Wagga RSL has defeated Wagga City by eight-wickets thanks to an unbeaten knock from Ethan Bartlett

The Cats won the toss and elected to bat, finishing at 5-110 from their 20 overs on the back of opener Jon Nicoll who finished on 42 not out.

Chasing 111 for victory, it took the Bulldogs only 14 overs to reach the total thanks to an unbeaten knock from Ethan Bartlett who smashed 72 from just 31 deliveries.

Bulldogs captain Rod Guy was very happy with the performance and glad to start the season with a dominant victory.

"It is always a good way to start," Guy said.

"We spoke about it before the game that we wanted to set up our base for the season in round one.

"That gives us something to work on and go forward from that and if we can improve on that each week we might be in for a good year, but it was certainly a pretty good start.

"We were probably a bit asleep in the first couple of overs, but then Sam Smith came on and really tied down an end for us.

"That helped us control the game a little bit and lead us to getting a couple of run outs, then Charlie Munn also bowled well with Tim Cameron.

"Then it was pretty much a one man wrecking show with the bat."

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Making a cameo appearance, Bartlett smashed 11 boundaries and guided the Bulldogs to what ended up being a comfortable victory.

"It's always good to have Ethan come back," Guy said.

"He's a club junior and played a lot of cricket with us before he went onto bigger and better things over in Canberra.

"We've been lucky the last couple of years that he's been interested in coming and having a hit with us.

"We are trying to get him back next week, but he's a bit unsure with his availability."

The Bulldogs' bowlers were also impressive, with Guy really impressed with Smith who finished with figures of 0-12 off his four overs.

"Ethan bowled the first over and went for a few wides and they got away a little bit," he said.

"We gave Sam a go just before the powerplay finished and he was able to control it from that end."

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