Younghusband's day as Firebirds win thriller

Posted Thursday, 30 October, 2025 in Match Reports

Peter Younghusband keeps turning up exactly when his team most need him.

The evergreen leggie made sure defending Ford Trophy champion Canterbury took their first hit of the season in a hard-fought thriller in the capital against the Firebirds.

Coming off a big first-round win - orchestrated by the new Canterbury skipper himself, Henry Nicholls, Canterbury lost the toss in Wellington and promptly got sent in.

Nicholls was the first casualty at 42/1 after Liam Dudding (above, PHOTOSPORT) trapped him on 11, but Canterbury's top order is generally full of runs and Wellington would need to be in for the long game.

At the other end, Chad Bowes (below, PHOTOSPORT) was doing Chad Bowes things - scoring confidently at a brisk pace, before he fell for a 37-ball 45.

So in the 11th over, Canterbury just started again, this time with Rhys Mariu swinging the willow to the tune of 37 runs. That's the problem with Canterbury: they just keep coming at you.

Matt Boyle was good for a top score of 73, the left-hander who impressed many last season also operating at better than run-a-ball.

The Firebirds were without injured Logan van Beek as well as Adam Milne now in this second round, but their attack was still nothing to sneer at.

Former Canterbury skipper (we're still getting used to it) Cole McConchie reached 33, in his 100th List A match, and by the 40-over mark the visitors had 200 runs in the tank, with a reasonable chance of kicking on.

But after Jesse Tashkoff ran out McConchie, the momentum at the death quickly changed.

The run out was a brutal piece of bad luck for McConchie and co. Matt Rippon had driven Tashkoff straight back towards the stumps, McConchie out of his ground as the bowler managed to get the slightest deflection on it at 218/5, nor 218/6.

Always a sucky way to get out. Cricket. #FordTrophy pic.twitter.com/Sb9OYSzDnw
— #NZIII (@MargotButcher) November 2, 2025

That was the 41st over, and Tim Robinson had only just got rid of dangerous Mitch Hay, Robinson overcome by Gareth Severin's catch on the boundary.

The scoring fell away, the pressure rose and Tashkoff suddenly picked up another two wickets in the 47th and 49th, before pace opener James Hartshorn - making the most of a relatively rare opportunity to help lead the Wellington attack, in the absence of their injured regulars - picked up two in the last to dismiss Canterbury for 258 with one ball remaining.

Always more satisfying.

Hartshorn had finished with 3/57 for his second career-best haul in the space of five days, against both his father's old teams.

The match will be defined by Peter Younghusband's own career best with the bat in the seat-gripping chase, but Tashkoff (2/42) and Hartshorn played a big part as well in pegging Canterbury back with the ball; and none of the Firebirds' six-strong attack had gone wicketless.

Younghusband had kept things tight as he often does, through the middle. But his day was just getting started.

The chase did not start well at all for Wellington who quickly found themselves 96/5 inside the first 20 overs.

Sean Davey had muscled through Tashkoff's defences to shatter his stumps; Callum McLachlan was a bit ambitious attempting to sweep Fraser Sheat (above, PHOTOSPORT) in the fourth over.

Gus McKenzie (below, PHOTOSPORT), who can't seem to stop taking wickets, accounted for Gareth Severin on 5, a handy LBW.

Captain Nick Kelly got himself in a knot against Michael Rae and popped up an easy caught and bowled.

Fortunately for the hosts, Tim Robinson got himself in at first drop and survived most of this to press on for a fifty. But he was gone by the time Kelly imploded, and Wellington's lower order faced a tall task.

They were up to it, snatching the game away from Canterbury in the last 10 overs. Nick Greenwood, down the order instead of opening, could be said to be better than his place in the order suggests, and it came in handy as he rustled up and run-a-ball 42 in an 80-run stand with Younghusband for the seventh wicket.

He fell at 184/7 in the 38th with a nicely timed dive securing a return catch for Michael Rippon. It was a big moment, but Canterbury's celebrations were short-lived.

Younghusband (below, PHOTOSPORT) had a good start of 34 at the time, almost double his average, and Canterbury probably felt it was a matter of time.

But he smacked his career-best 83 by picking off the four balls, then spanking a six off Davey for Wellington to reach 250 in the 48th over.

Now only a further eight runs were required, off 16 balls - but there was a further twist as Younghusband went for it again a couple of balls later and this time watched as Rae took the skier at deep square leg.

Hartshorn joined Michael Snedden in the middle and managed to tick off the remaining handful of runs required in the late afternoon sun, with ones and twos.

The Wellington Firebirds had a tight two-wicket victory with an over to spare, their first victory of the season on the board as The Ford Trophy table tightened up again.