Te Tomo comes of age to help Levin Old Boys regain Horowhenua-Kāpiti title

Levin Old Boys captain Jacob O'Brien celebrated his 100th match and Bailey Te Tomo his maiden club century with the win against Paraparaumu.

Promising Levin Old Boys batsman Bailey Te Tomo picked the big stage to bring up his maiden senior club cricket century as he helped his side reclaim the Horowhenua-Kāpiti One Day Cricket title.

The swashbuckling 20-year-old scored a stand-out 112 against Paraparaumu at Donnelly Park and in the process buried a nagging hoodoo that was causing him some good-natured stick among his teammates.

On five occasions in his short career Te Tomo had been caught stranded in the 90s - four times he had been out for 96.

"It felt good. All the boys used to give me stick for getting out in the 90s. I guess I did think about it when the score ticked over and I was on 96 again," he said.

Levin Old Boys celebrated their Horowhenua-Kapiti one-day cricket competition win in style.

But any jitters were short-lived and Te Tomo pounced on a short ball that he pulled away for four. He was eventually out on 112, bowled by Tim Lambert, when looking to up the tempo even more.

While Te Tomo had only made his senior debut for LOB three years ago, he had always been a familiar sight around the traps.

As a youngster Te Tomo would watch his father Rick play for LOB, and the pair would often cut two lonely figures in the nets at night or on the weekends, as a love for the game was imparted.

The match was a milestone for LOB captain Jacob O'Brien, too - his 100th game for the club. The coin toss also obliged and O'Brien was able to put faith in his top order to get the job done.

Levin Old Boys bowler Damon Kennett gets no-balled.

The two teams had been the most dominant sides over the past 20 years with seven one-day title apiece, although Paraparaumu were the holders after beating LOB in a tight match last season, and were looking to extend their winning streak to four titles.

LOB didn't start well. In hot sun and on a flat batting wicket, opener Jamie Pinfold was undone after just four Dale McNamara balls, as he looked to be aggressive and nicked one behind to keeper Lorimar.

Pinfold's demise brought Te Tomo to the wicket with Dion Sanson, and together they blazed 205 for the second wicket, until Sanson himself fell agonisingly short of a deserved century when he was caught behind off Sean Windle for 99.

Both Te Tomo and Sanson had scored at an even clip, so when Matthew Good plundered 78 off 49 balls, and the remaining batsmen took the long handle, the resulting 342 total was always going to be a tough score for Paraparaumu to chase down.

But on a batsmen wicket, was 342 going to be enough? Paraparaumu began their chase in style with opener AK Kumar slamming the first two balls to the boundary as he got about his business.

Levin Old Boys set an imposing target.

Kumar was looking in the zone before he was undone by a good Daemon Kennett ball that fell into the hands of Ryan Taylor, and he was out for 54 off just 28 balls.

Kelsey Fahey continued the chase for Paraparaumu and he kept their hopes alive with a brilliant 70 off 61 balls.

But Paraparaumu lost wickets at regular intervals, and while their run rate was good, they failed to form meaningful partnerships and were back in the pavilion for speeches after just 34 overs.

There were some happy Levin Old Boys supporters.

Kennett fought hard against aggressive batting to claim the vital wickets of the two Paraparaumu openers Kumar and Byron Gill, while Sanson capped off a fine match by snaring 3-26 from his 10 overs.

Xitij Sakhalkar proved hard to get away at times for LOB and was rewarded with figures of 2-30 off his seven overs.

Of the Paraparaumu bowlers, Dylan Reder managed to mop up the LOB tail, but he felt the sting of the chase in leaking 93 runs, whereas Windle and Harvey were the most economical and the only bowlers to go at less than a run a ball.

It was a special day for LOB, too, as it marked 20 years since the club beat Paraparaumu, and players from that 1999-2000 side were on the sideline for the match for an organised reunion, reliving stories of yesteryear.

