Northland won two out their three matches in the Northern Districts association competition held at Owen Delany Park in Taupo earlier this week but have unveiled what could be a major weapon for the rest of their season in Dewayne Bowden.
The team started bowling poorly against the Bay of Plenty, giving them an easy start by conceding 70+ runs in the opening 10 overs of their tournament-opening innings.
Bowden, a former Wellington first class pace bowler, fought back from the average start to take six wickets in his Northland debut as BOP were dismissed for 160-odd. He then scored 60 runs in the chase after the Northland top order was skittled but ran out of partners in the effort to get
them close to the Bay total.
On Monday, they beat Waikato Valley comfortably by seven wickets after Bowden had again taken six wickets to dismiss Waikato cheaply.
On Tuesday, the wickets were shared around as Northland dismissed Poverty Bay for 170, with captain Neal Parlane top-scoring with 84 not out as they again won by seven wickets to recover from their poor start to earn their second bonus point in the competition.
