Levin Old Boys Cricket Club 

(played 13th Feb 2016)

On Saturday our U13 team hosted Palmerston North Intermediate School (PINS). Batting first we got off to a slow start but two of our most experienced players got together and batted well together. Callum Kennet, 42 Not Out, and Alec Strydom, 40 Not Out, got us through to 153/3 in our allotted 25 overs. Hemish Patel also contributed with 22 runs.

After a very good start with the ball our opposition were 10/2 after the first 6 overs, due to some tight bowling from Callum and Alec. The pick of the bowlers were Reuben McCartney with a career best performance of 3wickets for 1 run, just missing his hat trick by 1 ball.  The team fielded well and created 2 run outs as well. PINS all out for 54. LOB won by 99 runs

We had our first female players this past weekend as well and they both picked up their very first wicket each during the game. Welcome to Erin and Gabrielle.

(played 13th Feb 2016)

LOB went in with a weaker than usual team this week, but still a strong team on paper.  Keegan won the toss and elected to bat first on a wicket the looked like a road with plenty of runs.  Unfortunately, wickets fell at regular intervals as Kapiti took control with good line and length bowling. Jacob O'Brien was the pick of the batsmen scoring a patient 39 and holding us out from an overly embarrassing score. Rebels all out for 145.

Jacob 39

Keegan 21

Josh Sanson 11

Everyone else - single digits.

Lacking for bowling too, Jacob took the new ball duties and bowled a decent spell of 7 overs, creating plenty of chances: but like a retarded cat we just couldn't pounce. Young 13 year old Thomas Kirk came on first change in the 3rd over and took his first wicket for the club.  He showed great potential and the club look forward to seeming him continue to develop and rise through the ranks of senior cricket. The Rebels were looking down and out until KOB captain Matty Pattinson was dismissed.  The Rebels fought back within striking distance as KOB needed 4 runs to win with 4 wickets remaining.  Jacob O'Brien made sure Kapiti had to sweat to get it, taking 2 wickets in two balls with little batting to come. However, the cool headed Rhino kept his head with real veterans knock to safely see Kapiti through to a win with 2 wickets spare.

Jacob 3-36 off 9

Ben 2-18 off 4

Tyler 1-31 off 4

Scott 1-19 off 4

Thomas 1-24 off 4

Next weekend we will need to up our game big time. Everybody has a job to do and need to string it all together like we have been doing all year. Batting and fielding (catching) was our let down this week and unfortunately we paid the price.  20 more runs or a couple of extra catches taken and we probably could have taken the game.

(played 6th Feb 2016)

The Rebels wanted to have a bat first today and put on a solid total, but of course lost the toss and had to bowl.

With a handful of regular Rebels players unavailable we had a few players fill in, so thanks to Tyler Hodge, Richard Brown, and Fraser Bartholomew for helping out. The Rebels had another good start as Jason Bary and Fraser Bartholomew started strong with the ball and applied early pressure, each picking up one of the openers within their first few overs. After the opening spells Daniel Parker, recently returned from his holiday, rolled the arm over and after a rusty start he managed to find a decent line and pick up a wicket.  From the other end Jacob O'Brien came in to bowl on his 100th Senior B grade game.  The 'roa batsmen were falling in numbers to Jakey, and in his 6th over he had his 5 wicket bag. Congrats to Jacob, well bowled lad! Tyler Hodge came in for a few late overs to finish things off with 2 wickets.  Weraroa chose to bat first and put on 115 off 31 overs.

Richard Brown 0 for 23 off 3 overs

Daniel Parker 1 for 23 off 5 overs

Jacob O'Brien 5 for 22 off 9 overs

Jason Bary 1 for 20 off 5 overs

Fraser Bartholomew 1 for 18 off 6 overs

Tyler Hodge 2 for 7 off 3 overs

Keegan Mac 0 for 1 off 2 overs

After a quick lunch we got into it with Isaac Benefield and Jacob O'Brien opening the batting, a nice quick outfield suiting our batsmen. Both batsmen had quality shots played in their first few overs, taking advantage of some poor bowling with 19 runs coming off the second over.  Isaac was soon caught in the outfield, but that didnt slow down the run rate. Keegan Maclachlan and Jacob O'Brien put on a quick 70 runs with a flurry of boundaries until Jacob O'Brien was caught off a juggled catch by the 'roa captain on 49. Kobe Monk and Keegan kept their heads to finish off the win by 8 wickets.

