Burgh too Strong for Largo
Largo's third team travelled to Musselburgh on Saturday with a somewhat
weakened team and fully aware that they had a hard game on their hands. The
opposition were undefeated League leaders and proved to be more than a match
for a slightly depleted Largo team on an afternoon when summer, in the form
of unbroken sunshine and high temperature, finally announced its arrival.
David Scott and Alistair Matthews opened the bowling for Largo and kept the
home team on the backfoot with a miserly eight over spell which conceded
only 17 runs. Stephen Warrender and Ian Barnes gave further
support with Barnes bowling a tight line and causing the Musselburgh opening
pair all sorts of difficulty and Warrender unlucky not to break through as
he induced a number of rash shots from the batsmen, all off which fell short
of the field. It was Barnes who deservedly claimed the first
Largo wicket with the score on 42 but a second was not forthcoming until the
score had almost reached 100 with Tufail being run out after fine fielding
by Warrender and James Tooze, the latter becoming more and more assured as a
wicketkeeper. Basher and Aqaf Ahmed, both Largo juniors, bowled useful
spells with Basher taking the key wicket of his namesake Ahmed. With
the opposition always in difficulty reading the spin of debutant Peter
Scott and Scott and Matthews returning to the attack, Largo did well
to restrict a strong opposition batting line-up to a final total of 219 for
6 wickets.
The veteran Barnes opened the innings for Largo with Warrender who was
dismissed early, for once, fending a rising ball into the slip cordon.
Largo's young players, with Tooze showing further evidence of his
promise as a batter, then gave Barnes useful support as Largo tried to
chase down a daunting total against a strong and accurate attack. Barnes as
ever showed unremitting patience and graft as he went on to amass 53 before
finally being caught and it was left to Braid (33 not out), Scott and
Matthews to give a late boost to the Largo total and ensure that, although
defeated, extra batting points were gained. The Largo innings closed
on 139 for 7 wickets, a long way from victory but showing evidence that,
above all, the club's developing young players are learning fast and
capable of holding their own at this level.