BMS, which was relegated from the Geelong-Ballarat Premier Bowls competition at the end of the 2017-18 campaign, managed just one rink success as Webbcona cruised to victory at home.

In the end, the hosts prevailed 127-85 in the round one contest.

Webbcona skipper Tom Clarke told The Courier it was a top performance from his side, which got the early jump on the visitors and never looked back.

Clarke said skipper Harold Worsley and his team started powerfully and paved the way for the overall victory with a 30-shot success over Mick Sloper’s side.

Clarke’s outfit won by 11 shots and fellow Webbcona skipper Garry Van Kessel was successful by three. Roy Crawley was the only winning skipper for BMS on a tough day for the club.

Despite the early triumph, Clarke is keeping a lid on Webbcona’s prospects for season 2018-19.

“Last year we just made it to stay in division one so so we can’t get our hopes too high,” he said.

“But I think we can give a lot of the so-called good teams a bit of a run for their money.”

Clarke said reaching finals this season would be a bonus.

Elsewhere on Saturday afternoon, Learmonth claimed a big win over an under-strength Ballarat East.

The Two Blues suffered a mass exodus of top players during the off-season and battled in the opening round fixture, losing all four rinks.

Learmonth eventually won the clash by 47 shots.

Over at Central Wendouree and it was the Bears that were beaten on home greens by an impressive City Oval outfit.

The Hawks proved too good, winning 90-77.

Ballarat also started its campaign in good fashion by beating Mt Xavier.

The team won all of the rink contests to score a strong 106-67 victory.

And in the final match of the round, Smeaton was unable to produce a fairytale start to its time in division one.

The 2017-18 division two premiers were beaten by Creswick, which won 102-79.