By Rory Dow

After the defeat to Edinburgh last week, Clackmannan County 2’s headed to Largo in the kingdom of Fife in hope of victory.  Captain Nick had a somewhat depleted side as several of his regular players were unavailable for the game and a couple had been called up to bolster the 1st team.  With the small boundary at East Drive, both captains were eager to win the toss, bat and put runs on the board.  The toss was won by Largo captain Galloway who duly elected to bat. 

            To restrict the runs, the bowling and fielding from Clackmannan would have to be tight, which was Captain Nick’s word for the day.  Will Kay and Ally Band provided just what the captain had ordered and bowled a tight line, putting pressure on the Largo openers.  This good bowling was rewarded when Band claimed the wicket of Barnes in his fourth over, bowling the opener for 11.  This brought the Largo captain Galloway to the crease.  At the end of 12 overs, Will Kay and Ally Band were removed having restricted the Largo batsmen to a very respectable 28 runs and Muktar Ahmed and Matty Booth took over.  This change was rewarded in Booth’s first over when he bowled the remaining opener Macfarlane for 11.  Stevie Stewart was next in for Largo but didn’t last long as he was bowled for a duck by Booth again, who was looking good with figures of 2 for 3 from his 3 overs.  Disaster struck in Booth’s fourth over, when Galloway struck a straight drive straight back at the bowler and hit him square on the knee, which knocked him of his stride a little.  Captain Nick then brought himself on to bowl.  With the scoreboard ticking over and a massive partnership developing, Galloway brought up his century having, whilst his partner Brown was holding up and end and rotating the strike well.  In his 8th over, Bryant-Nichols removed Brown for 30 after a partnership of over 100 for the 4th wicket.  Galloway tried his best to keep the strike but could not find someone to partner him as wickets were falling around him when Captain Nick brought Will Kay and Ally Band back on to bowl. With both bowlers removing a Largo batsmen in their first overs, Band removing Mowatt for 1 and Kay removing Huston for 2.  Band’s final over was eventful as Clackmannan gained 3 wickets in 3 balls.  Firstly, a very tired Galloway was run out by Dow for 127.  The next ball saw Dow run out Brown for 2 before Ally Band rounded it up bowling Egunton for a golden duck.  Bentley finished on 6 not out and Warrender on 1 as Largo posted 221 in total, with extras being their joint 2nd top scorer adding up to 30.

            The Clackmannan batsmen would need to buckle down and keep the head in order to chase this total.  Unfortunately, Clackmannan did not.  Ken Hutchison and Scott Malcolmson were the men charged with getting Clackmannan off to a good start, but things looked bleak when Malcolmson was caught in the 2nd over with the score still on 0 at gully off the bowling of Brown.  At the other end, Bentley was picking up wickets and keeping the runs to a minimum, in the 5th over Kash Ali was well caught by the Largo wicket keeper for 1.  Bentley struck again in his 5th over, bowling Ally Band for 8.  Captain Nick was next in but he could not steady his sinking ship as he was bowled in Bentley’s next over for 0.  Matty Booth was next in, with Ally Band as a runner.  The first ball he faced created confusion as Matty hit the ball to cover and ran, forgetting he had a runner.  Matty and Ally looked to make a dynamic duo after that, and Hutchison and Booth helped tick the score board over slightly before Hutchison was caught by the keeper off Bentley for 8, giving him his 4th wicket of the innings.  Booth was caught shortly after trying to increase the scoring rate getting caught off Warrender for 10 in his 3rd over.  Bentley had one over left in his spell and needed one wicket, which was given to him when umpire Malcolmson gave Ahmed out lbw.  Dow and Carmen looked good together adding a few quick runs before Carmen was run out for 11 as a result of some miscommunication.  Dow made up for his part in the run out however hitting fourth change bowler Mowatt for two consecutive fours.  Young Alan Deacon was occupying the other end and after playing a couple of good defensive shots unfortunately edged one through to the wicket keeper, giving Warrender his 2nd wicket.  Clackmannan hopes were soon ended when Will Kay was bowled by Mowatt for 0, leaving Dow not out on 14.

            Some poor fielding in the middle overs and some disappointing batting meant Clackmannan were well and truly beaten by a good Largo side.