Nulla were left heartbroken, falling five runs short of victory as they chased Wingham’s 209 total.

Nulla had a slow start with the bat but the 130 run partnership between Dan Baker and Dan Pretty steadied the ship for them.

However, the partnership was broken when Pretty was dismissed for 56 before Baker fell for 70 and Nulla’s lower order weren’t able to find the final runs.

“It was about 6 to 6.30 when the lower order was out there and it was pretty tough conditions to bat in,” Nulla captain Ben Taylor said.

“You normally walk away from a close loss pretty deflated but we were all in high spirits and were proud of our performance.”

Meanwhile Rovers struggled with the bat and managed 126 runs before they were bowled out in the 35th over.

The Magpies eased their way to victory, surpassing the Rovers total in over 20.

“We showed a few nerves, but we will be better for the outing and we know what it’s about now,” Rovers captain Danny Powick said.

Two of Rovers youngest players were leading from the front, with brothers Jackson and Mitch Korn showing their teammates how it’s done.

The two scored the most runs for their side with younger brother Mitch reaching 24 while Jackson added 23.

“The two brothers were standouts for us, they were nervous as well but they batted extremely well and played great cricket all day, they got a good start and were unlucky not to go on with it,” Powick said.

Taylor believes the Premier League match was played at a higher level than that in the Macleay Valley competition.

“It’s a better standard than what has been in Kempsey for several years,” Taylor said.

“They (Wingham) had two blokes in their side who play in the North Coast representative team.”

Nulla and Rovers will have a chance to earn their first victory when they face off against each other on Saturday at South Kempsey Oval at 1.30pm.