Largo finally get off the mark. Report by Brent Bentley.

Despite a mixed forecast and a lot of overnight rain, Largo's 1st XI took on 2nd place Kirk Brae at East Drive still looking for their first win of the season in the league. Captain Rintoul won the toss and with conditions as they were, unsurprisingly chose to field.

Opening the bowling against the visitor’s very effective opening pair of Colven and Sangster, A.Brown and Scott started well with Brown especially bowling with great pace down the hill and eventually he was rewarded for his consistency with the opening wicket of Sangster caught behind by Warrander for 11. This brought the current division 2 top runs scorer Ghande to the wicket however it was for a short stay as Bentley, returning to the side after a few weeks of unavailability removed him for only 5, with a ball that bounced sharply off the wicket caught by Barclay in the gully.

A period of tight bowling by Bentley and Hughes Gillin followed Ghande's dismissal and by the time Gillin had claimed hist first wicket and Bentley removed Colvin thanks to a very sharp catch by 1st team debutant Robbie Allen, Kirk Brae were 55-4 with less than half the overs to go and Largo were well on top. Kirk Brae however showed how they have been so successful this year with numbers 5-8 all getting in to double figures with boundaries which seemed so difficult to come by previously suddenly coming with ease despite Rintoul and Barclay both picking up a wicket to peg back the opposition slightly just when they were getting going. Finally Brown and Gillin returned to finish off the innings and did so in style quickly removing the lower order to claim a 3 wicket haul each and leave Largo chasing 157 to win,

Opening the innings with usual openers Rintoul and Warrander, despite the former seemingly having a broken a finger, Largo were looking for a good start to ease any nerves however Warrander was removed early on for 5, nicking behind to the keeper. This brought Gillin to the wicket who immediately looked in great form finding the boundary with regularity with a 6 to the cover boundary a highlight. He lost captain Rintoul to a typically hard hit drive unfortunately hit straight at the fielder for 14, but with A.Brown coming to the wicket the momentum did not change and at the half way mark Largo were 72-2 and looking in a great position for the win.

In keeping however with how the season has gone for the home side this year it wasn’t going to be as simple as they hoped and with Gillin going for a well played 42 and Galloway soon after for 1 Largo needed 72 for victory now 4 wickets down.

However the home side needn’t have worried as what followed was a brilliant partnership between Ian and Aidan Brown who between them showed the form and patience missing from some of the Largo performances this year, with both being clinical in their approach to the opposition bowling with any poor deliveries being punished, meaning the scoring rate never got anywhere near being uncomfortable. Once Brown Snr had taken 12 off an over by Bansode including a 6 in to the Largo pavilion, Largo needed just 20 off the final 5 overs and in the end only needed 3 of them to record Largo 1st's maiden league victory of 2016 and take them off the bottom of the league, Ian finishing on 44 not out and Aidan just behind on 41.

This was without doubt the best performance of the season for the Largo team and proof that with the best side possible on the field their lowly position in the league is surely a false one and hopefully the momentum of this win can be taken forward in the coming weeks, starting however with a tough game away at unbeaten league leaders Edinburgh South next week.