Isaac Benefield 12

Jacob O'Brien 49

Keegan Mac 49 Not Out

Kobe Monk 3 Not Out

Another dominating game as we continue to strive towards the finals. Congrats lads, not a full strength team but no doubt still a full strength performance.

(played 30th Jan 2016)

This is the match report.  When a game is that short it doesn't require a full match report.

Keegan Maclachlan won the toss and put PCC into bat.  It proved to be the right decision with PCC rolled 81 all out.  Some bad batting to some good bowling. Congratulations to Ben Watson for his second 5 wicket bag of the season. Everyone else had some good overs also.  PCC 81 for 10 off 27.2 overs.

Brent Tucker 2-18 off 6.2

Jason Bary 1-19 off 6

Ben Watson 5-14 off 7

Scott Rogers 1-15 off 5

Keegan Mac 0-8 off 2

Skipped the lunch break.  Isaac thought it was still T20 games and was smoking them around the park.  The Rebels easily crusing past PCC's total, scoring 84 for 3 off 9.2 overs.

Raniera Monk 2 LBW

Isaac Benefield 47 Bowled

Keegan Mac 20* Not Out

Bailey Te Tomo 6 Bowled

Kobe Monk 0* Not Out.. Solid

Another game another win, too good boys. Cheers Cody Gates for filling in, solid fielding effort

So the Rebels had an away game down in Kapiti to hold on to the top of the table spot.  We were struggling for numbers up until Friday night but managed to scrape together a team. The Rebels won the toss and elected to bowl on a green deck. Brent Tucker opened the bowling and did what he does best, find the right lines and string together a lot of dots. Lance Van de Vyver came on at the other end and it seemed as if he had never left: hooping in swingers causing all sorts of problems for Kapiti. It was a hot muggy day and everybody was drained and tired in the field, and it showed.  Dropped catches and sloppy fielding, so Lance decided to bowl the ball at the wickets instead.  Turns out that it works too as he picked up 4 wickets. Through the middle we lost our way a little bit, with some (player) umpires calls going against us.  Fifties to David Schlup and one other Kapiti batsman helped them through to 210 off their 45 overs.

Brent Tucker 2-29 off 8

Lance Van de Vyver 4-33 off 9

Kirk Te Awhe 1-53 off 7

Jason Bary 0-33 off 4

Keegan Mac 0-24 off 7

Ben Jared Watson 0-9 off 3

Carlin Pohatu McGill 1-17 off 5

To the batting Carlin McGill and Lance Van de Vyver took the the crease for what we hoped to be a reunion partnership of 200 odd, not be as Carlin was dismissed in the 4th over, but not without putting a dent in the bowlers figures.  Carlin and Lance were going at 8 an over against the new ball rolling, with Keegan Maclachlan and Lance continuing the furious pace until Lance was out LBW in the 9th.  Some great shots in his innings of 28. Still got it, all class. Raniera Monk came to the crease and held his end nicely to see the Rebels on track to cruise home. But it changed quite quickly, 5 wickets lost in the middle order for 26 runs and all of a sudden Kapiti had their tails up.  Brent Tucker came to the crease and batted like a trooper. Facing some good bowling and the ball moving around we knew that we couldn't afford to get out at such a vulnerable time. With a bit of luck on my [Keegan] part (got bowled but bails didn't come off) and a good wise head down the other end, the Rebels grinded it out to win by 3 wickets. It wasn't pretty, but it was a good result none the less.

