The triumph in the Twenty20 section of the Championships has capped off a stellar start to 2018 for Moran, who played for the Australian Country side in an exhibition match prior to the national tournament at Geraldton.

Moran, in a comeback from a broken thumb suffered in November, made 46 for Australian Country and carried that form into the Twenty20 matches.

NSW Country won all six Twenty20 matches with the final win over Queensland Country highlighted by a half century to Moran and an incredible 110 from 60 balls to North Coast star Caleb Ziebell.

“Twenty20 was probably the format we struggled in last year and we only won one or two and then dominated the one-day cricket so it was very rewarding to put six good performances together,” Moran said during Monday’s rest day.

“The more cricket we played the better we got and our last two games, both against Queensland, were complete performances.”

The one-day section of the Australian Country Championships starts on Tuesday, with the Bush Blues now in pole position to finish as the overall victors.

“The Twenty20 win has been big for us because we lead by one one-day win now but it’s basically a one-and-a-half game lead because our quotient is so good,” Moran said.

“We’re four points clear and well and truly ahead quotient-wise so if we play to our ability we should do well.”

NSW Country won Sunday’s final by a convincing 39 runs, with Ziebell an easy choice as man of the match.

The powerful Ziebell blasted five fours and six sixes in his century, putting on 142 runs with Moran, who opened the batting.

“All the boys were saying I had the best seat in the house and I agree to an extent,” Moran said of Ziebell’s knock.

“It was amazing, clean hitting but at the same time it was quite scary because he’s not you’re standard basher, he’s a traditional batsman and his six sixes all went over the sight screen.

“That straight area is his zone and there was a few times I sniffed the ball as it flew past me and one just clipped my helmet.

“But it was amazing watching him do what he does and it was one of the best innings’ I’ve seen.”

With boundaries stretching out to 85m in some areas, Moran only hit three boundaries in his 50 from 46 but turned the strike over perfectly.

Moran is set to open the batting again in the one-day matches, starting against East Asia Pacific on Tuesday, with matches running through to Saturday.

“They (East Asia Pacific) won three Twenty20 matches so by no means are we taking them lightly,” Moran said.

“But if we can win our first three one-day games and maybe pick up a bonus point then we’d be clear at the top.”