Northern Suburbs teammates Dunn and Botha scored 89 and 63 respectively as Central North bounced back from their round four loss to Riverina on Monday to post 7/277 off their 50 overs at Wollongong on Tuesday.

Tamworth's Sam Davis chimed in with 34 and Thornton's Thomas Long and Norths' Stirling Strachan were unbeaten on 27 and 18 respectively.

Botha backed up with the ball to take three wickets and four catches, including a caught and bowled, as Central North restricted Southern Districts to 8/180.

Riverina leads the competition on 19 points after reigning champions Newcastle dropped their first game losing by four wickets to Greater Illawarra (third) who are now equal on 18 points with North Coastal (second) and Newcastle (fourth).

Central North are fifth on 13 points and can leap-frog Greater Illawarra potentially into the top three if they beat them in Wednesday's round six game in their favoured one-day format.

In other key round six match ups Riverina play North Coastal and Newcastle meet Western.

The series is very much alive and depending on results Central North is still in with a chance of claiming the title for the first time in 12 years.

Maitland remain unbeaten after a five-wicket win against Inner West Harbour at the Ballina U-13 Cricket Carnival.

Maitland dismissed Inner West Harbour for 131, with skipper Cailan Hartwell taking 3-26 and Cody Mills 2-19.

In a player-of-the match performance, Hartwell top scored with 28 as Maitland chased down their target posting 5/132 with almost 10 overs to spare.

In a great team effort Cameron Baker made 25 not out, vice captain Braxton Smith 21 off 26 balls and Nixon Perrin 24 off 25

Maitland defeated Far North Coast Sixers by 10 wickets on Monday and face MSW in their final pool game on Wednesday.

Maitland defeated Far North Coast Sixers in round four of the Lismore Under-12 Cricket Carnival to record their first win of the series.

No further details were available on the competition website.