Carlin Pohatu McGill 15

Lance Van de Vyver 28

Keegan Mac 82*

Raniera Monk 14

Kobe Monk 6

Josh Sanson Quack

Sean Walker-Berry 1

Jason Bary 7

Brent Tucker 12*

So much easier to report when i have the scorebook on me.  Anyway, while I feel as though this was our worst fielding performance, we still gutted out a win. Our middle order just need to focus more and play shots depending on our situation. Good win, let's do it all again next week!

(played 9th Jan 2016)

What a day it was yesterday!  Knowing that we needed to win both games to make the final was a demanding task and that we had to beat the unbeaten Kapiti side in our first game to have a decent chance.

The plan had been to turn up early, ease into the game and get into our work..... Nah, running around like mad men, 4 of us trying to pull on our strip as we turn up late going out to field, Kapiti looking like a well drilled team that been doing warm-ups for a solid 3 hours or something like that. Kapiti won the toss and chose to bat first on a deck that didn't look like favouring either the bat or ball but had a slow start. Brent Tucker had a fantastic opening spell, with his first 2 overs going for 1 run and 2 wickets.  Tux successfully frustrating the batsmen with 5 good dot balls and making them play a rash shot for a wicket on the last ball. So by putting a lot of early pressure on Kapiti, they had to try rebuild, and that they did... sort of. Pattinson scored a sketchy 50 with a number of aerial shots fortunate to fall just in front or just over a fielders head. The bowlers were hitting good lines and lengths but Kapiti were putting that one ball an over away on the fast outfield. The Rebels welcomed back Kyron Woodley to the team, who has came back from Aussie and hasn't played cricket since he played for LOB about 7-8 years ago.  He quickly found his rhythm and created a lot of wicket opportunities, also his fielding was energetic and maintained a good standard for the day.  Congrats bro, good to have you part of the team and back in the colours. Carlin McGill bowled the last over and nabbed 2 wickets with Jason Bary casually taking both catches out in the deep.  Carlin was on a hatrick ball but he darted one in only to be edged away for 3 runs.  Kapiti made 127 off 20 overs.

As the team left the field Kapiti were talking up their batting effort with the claim that it was "a hard wicket to bat on".  It turns out they may have overstated their case, after Carlin McGill and Isaac Benefield put on an opening partnership of 110 in less than 10 overs.  Carlin batted out the innings to be 73no and Isaac made 43-46 ish (sorry i forgot). A slow first 2 overs as the bowling was decent line and length, but it was all down hill for Kapiti after that.  Class batting with some beautiful shots from both batsman.  LOB won by 9 wickets with 7overs remaining.

For the second game we came up against PCC who had no wins in the T20 comp this year and we were hoping to keep it that way.

The Rebels were put into bat and for the first time in 4 games our opening partnership didn't reach 50, with Isaac Benefield smacking one out to the man on the rope (though the bowler was saved some embarassement with some helpful assistance from the wind).  Anyway, i think we just wanted everyone else to have a bat for a change. Keegan Maclachlan came out and batted with Carlin McGill for a little while, with Carlin making a quickfire 20 odd before getting out to a good ball from Dan Maclean. This left the Rebels in a tricky situation for the first time in a while. Kobe Monk came out at number 4 and with Keegan attempted to rebuild the innings so our lower order could come out with a license to play. After a few slow overs the bad balls started to get put away and runs started to flow from both ends. Keegan was eventually dismissed LBW on 35, which brought Jacob O'Brien out to the crease to join Kobe. Jacob looked beaten after the first 5 balls he had faced, so changed mentality to be more aggressive.  It seemed to work, as he pumped the ol'mate Pashby over the Kena Kena fence twice in one over, a few classy shots later Jacobs innings came to and end on 30 odd. Kobe had stuck around to accumulate a good stable inning and was looking confident in rotating the strike and putting away the bad balls, eventually making his half centur. I think it may be his first 50 for B Grade, but is definitely his first for Rebels, so congrats bro and hopefully many more to come. Rebels 170 for 6 after 20 overs.

