Mockford spins Southland to victory

Talented leg-spinner’s man of the match performance pushes Southland to a 50-run first-innings victory over North Otago, writes Logan Savory.

Jack Mockford spun Southland to a first-innings Hawke Cup cricket victory in the showdown with North Otago in Oamaru yesterday.

The talented leg-spinner took seven wickets to skittle North Otago for 239 in the southern zone two-day Hawke Cup game.

Mockford’s first involvement in the match was when he was elevated to open the batting after Southland lost the toss on Saturday and were sent into bat.

Mockford chipped in with 19 from 63 balls but it was with the ball yesterday where he turned the game on its head.

North Otago were in a relatively strong position at 91 for two chasing Southland’s firstinnings total of 289 before Mockford delivered a man-of-thematch performance, taking seven for 67 from 26.1 overs to bowl North Otago out for 239.

The fixture in Oamaru somewhat marked a new era for Southland cricket with Jarred McKenzie taking over as captain of the team.

He has replaced Shaun Fitzgibbon who retired from representative cricket after Southland’s previous outing, against South Canterbury.

Despite the loss of his experience and batting prowess, the return of Ryan Duffy helped Southland fill the through the return of Ryan Duffy.

The former Otago Volt had missed Southland’s first two Hawke Cup fixtures as he took on the Coast to Coast multi-sport race last week, but made himself available to line up against North Otago a week later.

Duffy demonstrated that he hadn’t lost his touch as he topscored with 73 in an important knock in Southland’s total of 289.

Southland were in a vulnerable position at 118 for five when Duffy strode to the crease but he and Hamish Skelt’s 127-run sixth-wicket stand proved vital.

Skelt’s gritty approach with the bat has been a key factor in Southland’s season to date, and it included facing 211 balls on Saturday in his knock of 62.

Meanwhile, Kieran Lloyd looks at home with both bat and ball at Hawke Cup level with his unbeaten 32 and two wickets also important in Southland’s victory over North Otago at the weekend.

While Fitzgibbon wasn’t in Oamaru with Southland he still spent his Saturday racking up plenty of runs.

Fitzgibbon made it back-toback centuries for his Marist club in Southland’s senior club competition. He scored 107 to help Marist through to 226 for nine batting first in their game against Southland Boys’ High.

In reply many of the Southland Boys’ batsmen got starts but none was up to match Fitzgibbon’s deeds and push their team through to victory.

Jed Mockford top-scored with 35, while Alex Mathieson, batting at 10, chimed in with an unbeaten 28 to go with the four wickets he took earlier in the day.

SBHS finished 206 for nine, 24 short of victory.

The Metro Tigers went ever so close to knocking over top-ofthe-table Waikoikoi on Saturday.

The Tigers restricted the inform Waikoikoi batting unit to just 126 batting first and were in the box seat at 116 for seven needing just 11 runs for victory. However they lost three wickets for just five runs to lose by five.

Finn Hurley and Nic Reed were the chief destroyers for Waikoikoi, taking three wickets each.

Callum Nimmo and Blake Tempero teamed up to lift Invercargill-Old Boys to victory over Appleby in the third ILT Premier League fixture on Saturday.

Tempero took six wickets to restrict Appleby to 122 batting first. Then, with Invercargill-Old Boys at 51- for six, Nimmo produced an all-important unbeaten 40 to get his team home with two wickets and 11 overs to spare.