Wodonga’s Scott Billington destroyed New City, taking 7-14 off 9.5 overs, including a hat-trick.

“It was my first hat-trick in first grade, the guys were jumping on me and screaming, I had goosebumps, it was great,” he said.

Billington was one of three Lake Albert players in the side, along with Adam Newcombe and Ryan Jamieson, as Wodonga made use of Wagga’s late start to the season due to the recent wet weather.

“Scott’s a tall left-armer who gets a lot of bounce, and he was zipping a few through,” Wodonga coach Daniel Dixon said.

Billington, who turns 37 next Monday, snared Dan Baker in his fifth over, and followed that with the prize scalp of Englishman Raj Dohal.

“It was a cracker of a ball from a bowler’s point of view,” he said.

“I didn’t want him coming on the front foot straight away, so I put it up around his nose.

“It lifted off a length, got him on the glove and he just wasn’t expecting it.”

The 192-centimetre quick completed the hat-trick by dismissing Callum Langlands.

Interestingly, Billington could have finished with nine wickets as he had catches dropped against two of the other batsmen.

“I drove over with Adam (Newcombe) and I told him I was a bit nervous to be honest,” he said.

“I know Robbie Jackson from Wagga. He was keeping and dropped one in the second over, and I thought, ‘here we go.’

“But I had a day out and you don’t always get them.”

“I don’t know of any debut of that significance,” former association historian Joe Wooding said.

Wodonga is working on retaining Billington for the season, but he’ll return for Wagga’s opening round on November 5.

Tallangatta also fielded two of Wagga’s finest players in the opening round in Joel Robinson and Brayden Ambler, and at least one senior player says it should be stamped out.

“It makes a mockery of the competition by picking blokes from Wagga,” Belvoir’s Mick Spiteri said.

“It smacks at the integrity of the competition, they only play one or two games, where do you draw the line with players?

“I don’t think it’s right, it’s not fair on the opposition and it’s certainly something our club wouldn’t do.”

“We had 18 blokes down across the club, and we have another eight or nine out this week as well,” Dixon said.

“Everyone knew the situation, we covered it off early at club level and didn’t want to put anybody’s nose out of joint.”

“You have to think outside the square for recruiting,” Tallangatta coach Matt Armstrong said.

“It’s always good to have new players in the club.”