintoul into the attack by Duncan seemed to be a masterstroke as the 18 year old tearaway proved too quick for the Wests middle order and with Barclay at the other end mixing up his deliveries with fast off cutters and slower legbreaks the Wests batsmen looked all at sea.  Norris and Johnston hung in as best they could but both were undone beautifully by young Rintouls pace as bouncers did for both these men, caught at square leg by Smith.  After that it really became a procession as Wests batsmen came and went without troubling the scorers too much and in 29 overs the game was finished, West Lothian all out for 96 with Barclay finishing with figures of 5 for 37 and Rintoul 4 for 19.  An excellent all round display by the Fife men and a great start to their season.  They travel to Stirling County this week looking to continue that form.