ROUND 4 of 10
NORTHERN DISTRICTS lost to WELLINGTON FIREBIRDS by 49 runs
30 October 2024
Seddon Park, Hamilton
Points: Northern Districts 0, Wellington Firebirds 4
All images: PHOTOSPORT
SELECTED MILESTONES
- Muhammad Abbas: Career best List A score
- Peter Younghusband: Maiden List A five-wicket bag
- Highest 8th wicket partnership for Northern Districts v Wellington Firebirds (82; previous record 62)
Five wicket haul for PY! 🖐️
— Cricket Wellington (@cricketwgtninc) October 30, 2024
Pete Younghusband spun his way to his first List A 5-wicket bag this afternoon in Hamilton, leading the bowling attack in a winning effort!
Great spell, Youngy 🤝#WEAREWELLINGTON
📸@photosportnz pic.twitter.com/QtqfMMYHO1
In the closest result of the round, Muhammad Abbas, Peter Younghusband and Nathan Smith showed the way as Wellington took a useful victory off Northern in a Hamilton mid-table showdown.
Peter Younghusband's day | PHOTOSPORT
In his 59th one-day appearance for his beloved Firebirds, leg-spinner Younghusband finally got a popular first five-wicket bag in the format to help his side clinch the win in the 38th over.
The match began with another veteran, ND's Jeet Raval, winning the toss and sending in the visitors in the mid-table tussle.
Mo Abbas | PHOTOSPORT
Young Mo Abbas top-scored for the Firebirds with a career-best 78, while senior pro pacemen Brett Hampton and Neil Wagner both returned identical figures of 3/49 for ND as they did the damage through the top and middle order.
The Firebirds set Northern a chase of 249, and it might have been anyone's game but for Younghusband going on a rampage.
Nathan Smith | PHOTOSPORT
The good work at the top set him up, with Nathan Smith and Adam Milne forming a tidy opening attack and keeping pressure on throughout the first 10 overs, by which time ND was under some scoreboard pressure at 33/2, with Smith having claimed the wickets of power hitters Katene Clarke and Tim Seifert.
He finished with 2/21 off eight economical overs, Milne with 1/28 off his eight, but it was Younghusband through the back end of the innings that snuffed out ND's opportunities.
PHOTOSPORT
He struck twice, almost immediately, when he came on in the 25th over, with the wickets of Robbie O'Donnell and Scott Kuggeleijn. Milne had only just sent Raval on his way at the end of the previous over, and now the hosts had slid from 108/4 to 108/7.
Younghusband took another brace in the 36th over, when he ended a quick and defiant, six-studded, 82-run eighth wicket stand between the home allrounders, dangerous Hampton (53 off just 36 rocks) and Kristian Clarke (37 off 36).
Hammer time | PHOTOSPORT
It was a record between the teams for the eighth partnership.
Once Clarke was out of the way, it took Younghusband just a few more deliveries to wrap up the win - and his bag - in the 38th over, ND all out for 199.
Handy points | PHOTOSPORT
Sunday's fifth round represents the halfway mark of the regular season (pre-Finals) and is the last one-dayer of the calendar year, after which teams will switch to Plunket Shield and Dream11 Super Smash modes before returning to the back half of The Ford Trophy in February 2025.
New leaders the Auckland Aces will be driving over to Hamilton to play Northern Districts; the Central Stags visit Canterbury in Rangiora and the Otago Volts will remain at home to host the Wellington Firebirds - all scheduled for 10.30am with livescores and free livestreams on NZC platforms.
