Defending only 101 after a baptism of fire against the association's quickest attack, including Dave Tassell (3-23), Lavington tailenders Ryan Brown and Alex McMaster looked like stealing the win with a 17-run stand.

But first-year coach Jarryd Hatton sent down a thunderbolt to Brown, who edged the ball to wicketkeeper Damien Wilson.

"It's pretty remarkable, it was huge for the club, we've got brand new rooms, like there would have been 150-200 people down there," captain Daniel Athantis said.

CAW and Corowa both entered a new era in the opening round under strict COVID protocols, which includes players minimising time spent within 1.5m of each other during the game.

But one aspect which hasn't changed is the pace of Tassell and NSW Country rep Ryan Brown (1-12 off eight overs), with support from Nathan Brown (3-16).

Corowa crashed to 5-21 with Lavington set to wreck the 'welcome to provincial' party.

"The (Ball Park) wicket wasn't dangerous, it was just really hard to score and was a bit slow, like a tennis ball bounce type thing, with the rain during the week it was hard to get a lot of work into it," Athanitis said.

The skipper posted a patient 45 from 70 balls, including five boundaries.

"We'd lost five wickets in the first 10 overs, so it was just about taking some time out of the game, we thought 120 would be defendable," he said.

At 8-69, Corowa would have settled for 80, but the biggest stand of the innings (25) between Athanitis and number 10 Luke Backhouse at least gave the newcomers an outside chance.

Remarkably, Athanitis was the only player to make double figures.

Lavington was understrength, missing top batsmen Matt Tom and Matt Sharp but, at 1-31, it looked in control.

Nathan Brown made 31, but the visitors lost 4-9 to swing the match back to Corowa.

IN OTHER NEWS:

"Jarryd Hatton turned the game, he bowled fast, while our recruit Ben Mitchell (ex-NSW Country left-arm off-spinner) broke it open in the middle patch, he took three wickets in quick time," Athanitis said.

Mitchell finished with 3-41, while Hatton was electric with 4-12 from 8.3 overs to cap a remarkable day.