In the second representative fixture of the season North Otago after a solid first innings left Southland off the hook through some dropped catches and lost on the first innings. A feature of the North Otago batting was the consistency displayed, with only three batsmen failing to reach double figures.

Although Southland was weakened to some extent through the Otago v. Wellington knockout match the dominating player of the match was veteran leg spinner and former N.Z. representative Jack Alabaster. In North Otago's first innings Alabaster had a hand in every North Otago dismissal being the wicket taker on eight occasions and taking catches on the remaining two instances.

North Otago struck an early blow when opening bowler Tony Cartwright had opener Neil Thompson caught by Bob Wilson for a duck. Some 37 runs later Kevin O'Connor was caught and bowled by North Otago skipper Chris Taylor for 41. With the departure of Bill Lindsay with the total at 66 things appeared to be swinging North Otago's way.

However, the arrival of Geoff Murdoch and Doug Crombie to crease saw the match swing back in Southland's favour. Murdoch, although not appearing to be a Plunket Shield leg spinner, certainly impressed with his batting. Of the North Otago bowlers Wes Melvin was in particularly fine form and although not having a great deal of success in his early over cleaned out the last five batsmen at a cost of something like 54 runs.

Tony Cartwright was the anchor man of the bowlers with 27 overs, six of which were maidens, taking two for 96.

Short Scorecard(s)

Representative - Hawke Cup - Zone Series

North Otago vs Southland at Miller Street Park, Invercargill
North Otago 221 ( G. Dawe 40, A.G. Cartwright 32, N.W. McKenzie 31, J.F. Wright 29, R.S. Wilson 27, S.J. Blakely 21, I.T. Geddes 18, C. Taylor 12, J.C. Alabaster 8-68 ) & 159-6 ( S.J. Blakely 41, N.W. McKenzie 26, C. Taylor 25no, A.G. Cartwright 23no, J.F. Wright 11, G. Dawe 11, J.C. Alabaster 2-35, Murdock 2-38 )
Southland 320-9dec ( G. Murdoch 92, D. Crombie 63, I.D. Hollands 47, K.J. O'Connor 41, R. Hill 27, W. Lindsay 18, W. Melvin 5-107, A.G. Cartwright 2-96 )
First innings win to Southland
Full scorecard for the match