A healthy rivalry between Tully Park and Coolavin evaporated last month when the two first grade clubs joined after it was apparent the latter couldn’t muster enough players to field a team.

Cricketers who used to thrive on dismissing one another now sit in the same dressing room.

Now, three matches into the Southern Lands first grade competition, the merger’s skipper believes past rivalries are close to extinct.

“It’s taking everyone a while to get used to each other,” Webber said.

“It’s been quiet out on the field, but we’re getting there each game.”

The makeshift outfit, which now plays under the banner Hibernian- Tully Park, is yet to reach its potential.

Last Saturday they gave opposing teams a glimpse of what’s possible.

Wingello opted to bat on a Kenmore Oval wicket suited to bowling.

David Short made the visitors rue that decision.

Short bagged four wickers, vicecaptain Brad Smith two and left-arm spinner Mitch Cook 2-1 to send Wingello to the innings break with only 83 runs to defend. Short and Cook were set to play for Coolavin this summer.

Stevenson quashed Wingello’s hopes with an innings of 43. His captain made 29.

The locals’ progress hasn’t been as smooth as Saturday’s performance indicates.

Hibo-Tully received a rude shock from last season’s wooden-spooners Moss Vale in round three.

They’re yet to reach three figures with the willow.

Meantime Goulburn’s second grade competition appears anyone’s for the taking.

Last summer’s premier Workers Stags Blue again looks likely to feature in the finals. They remain undefeated after three games.

So too are the Coolavin Cowboys, who finished second last in 2011/12.

“It’s a pretty solid second grade competition,” Hibo-Tully Gold skipper and Goulburn District Cricket Association committee member, Doug Webster, said.

“Stags are sitting pretty well. They look the team to beat.”