FIRSTS HOME AND DRY.. Cricket Correspondent - Gordon Kinnear. (Match-ball sponsor - BiBi Graphics.)

Largo entertained struggling West Lothian 2’s on Saturday at East Drive. The sun was beating down as Largo captain Kinnear won the toss and chose to bat with the pitch looking like a batsman’s dream after the recent good weather. Nicky Rintoul and Asman Ali wasted no time in stroking the bsll to all parts of East Drive with 50 runs coming up in the 7th over. The score had raced onto 78 when Rintoul fell caught behind for a quick fire 47. Ryan Brown was next in and was unlucky to get an edge to a very good delivery to fall for 8 but A. Ali continued to score quickly and reached his 50 in the 17th over. Unfortunately he fell the very next ball with the score on 116.
Warrender(0) and last week’s hero Rajagopal(1) were next to go with Largo wobbling on 122 for 5. Nadeem Ali & Alex Anderson steadied the ship with a 60 run partnership before N. Ali fell for a well made 44. Kinnear(4) and Gillin(3) also fell cheaply but Anderson remained calm and with support from Bentley(15) and Robertson(5) he was last man out having made 69 and taking the Largo total to 261.
Confidence was high that the total would be enough, and some tight overs at the start from Robertson and Bentley put more pressure on the West Lothian batsmen. This pressure resulted in the first wicket falling on 16, with Bentley taking a fine catch off Robertson’s bowling in the deep, despite the fact that he was still putting on his jumper! The game was virtually sealed in the very next over as Bentley took 3 wickets to leave the score on 26 for 4. Farooqui(18) came in and tried to play his shots but Robertson was too quick for him and he skied one straight up which Ryan Brown took comfortably.
Brown was then brought into the attack and the league’s leading wicket taker was soon in the action, having the opposition skipper, Newman, bowled for 22. Gillin and Anderson took a wicket each before Brown wrapped things up in the 33rd over, taking the 9th and 10th wickets, his league total now 26. West Lothian dismissed for 111 - a 150 run victory. Bentley with 3 wickets for 10 runs from 8 overs and Brown with 3 for 24 from 8 overs were the pick of the bowlers.