Largo Cricket Club mark 40th anniversary with game against star-studded MCC

Led by ex-Dorset minor counties skipper and Carlton player Pete Deakin, the MCC travel to Fife having assembled a Scottish-based squad featuring former Scotland internationals and age-group representatives including Fraser Watts, Stuart Davidson, Tom Simpson, Will Hardie and Ben Davidson.

Based at Lord’s Cricket Ground in the English capital’s St John’s Wood, the MCC, founded in 1787, still acts as custodian and arbiter of the laws and spirit of the sport, though changes to rules are now decided on by the International Cricket Council.

“To be president of the club at this time is a great honour,” Largo club chief Alastair Duncan said ahead of this weekend’s match, following on from a tie with the Forty Club earlier in the summer and a dinner dance before that.

“We are a grass-roots, community club with a band of volunteers on the committee and volunteer junior coaches who all do their bit to make sure that we get teams out at senior and junior level.

“It can take a lot of work sometimes but it is worth it when you see people enjoying themselves and building up relationships.

“Playing the MCC is amazing. We had to jump through a few hoops to play them and it wasn’t easy but it will be worthwhile.

“What a match for our 40th anniversary.”

Largo started as a fun and social cricket club but in the early 1990s they took the decision to start playing league cricket, so their senior sides signed up with the East of Scotland Cricket Association, switching to the Strathmore and Perthshire Cricket Union’s leagues in 2019.

Current Scotland seamer Safyaan Sharif started his cricketing journey in the Largo Lions junior section at the club – whose colours are red, blue and yellow – as did now Scotland rugby captain Jamie Ritchie, also previously a player for his current sport’s Madras and Howe of Fife clubs in St Andrews and Cupar respectively.

Looking ahead, Largo are hoping to further upgrade East Drive, already a favourite of many cricket enthusiasts across the country, thanks to its scenic surroundings.

Duncan, whose father Andrew Duncan was one of the club’s founding members back in 1983, added: “As a legacy, we are starting to look into the feasibility of a pavilion refurbishment in the coming years. These are exciting times.”

Proceedings for Sunday’s 40th-anniversary match get under way at 11.30am, with a barbecue from 1pm.

Parking for spectators will be at Monturpie Farm, just outside Upper Largo.

For further details, go to https://www.lords.org/mcc/mcc-cricket/mcc-fixtures or https://www.largocc.org.uk/

Sunday’s game is the MCC’s last in Scotland this month following a visit to Selkirk in the Borders on Sunday, August 6, and Grange at Edinburgh’s Portgower Place on Sunday gone.

They’ll be back in Fife on Sunday, September 10, however, for a 50-over game versus St Andrews University.