Saturday 7th of August the 2’s traveled to Inverleith to face Stewarts Melville 3’s. The game was however a big doubt due to the heavy rain that had been falling on the Friday before, however things dried up just in time for Andrew Graham to lose another toss and see Linlithgow put into bat first.
Jamie Szkudlarek was the first wicket to fall when he was bowled for 6 which saw Callum Herd join gobby wicket-keeper batsman Connor Clark at the crease, together the pair started to dismantle a young inexperienced Stew Mel bowling attack and with a partnership close to 90 Callum Herd was caught trying to launch one into orbit. This brought big hitter Safeer Ahammed to the middle who made a good start however saw himself stranded short running a quick single that probably wasn’t there. Said Mohammed was the next to join Connor out in the middle and together they put on a few more runs until Connor on 87 tried to hit a low full toss for 6 and was caught on the square leg boundary. Sajid then attempted to do the same however top edged it and was also caught for 13. Captain Andrew Graham and Rob Potter now had a rebuilding job to do to ensure Linlithgow had plenty runs on the board. The skipper set about the hosts bowling scoring freely and finding gaps in the field. This was until Rob was on the receiving end of an absolute jaffa that nipped back and took the top of his off stump and shortly after Zac Davies was stumped for 4. Veteran Alan Williamson was the next batsman in who started well but was run out by skipper Andrew who left him with no chance. Bruce Kilpatrick (still rather suffering from the night before) came to the crease next to watch Andrew Graham hit his first 50 for Linlithgow as the score neared 250.
Andrew eventually finished 65* and the score 245-8 off the 40 overs.
Bruce Kilpatrick and Gary Kellet opened the bowling for Linlithgow and it wasn’t long before Gary had the first breakthrough bowling the opening batsman. It wasn’t plain sailing for the visitors as some big hitting helps Stew Mel get a foothold in the game. Alan Williamson picked up his first and only wicket of the game with a rank full toss that the batsman will still be cursing about. Safeer Ahammed bowled his 8 over very tightly and the introduction of Andrew Graham from the other end saw Linlithgow edge further into control of the game. Graham picked up 3 wickets for 19 runs in his 5 overs topping off a strong performance from the skipper. From then on wickets started to tumble with Gary picking up a second for the afternoon, Callum and Zac taking 1 each and 2 run outs saw the hosts bowled out for 166, 79 runs short.
A comfortable victory in the end sets Linlithgow the chance to win the league next weekend at home to Drummond Trinity 3’s, a win or a tie being enough to see Linlithgow crowned champions with 2 more games still to play.