Largo 2nd XI welcomed Falkland 3s to East Drive on Saturday hoping to emulate their high scoring victory in the opening game of the season, their only win so far in 2025. Gareth Miles again captained the side in usual captain Bentley’s absence and after losing the toss his side were asked to bat first in what looked like good bowling conditions.

Largo opened with Innes Macdonald and Tocher and both were under pressure straight away against good Falkland bowling with Tocher becoming the first man to go, bowled by Gibson for just 3. Konig came in at number 3 and managed to blunt the attack briefly but he was dismissed by Cutler for 5 along with the wickets of Macdonald (1) and Sandhu (0) falling to Green, and finally Murdo Duncan for 0 meaning Largo were in trouble at 22/5.

Finn Miles joined his dad Gareth at the crease with the pair putting on 10 before he was bowled, becoming O.Cutler’s 3rd wicket, before club president Ally Duncan was adjudged LBW for 3 off the bowling of MacHugh leaving Largo on 44/7. Largo needed a partner to stay with G.Miles however the Falkland attack continued to use the good bowling conditions well and were able to dismiss Smith (0), S.Macdonald (4) and Sayer (0) in quick time to leave Miles on 21 not out, and his side dismissed for just 55 in 30.3 overs, run scoring proving to be a struggle throughout the innings.

Largo opened the bowling in reply with S.Macdonald and Konig hoping to take early wickets to put some sort of pressure on the visitors despite the low score but couldn’t make immediate inroads with Gibson and Roff moving to 29/0 and seemingly on their way to a comfortable victory.

With the introduction of Murdo Duncan in to the attack however all would change as he, with the help of Konig, forced Falkland to lose their next 7 wickets for just 10 runs. Konig would get the deserved wickets of Roff (8),Crawford (0) and Kirkbride (1) thanks to a good catch by Smith, however Duncan would take 4 wickets in his 4 overs, removing the set batsman Gibson for 17 as well as MacKenzie, O.Cutler and Denney, the later thanks to a catch by Tocher.

Largo now sensed victory from what looked a hopeless position just a few overs earlier and captain Miles brought himself in to the attack hoping to find the final 3 wickets. Collins though would seem again to have brought Falkland to with in sight of victory with a quick 10 runs but with just 4 to win he was bowled by Miles. Konig returned to the attack and managed to get wicket number 9 with Green caught by A.Duncan meaning Largo needed 1 wicket to win with Falkland requiring 2 runs.

The Falkland side though would sneak a bye, to level things up before Sandhu was brought in to the attack looking to cause an unlikely tie in the game. However, it was to be the visitors who came out on top in the match when a single from Falkland captain M.Cutler brought a 1 wicket victory for the Falkland side.

In what was an unusual but exciting game, in stark contrast to the first match between the sides this season which had over 300 more runs scored, the Largo side will be saddened to not be able to get the final wicket to get what would have been one of the more unlikely victories in their history if they had pulled it off. They will be heartened though by the great performances again from the youngsters in the side, especially the 4 wickets each for Konig (4/14) and Duncan (4/8) showing they are more than capable of contributing at senior level. They will look to go one better next week as they welcome Kinloch 3s to East Drive.