The Swans bowlers, led by Cameron Hay with 5-15 and a hat-trick, rolled Nondies for 66 runs in a blistering display with the Kookaburra.
And at 4-62 in reply, the Swans were in the box seat to salute their first victory since January 2021.
But a late Peter Moore and Sam O’Shea bowling flurry sparked a collapse of 6-1, with the Swans falling three runs short in one of the most dramatic McMahon Shield clashes in recent times.
“I don’t know if it was just the pressure, Cohuna bowled really well,” Swans’ skipper Ben Eade said.
“We just lost a heap of wickets towards the end. The panic set in I think and we couldn’t recover from it.
“There was a lot left to do for the younger blokes who don’t have a lot of experience.”
Spinner O’Shea ended with 5-19, while Moore scooped the final two wickets to seal a thrilling first-up win for Nondies-Cohuna at Cohuna Recreation Reserve.
Hay (19), Shaun Haffenden (12) and Jayden Rosin (12) drove the scoring for the Swans in the run chase until the collapse.
Despite the loss, Eade said Hay’s hat-trick, which included Nondies top-scorer Alex Thornhill (37), Peter Taylor and Liam Edge, was a highlight.
“I think I’ve only seen one or two hat-tricks in A-grade, to be involved in one was pretty awesome,” he said.
A tough pill to swallow in the first game of the season, Eade urged his young side to keep the faith as the South rebuild continues.
“I made a point (post-game) of saying how good it was to be competitive,” he said.
“As much as it hurts to lose — and we don’t want to lose — it’s probably the first game in the last 18 months where we’ve been in it up until the last ball — that was a pretty big positive for us.
“We’re a pretty inexperienced side, we’ve got three blokes over 25 and then the rest are 16-21, so it’s about making sure that we learn from the game.
“A lot of the boys were hurting pretty bad but we kept positive.”
Echuca South will now jump back into two-day cricket with a round-seven match against BLU this Saturday, November 19.
