Our cooling towers are counter flow with a partition wall to balance the incoming air flow.
CTI & HT Textbook: Counter Flow is more efficient than Cross Flow under the same design conditions
This means that the approach temperature is achievable in the counter flow tower easier than that in the cross flow tower.
Example: Water range 10 C, Twb = 29 C, L/G = 2.3
Counter flow Tw,in = 46.4 C, Tw,out = 36.4 C, Tapp = 7.4 C
Cross flow Tw,in = 47.8 C, Tw,out = 37.8 C, Tapp = 8.8 C