On a humid day at East Drive, Largo welcomed Meigle 2s with both sides looking to continue their 100% starts to the season so far. Captain Hughes Gillin won the toss and decided to ask the Meigle side to field first on what looked a good batting pitch but with a heavy outfield again that would restrict scoring.
Largo opened with Sneddon and Cusick and from the start the Meigle bowlers Stuart and Scott found a consistent line and length that made scoring very difficult for the home side. With the Largo side barely scoring past 2 an over the breakthrough came in the 10th over when Sneddon left a sharp spinning delivery from Scott and was bowled for 12, followed soon after by Cusick for 4 and then the big wicket of the in form Gillin stumped for 9, all to Scott.

Das and Coates would take the Largo side toward mid innings drinks before Coates was bowled by a sharp skidding delivery from Guest to leave Largo 54/4. The high standard of bowling from the visitors continued after the break meaning with Das and Barclay along with Brown unable to get hold of any of the opposition bowling, Largo only managed to get with in sight of 100 with 5 overs to go. The game would change though with in these final overs with Brown fighting against the humid conditions managing to find the gaps in the field and run well to get a vital 59* with Dorey and Bentley providing able support at the other end. Largo finished on 143/7 off their 45 overs, a score much better than looked possible throughout the innings against a very disciplined and skilled Meigle attack.

Gillin and Michie opened the bowling for Largo in reply and it was Michie who managed to make the early strikes that Largo required first getting Duff LBW for 4 before removing Guest thanks to a superb 1 handed catch by Barclay in the gully for 13. Largo would stay on top as they moved through the next 10 overs as they continued to take wickets at regular intervals to stop the Meigle innings from getting any momentum. Gillin would get Stewart caught in the covers by Merrington before Barclay would take a 2nd diving catch at gully to remove Barron off the bowling of Cusick reducing the visitors to 42/4.

Largo would receive a blow soon after when Brown would add to Largo’s injury list on the day with Sneddon also unable to bowl, but Bentley would take over to good effect taking two further wickets before drinks to put Largo on top at 55/6. Largo knew that in the conditions victory was with in sight if they kept up the standards set so far and with Merrington and Barclay coming in to the attack Largo managed to move to a deserved victory with Barclay taking the final 4 wickets to fall including a sharp stumping by Coates, winning just before the rain set in at East Drive by 56 runs.

In what was a very tight game throughout that could have gone either way, Largo will be delighted to come out on top in this game with the vital contributions coming from many throughout the side further adding to the victory. Largo will hope to continue their winning run next weekend with another home game vs Rossie Priory.

2nd XI

Largo’s 2nd XI travelled to Dundee on Saturday to face Dundee High FP’s 2nds hoping to build on last weeks opening league victory. Largo would field first with Captain David Scott opening the bowling with one of last weeks star bowlers Sandhu. Scott would take an early wicket of Irfan for just 3 and both would keep scoring to a minimum in the early overs. Largo would take a 2nd wicket of Ekanayake soon after through a run out before Braid and Smith steadied the innings taking the score to 50/2 at the midway point of the innings.

After drinks Miles would get the first of his 2 wickets on the day removing Braid bowled for 23 before Ian Brown taking a rare spell with the ball would take 3 quick wickets clean bowled to put Largo in a good position with the home side 93/7. The partnership of Hopkins and Hangetsu though would frustrate the Largo bowlers in the closing overs with a run out off the final ball being the only other wicket to fall and the home side able to move to 152/8 off their 40 overs.

Largo in reply opened with Tooze and Filsell but both could only make slow progress in chasing the runs with eventually Tooze falling for 9 with the score on 12/1. Filsell and Smith would move the score to 25 before Hangestu would tear through the Largo batting line up taking 5 wickets in his spell and helping to reduce the Largo side to 53/8 in the 27th over with no batter yet to make double figures. Brown and Gareth Miles would come together for the 9th wicket and would put together a partnership to help give the Largo side some slim hope of victory despite the rising required run rate.

The pair would would put on an unbeaten partnership of 82 in the remaining overs scoring at a good rate of over 5 an over to give the Largo score a much more respectable look than was looking likely. However they were left with too hard a task to take Largo to victory and with Miles finishing on 45* and Brown 29*, Largo came up 17 runs short at the end of their 40 overs.

The Largo side were indebted on the day to Gareth Miles and Brown whos individual efforts with bat and ball didn’t deserve to be on the losing side, however the Largo side were left to rue the late runs scored by the Dundee side which proved to be the difference in the match. Largo 2s remain on the road again next week, this time travelling the short trip to Falkland to face their 3rd XI.