To the ball, Brent Tucker started off with a bang with PCC's opener dragging one back onto the stumps first ball.  Pashby and Dan Maclean looked ok and were tracking along nicely until they got to about 70 runs after 8 overs. With the game balanced for either team to take control the Rebels went flat in the field for a period. However, a great spell by Jacob O'Brien pulled it right back into the Rebels favour, taking wickets and dotting up numerous balls in a row. A quick Rebels styled huddle between wickets reminding each other that we win this and straight to the final, that was enough to amp us up for a big finish and final push for the day.  PCC finished with 140(ish) after their 20 overs.  LOB win by approximately 30 runs and are into the final.

In talking with Carlin on the way home we talked about the standard of play today.  If we keep it up we will win the final. Batters turning strike over and putting away the bad balls. Bowlers hitting the lines and lengths, fielders taking catches and putting good pressure on in the field.

Another top performance guys. Can't wait to take out this final!

(played 19th Dec 2015)

So going into the game we had lacked energy and momentum in the first round of 20/20's. The team received a boost with some of the more experienced campaigners returning for a bash, and it worked well for our first game.

Batting first the Rebels put on an outstanding 210 for 5 off our 20 overs with some fantastic batting off PCC's poor length bowling. Isaac Benefield (26) and Carlin McGill (39) got the team off to a fast start before pram struck with 2 quick wickets. Captain Keegan Maclachlan (42) and the veteran Hein Strydom (77no) steadied the innings and pushed on to a strong finish with wickets in hand.

The team decided decided to push hard for the first 10 overs and if in a comfortable position then we would bowl the lads who didn't bat to give them a chance to prove there skills as potential bowling option for future games. We got off to a good start with PCC fan favourite A. Pine helping us to have them with minimal runs scored after 8 overs at a strike rate of about 3. Brent Tucker had an amazing first spell beating the bat 5 balls out of 6 each over, but it was Ben Watson who eventually tore through the Pram batting line up and narrowly missed completing a hat trick. Ben claimed his first 5-for for the club and finished with the great figures of 5-10 off 4 overs.  in the end PCC fell short by 70-80 runs.

The second game of the day was vital as Weraroa had lost their first match of the day and by winning this game the team would be in the contention for a spot in the final.

Keegan won the toss and put Roa into the field and once again Carlin (66) got us off to a flying start of 10 an over for the first 6 overs. Raniera Monk came in and played some good shots and gained some confidence on the way. A couple of quick wickets had us looking at a 120-130 score until Jacob O'Brien (42) pushed things along in the final over to get us to a respectable total of just over 180. It was always going to be tough ask for Weraroa to chase down and after a couple of quick early wickets it looked to be heading towards an easy LOB victory.  However, it was game on again when BC and Hayden Heald targeted the short boundary (with some streaky luck on their part) to get them back on target with some quick runs. Curtis Maclachlan came on to bowl what turned out to be the spell that changed the direction on the game, sparked by what can only be described as a catch you will only see a couple of times ever. Fielding in the deep, an increasingly trim looking Carlin McGill covered a lot of ground near the boundary to dive full stretch on the run and get two hands to the ball and claim a fantastic catch. A massive break through at a crucial time. From then onwards the team chipped away at the wickets and slowed the runs down.  Eventually 'roa were all out for approximately 120. All the lads showed what this Rebels attitude and fight should be like and the team had a good balance of youth and experience. I [Keegan Maclachlan] would go as far as saying that the game against 'roa was my most enjoyable game of cricket. I can't wait to come back firing up after Christmas and take it to the other teams. Until then, rest up and enjoy your Christmas break everyone.

Saturday saw the A's up against Weraroa in an unofficial semi-final match . The winner to face Kapiti that same afternoon for the T20 Cup. LOB won the toss and batted. The first few overs were not how we had planed to start the innings losing Dion and Tubbs for 0 in the 2nd over. Jamie (16) and Nick Putt consolidated after the bad start. Putty was joined by Bailey after Jamie and Jarrod (8) fell and they innings really turned around, quickly. Bailey couldn't seem to mistime a ball as he raced to 50 off 27 balls bringing up his 50 with a big 6 over cover! Bailey was then runout from a 'Good' piece of fielding for 52. Putty continued hitting hard and running well with the remaining batmen as he got to 48 of 38 before being bowled. 174/9 the final score.

