But despite an aggressive top-order batting effort, followed by a pressure-filled attack, there remains plenty of room for improvement for last year’s runner-up, according to Echuca skipper Taylor Beard.
“Echuca and Moama have always had a pretty good rivalry, so it’s good to get one up on them early,“ Beard said.
“(Winning the toss) we wanted to post a good total and give our batsmen their best chance of putting a good score on the board.
“We did that, but we probably felt with the platform we had with the blokes up the top that we didn’t really capitalise.
“We got 230-odd, where at one stage we were looking at 260-plus pretty comfortably.
“There is some improvement to be had, but it’s good to get the win and we move on.”
Helping Echuca off to their roaring start was opening batsman Curtis Townrow, who blasted his way to 71 to get his side past triple digits.
Partnering first with Brendan Moyle (27), Townrow was then joined at the crease by Matt Hinks, who held his end down to reach a half century of his own.
“They played their roles for the team; Curtis came out and got us off to a really quick start and when Matt came in he consolidated and built a really good platform that we were hoping would get us some runs later,” Beard said.
Middle-order batsmen Kobyn James (22) and Beard (21) aided Echuca’s cause, though the home side unfavourably lost its last six wickets for 20 runs.
Clay McGregor did most of the heavy lifting for Moama on attack, finishing with 6-30 from seven overs, and importantly snared the wickets of Moyle, Townrow, Hinks, Beard and two tail-enders.
Moama’s chase was then largely held up by the efforts of Russell, who fell eight runs short of his maiden century.
Russell was eventually dismissed by Rylea Jones, Moama finishing with 186 with two overs remaining.
“Jack batted really well and hardly gave us a chance until we got him,” Beard said.
“It was really important to get him when we did, and we were fortunate to get a couple wickets at the other end just prior to it.
“That allowed us to put more pressure on him to get the job done himself, and that was probably what brought about his downfall.”
Moyle was Echuca’s most damaging with the ball, picking off four batsmen.
Despite having the bye this coming round, Echuca will maintain their momentum by playing their first game of the Northern Rivers T20 Kookaburra Cup against Arnold on Sunday.
“Having the bye wasn’t ideal, but the cup does give us the opportunity to play this week and stops us having that stop-start,” Beard said.
“The more cricket you can play at the start of the season the better, to help guys get into their groove a bit.”
Moama will host Cooma on Saturday.
Player of the match
Moama’s Jack Russell, whose 92 almost single-handedly kept Moama in the game after Echuca’s attack skittled his teammates at the other end of the pitch. Russell’s effort was also his highest-ever score with the bat for Moama, his previous best a 68 last season.
