Ashburton continue undefeated season, holding on against home side Mulgrave in Carey - Flintoff Cup

Mark Quamil gave nothing away and was rewarded with a nice bowled. Photo: © Michael Mirabella 2023

Round 5 of the Wright Shield saw the annual Flintoff - Carey Cup (Named after club legends, Cam Carey and David Flintoff) between Mulgrave and Ashburton, this time hosted at Mulgrave Reserve.

Mulgrave won the toss and elected to bat first at home. The story of this innings was a couple of starts and small partnerships that were completely shut down by Ashburton before they could get away. Opening the batting, Jackson Taylor (26) and number 3 Jordan Stephens (25) opted to bat patiently after the first wicket fell, but as soon as they looked to tick over the scoring at their own opportunities, both were dismissed by Udara Hettige (4/16 off 6.2), and both were forced into increasing their scoring load as Mark Quamil (2/10) had shutdown one end, picking up two crucial middle order wickets including captain Callum Hope for just 3 runs.
Shehan Vitharana after a shaky start, took a liking to the spin and some incredible shots (Including a big six into the surrounding trees) but was eventually also done by Hettige for 28 runs. Paul Ewart (2/28) and captain Christopher Barr (2/19) wiped up the rest of the tail in an instant, dismissing Mulgrave for a below par 10/117.

Despite a below par score, Mulgrave were up and about early after Zac Rahman (2/16) was able to dismiss Mark Quamil early, leaving the score 1/1. Then Rahman struck again dismissing Udaya Rodrigo for 2 (Score 2/3) before James Morris (1/19) decided to join in the act and suddenly the home side buzzing with the score reading 3/4.
But opener Jacob Latchford was still at the crease, and was joined by the star with ball in the first innings, Udara Hettige, as the two knuckled down and form a solid 62 run partnership that saw the away side stabilise but the Mulgrave skipper Callum Hope took matters into his own hands and dismissed Hettige for a quick 36, with Latchford soon following, as his patient 27 from 87 balls ended. Hope (3/19) put some panic into Ashburton has he claimed a few members of the lower order up quickly, but  number 6 Oliver Wilhelm played his role perfectly following the big partnership, and secured victory for Ashburton with his 25*. Ashburton won by 2 wickets, with 2 overs to spare.