SCOREBOARD:
Levin Old Boys CC
Jamie Pinfold c R D Lorimer b Dale McNamara 1 (4).
Dion Sanson c R D Lorimer b Sean Windle 99 (105).
Bailey Te Tomo b TL Lambert 112 (105).
Matthew Good run out (R D Lorimer) 78 (49). 11 2 159.18
R Taylor b D Reder 3 (4).
Keegan MacLachlan c Dale McNamara b D Reder 6 (5).
Matthew Wilson c N. Harvey b D Reder 4 (6).
Jacob O'Brien run out (Jayden Keats) 12 (14).
Xitij Sakhalkar c K Fahey b D Reder 0 (1).
FC Bartholomew not out 7 (7).
Extras(w 16, b 1, lb 2) 19
Total (9 wickets; 50.0 overs) 341 (6.82 RPO).
Did Not Bat: Callum Kennett, Daemon Kennett.
Fall of Wicket: 3-1 (Jamie Pinfold 1.1 ov), 208-2 (Bailey Te Tomo 33.5 ov), 222-3 (Dion Sanson 36.2 ov), 228-4 (R Taylor 37.3 ov), 244-5 (Keegan MacLachlan 39.2 ov), 250-6 (Matthew Wilson 41.1 ov), 302-7 (Jacob O'Brien 46.5 ov ), 302-8 (Xitij Sakhalkar 47.1 ov), 341-9 (Matthew Good 49.6 ov).

Paraparaumu bowling: Sean Windle 7.0 0 40 1 5.71 40.00 (w2). Dale McNamara 10.0 0 80 1 8.00 80.00 (w7). N. Harvey 8.0 0 40 0 5.00 (w1). Jayden Keats 10.0 0 38 0 3.80. D Reder 10.0 0 93 4 9.30 23.25 (w6). K Fahey 3.0 0 30 0 10.00. TL Lambert 2.0 0 17 1 8.50 17.00.

Paraparaumu.
AK Kumar c Matthew Wilson b Daemon Kennett 54 (28).
Byron Gill c R Taylor b Daemon Kennett 14 (15).
K Fahey c Jamie Pinfold b R Taylor 70 (61).
A Halbert lbw b Dion Sanson 14 (19).
D Reder c Jamie Pinfold b Dion Sanson 2 (12).
TL Lambert c R Taylor b Dion Sanson 6 (13).
RD Lorimer b Xitij Sakhalkar 4 (4).
Sean Windle c Dion Sanson b Xitij Sakhalkar 0 (2).
N. Harvey c Matthew Wilson b R Taylor 20 (38).
Dale McNamara c Keegan MacLachlan b R Taylor 6 (12).
Jayden Keats not out 0 (6).
Extras(w 4, nb 4, b 9) 17
Total (10 wickets; 34.2 overs) 207 (6.03 RPO).
Fall of Wicket: 53-1 (Byron Gill 5.1 ov), 86-2 (AK Kumar 9.3 ov), 128-3 (A Halbert 15.3 ov), 134-4 (D Reder 17.6 ov), 154-5 (TL Lambert 21.4 ov), 163-6 (R D Lorimer 22.3 ov), 163-7 (Sean Windle 22.5 ov), 190-8 (K Fahey 30.1 ov), 200-9 (Dale McNamara 32.2 ov), 207-10 (N. Harvey 34.2 ov)

Levin Old Boys CC bowling:
FC Bartholomew 5.0 0 37 0 7.40 (w1). Daemon Kennett 5.0 0 47 2 9.40 23.50 (w2, nb 2). Jacob O'Brien 3.0 1 17 0 5.67 (w1). Dion Sanson 10.0 3 26 3 2.60 8.67. Keegan MacLachlan 1.0 0 19 0 19.00 (nb1). Xitij Sakhalkar 7.0 0 30 2 4.29 15.00 (nb1). R Taylor 3.2 0 22 3 6.60 7.33.