BACK TO WINNING WAYS. Reporter - B. Bentley

After last week's rained off game Largo 1st were back in action at home against a much changed Livingston side to the one who played in the bad tempered game earlier in the season. Another much changed area of this game was that captain Rintoul won the toss and decided to bowl due to having a green and damp track after overnight rain and also being mindful of the showery forecast.

Openers F Khan and Gillin bowled well against the opposition batsman with dropped catches not producing an early wicket for the pair. The introduction of Bentley to the attack resulted in the first wicket, Bowering for 4, with Kinnear taking a good catch after a well executed plan came together. With the score on 25-1 off 14 overs the rain came and delayed the game for around and hour and a half.

Upon the resumption Bentley claimed his 2nd wicket that of Gul for 16. This however resulted in a good partnership of 75 from the away side with Captain Sohail the main contributor, helped greatly it must be said by some more dropped catches in the field. This partnership was ended finally when Anderson got Sohail to scoop a drive straight to Gillin for 56 and sparked a collapse from the visitors. With captain Rintoul claiming 2 wickets, Gillin and Khan returning to pick up wickets of their own and a sharp direct hit run out from Sneddon, Livingston collapsed to 150 all out of their 45 overs, a score short of what they would have expected at 120-2 but also more than the Largo boys would feel they should have got due to 8 dropped catches in the innings.

With tea already taken earlier in the rain delay a quick turn around for all had captain Rintoul and A Warrander at the crease to chase down 151 to win. With Rintoul playing his usual aggressive style the Largo score soon got ahead of any run rate required should the rain come and were up to 64 before captain Sohail brought himself in to the attack and immediately got Rintoul to hit one big shot too many and got caught on the boundary for 45. With A Warrander then out soon after for 21, and at 80-2 Livingston felt that through the near constant showers they had a chance of pulling off a victory. Anderson and Kinnear were tasked with making sure this happened and thankfully for the home side they did with both keeping the scoreboard ticking over and although Kinnear was removed for 21 Largo required only 18 to win with plenty of overs to spare. What followed was a mini collapse thanks to some good bowling from Martin who claimed 4 wickets. Largo made it over the line with 3 wickets remaining for a well deserved victory with Anderson falling 1 run short of victory for 35.

A very enjoyable, well worked win for the home side moved the Largo side up to 6th in the league and will give hope of a late season run of good form with a trip to 3rd place SMRH in Edinburgh next week potentially a greater test of the Largo side.