DP got the crucial early wicket of Goody to put added pressure on the Weraroa top order. Tight bowling went unrewarded as 'roa were 40/1 off 8 overs. Stacey (1 for 24) and Liam (1 for 19) then bowled good spells through the middle slowing the run rate and creating more chances as the both picked up timely wickets. Some good fielding saw 2 more wickets fall and restricted Weraroa to 144/5 off their 20 overs.

Final time!

Another toss won and batting first again. Enter Jamie Pinfold. 4,6,6,0,4,0. Not a bad first over to set the mood in a final. He didn't stop! The score at 54 when Dion (17) fell after 3.1 overs. Jamie continued to middle everything, smashing his way to 59 of 33 including a massive 6 which ended up on the train tracks. 101/2 off 9 overs. Jarrod (15) and Tubbs (14) kept runs ticking over until the Kapiti captain removed them. Nick Putt carried on his good form, finding the boundary straight and increasing the run rate. Putt was joined by Nick O'Brien and together they got LOB through to a mammoth 205/5. Putty finishing on 61 off 33 in a breezy, somewhat effortless innings and Nick O'Brien with a classy 22 off 16.

A few early boundaries saw KOB well in the game to start with. Stacey broke the partnership with another classic caught and bowled. Good fielding and more tight bowling through the middle overs from Stace (1 for 27), Fraser (0 for 21) and Dion (3 for 14) put the game beyond doubt. Nick O'Brien also with a cheeky 2 for 21 finishing the innings. KOB 135/7.

LOB T20 Champs 2015.  Back to back to back to back!! Another great weekend for the Mighty LOB and the perfect way to mark captain Dion Sanson's 100th Senior A game for the club.  Congratulations to all the lads, and to Dion on his personal milestone.  Hopefully the next 100 will be filled with as much success as the first.

LOB played against a very strong Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School this weekend and were well beaten. Batting first PNINS achieved 110 runs for 7 wickets down, with the best bowlers being Stasson Bennett with 2 - 15 off 5 overs and Alec Strydom with 1 – 12 off 4 overs.

Batting second the team never really looked like threatening the score. Some poor shot selection and some great bowling eventually saw LOB all out for 57. The top scorer for LOB was Callum Kennett with 16 runs. This week the team will be talking about shot selection and practicing their defensive shots.

The college team had a rough start to the season this year by narrowly losing the few first few games but came into this game knowing that they had the potential to knock over any team on their day. The team headed down to Kena Kena park to play against the table topping Paraparaumu.

Taking off the covers to discover that the pitch looked like a muddy backyard the teams ended up going to Te Atiawa to play on a artificial. Winning the toss LOB choose to bat first and looked to put on a good score before the rain came along. The team didn't get off to the best starts, but things started to look better when Nick Putt and Kobe Monk stabilized the innings before Kobe was dismissed LBW after a misunderstanding of the LBW rule. Nick carried on punching gaps and clean hitting to the boundary rope and made his way into the 90's before Paraparaumu's captain bought himself on again to try 'knock' over our last two batsmen before Nick could reach triple figures. Ben Watson had other plans and sent a bouncer aimed at his head over the mid wicket boundary for a massive six. Nick ended up on 106, a brilliant knock which gave LOB a defendable total of 197.

Austin Cooper and Caleb O'Connel opened the bowling and found some good lines at kept hitting the pads in good positions numerus times but with little luck from the umpires and PCC found themselves in a good position of about 60 runs for the loss of no wicket. The inclusion of Nick Putt this week bought a different spark to the fielding and then things started to turn. A few good catches and a good swinging ball saw the boys take a surge of wickets and take the game down to the wire. Caleb O'Connel ended up taking the last wicket with PCC falling about 10 runs short. Nick Putt ended up with a cheeky 3 wickets as well as Curtis Maclachlan getting 3/13 of his 5 or so overs. A good win the college boys which has restored some much needed faith in our abililties as we hope to tackle a few more wins before the Christmas break.