Reigning champions Hillgrove had a 92-run win over City at Lambert Park while Easts beat Ex-Services by 118 runs at Armidale Sportsground.

Sent in to bat, Easts made 196, with newcomer Todd Francis topscoring with 39 and then dismissing Ex-Services for 78.

Easts skipper Sam Uphill was delighted.

“It’s a great start for us.

“It makes a bit of a change to chasing all that leather we did last year.

“Dean Moore and Nathan Porter gave us a good start, both scoring 20 odd and then everyone in the middle order got runs too.

“Todd batted well. Both he and Jock Cartwright, who comes from  Wagga way too, look very handy.”

Uphill said the East bowlers also contributed, with the wickets shared around as Ex-Services’ run chase nose- dived.

“It might have been a tough day on the scoreboard,” Ex-Services skipper Brad Widders said.

“But we can take a lot of positives out of today.

“We had a couple of players debuting in first grade and they performed really well.

“Johnny Elliott and DJ Yeomans bowled well. 

“And Braden Graham also bowled well. 

“I think they all took three wickets each and they all bowled really well for us.

“They let the ball do the work.”

Widders said his side was missing a few regulars who were away while a few more didn’t receive clearances in time to play.

“It was a gallant effort – we didn’t finalise our team until last last night (Friday),” he said.

Hillgrove Colts made 203 at Lambert Park and then dismissed Armidale City for 111 on a day where young Hillgrove allrounder Lachlan Elks was a standout.

Michael Dawson returned from an English season to topscore with 73 and lead a batting effort that was 3-100 at one stage.

Skipper Brad King made 28 before Elks came in at nine to help take the side from 8-151 to over 200.

Adam Sweeney (4-43) and Matt Morrow (3-49) both bowled well in their 12-over stint before City failed to chase.

Brad Smith opened and his 65 was a lone hand, with only Brae Wright (14) at number eight making double figures.

Elks finished with 3-15 from his six overs while Max Laurie also claimed 3-23 from his 9.5 and brother Ben Laurie also grabbed a couple of wickets.

“I was pretty pleased with that,”  King said.

“We bowled tight lines.

“Josh Croft was the second oldest there today at 22. 

“It was me and the kids but that’s good because these are all boys we have developed.”

Armidale City skipper Steve Butler said his side was missing a number of players and did well to restrict Hillgrove.

“At 3-100 I thought we could be chasing a big score but we pulled them back to 8-151.

“Lockie Elks batted and bowled well. 

“Brad did bat very well for us. It was a lone hand.”