Largo welcomed Perth Doo’cot 2nd XI to East Drive on Saturday knowing a repeat of the win against the same side earlier in the year would be vitally important in their quest to remain in SPCU Division 1 for next season. Hughes Gillin captained the home side and after losing the toss his side were asked to field first.

Largo opened with the usual pair of Cusick and Rowley and as has been the case many times this season the pair got Largo off to a great start. Rowley removed Emslie for 1, Cusick then struck a double blow removing Riley (1) caught behind by Das and Shenwari for 13 before finally Barclay early in his spell dismissed Baxter thanks to a catch by Warrender to leave the visitors in trouble at 35/4.

From this point though the Perth side were able to recover thanks to a partnership of 68 between McCreanor and Vadassery which blunted the Largo change bowlers efforts meaning Gillin needed to bring Cusick back in to the attack, which did result in his 3rd wicket as part his impressive figures of 3/23 when he bowled McCreanor for 36. Largo though had bowled out their regular bowlers by this point and it was left to Gillin and Warrender to bowl out the final 9 overs of the innings. The closing overs did result in 3 wickets for Warrender (3/38) but proved expensive with Vadassery making a well-played 60, and opposition captain Ali making a quick fire 30. The visitors managed to finish on 199/9 in their allotted overs, a total in excess of what looked likely in the early stages of the innings.

Largo in response to the 200 winning total required opened with Das and Warrender and the pair got the home side off to the perfect start. With Das the aggressor scoring at more than a run a ball the pair saw off the opening bowlers before heading towards mid innings drinks finding boundaries regularly to keep the pressure on the visitor’s bowling attack in an opening stand of 96.

With drinks though brought an end to the stand with Warrender dismissed for 30 by Emslie, followed soon after by Baddeley for 13. It would though be Das who took Largo seemingly within sight of a comfortable victory with the main question being will he be able to score his maidan hundred for the club as he continued to show the batting form which has now placed him as the league’s 3rd highest run scorer this season. Sadly, for Jayjit and those in attendance this was not to be as on 95 from 95 balls, he picked out Riley off the bowling of Naseri to end a fine knock.

With Das’s dismissal Largo needed just 26 to win in the final 8 overs however it became far from simple to get over the line with Riley and Murray putting the pressure on by taking regular wickets as the require rate was ever rising. With Wilson, returning to the side after a long absence, dismissed for 3, followed by Cusick with an important 38 also being removed when well set Largo still needed 10 off the final 2.1 overs. Coates came in however to importantly release the pressure with a 6 off his only ball faced in the innings before it was left to Rowley to hit the winning runs after Gillin’s dismissal in the penultimate over to take Largo to victory with an over to spare.

This was solid performance all around for the home side, highlighted by the innings of Das, and after dominating large parts of the side they got a deserved though very hard-fought victory against a good opponent. Largo though know further victories are required over the final 4 weeks of the season to secure safety, with that task made tougher as they travel to league leader Falkland 2s next weekend.