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Largo 1st XI avoid relegation despite narrow final day loss vs Rossie Priory
50 from Hughes Gillin and 3 wickets from Brown and Rowley the top performers on the day in a roller-coaster match at East Drive.
Largo’s 1st XI finished their league season on Saturday with a vital clash against Rossie Priory with knowledge that a win and reducing their opposition to 8 bonus points would secure a top 8 finish and avoidance of the standard relegation places in Division 1, as would outscoring Falkland 2s in their game vs Kinloch. Hughes Gillin was back for the final game of the season as captain and after losing the toss his side were asked to bat first.
Largo opened with their usual pair of Cusick and Das who got their side off to a solid start before on 25 Cusick was adjudged LBW for 5 with MacKintosh the bowler, followed soon after by the same bowler dismissing Coates for just 2, Largo 37/2. Gillin would join Das and show that the break hadn’t done the captain’s batting form any harm as the pair moved Largo passed 100 with Hughes moving to a well-deserved 50 after drinks with his side on top and looking to push on in the final 15 overs.
However, with the knowledge that they needed to keep scoring runs without losing wickets as this would boost the bonus point total for the Rossie side the innings lost momentum with the wickets of both set batters to the bowling of Zaid, Gillin top scoring on 56 as he was caught by Stephenson before Das was given LBW for 46. The wicket of Das sparked a collapse that Largo could ill afford of 6 wickets for just 15 runs and meant the final pair came in needing to scrape as many runs as possible. The partnership of Sneddon and Michie managed to do just that adding 15 runs and importantly depriving the visitors of the final wicket which would have given them 2 further points, Largo finishing on 180/9.
In reply Largo opened with A.Brown and Cusick and they got Largo off to the perfect start with each taking a wicket of Stephens (2) and McConnachie (6) respectively to reduce the visitors to 14/2. Looking to keep the pressure on Gillin turned to Rowley and as he has done many times this year with the ball he was successful taking 3 further wickets cheaply to leave Largo well on top in the game at 48/5.
The visitors though were not done yet as MacKintosh and Paul put on an impressive partnership for the 6th wicket to move the score past 100 and towards the hosts first total of 150 meaning they would avoid relegation themselves no matter the results. Gillin rung the changes in the bowling and despite best efforts they could not break the partnership until it had passed 100 and the team score past 150 when Brown had Paul caught behind by Coates for 59.
With the match result now to decide Largo manged to take 3 further wickets thanks to another for Brown, a wicket for Michie and a run out meaning the visitors needed 3 to win with their last pair at the crease. It was to be the Rossie side though who would finish the season victories as they made it to their 181 target and left the home side with an anxious wait on results elsewhere to see if their 10 bonus points from the game would be enough.
Due to technology issues with the online scoring site this wait went on in to the evening to find out the Falkland result and much to everyone at the clubs delight the result was that the side had avoided a bottom 2 finish by 1 single point and avoided relegation, bar any league reconstruction, for the 2025 season.
In a rollercoaster of a match Largo will be disappointed to not get over the line in the game after being favourites for much of the match for the win, but will take heart from performances in this match and from individuals throughout the season that they will hope to build on next year.