A left-arm spinner, six feet four and a half inches tall, "with a peculiar twist in his delivery",Evening Post, 16 November 1912, p. 14. Southall usually opened the bowling. In his first match representing his region, for North Taranaki against Manawatu in 1909-10, he took 6 for 46 and 5 for 20 in North Taranaki's victory.Taranaki Daily News, 30 December 1909, p. 4.Taranaki Herald, 30 December 1909, p. 7. Later that season, in a two-day match between a Taranaki 15 and the touring Australians, Southall, bowling unchanged throughout, took 6 for 78 and 5 for 49, bowling nine of his 11 victims, including several Test players. Chasing 156 for victory, the Australians were 138 for eight, with "Southall sending down deadly deceptive breaks like a book", when the Australian batsmen appealed against the light and play was called off.Taranaki Daily News, 24 March 1910, p. 8.
