Moree's Connolly Cup campaign got off to a cracking start on Saturday, with the home side notching a revenge victory against their grand final defeaters, Gwydir, last season.
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A four-wicket haul by Tom Britton and 67 runs by the day's best batsmen Kyle O'Connor helped Moree secure a 16-run win against Gwydir.
Coach Darrel Smith said while it was great to get a win against Gwydir, there's still plenty of room for improvement in his relatively new side.
"It was good to get that win out of the road and was a good sign for us to beat last year's winner," he said.
"Even though we had a lot of new people in the team and a lot of people away, it still left us with a few areas to work on."
The fresh Moree side stepped up to the crease first at Ron Harborne Oval, setting a total of 150 for Gwydir to beat.
Kyle O'Connor was Moree's best with the bat, scoring 67 of Moree's 150 runs and setting the standard which coach Darrel Smith wants to see for the rest of the season.
"It was a great performance from Kyle O'Connor," Smith said.
"He was the backbone of the innings in scoring runs for the team. He batted out a lot of balls and took the opportunity when bad balls were bowled and put them away for boundaries.
"He set the standard for how our other batsmen should be playing the game, even for our lower order batsmen.
"We still didn't bat out our overs. The plan was to get 50 overs out of the road. But it gives us something to work on."
In reply, Gwydir were bowled out for 134, thanks to a strong partnership between opening bowlers Alf Newman (1/27) and captain Jason Poutawa (3/15).
"The bowling was really good," Smith said.
"They picked up a couple of wickets and performed well in the first 50 overs."
Britton then came in and kept the ball up really well, getting four wickets from 23 balls.
"He was a standout for the day," Smith said.
Wyatt Roberts also took two wickets and Lloyd Munro took three catches in his first rep game as wicket keeper.
"We really bowled that first part well and got their top order batsman out, however we took our attention off what we had to to in the last few wickets and they scored some runs.
"We did get those last two wickets but it gives us a few things to work on for the next game."
Moree host Armidale at home on November 15, which should be a tough game, considering Armidale beat Walcha by six wickets during the opening round.
'We're going to have to do what we did on the weekend but improve in areas as well," Smith said.
