The Bathurst side hosted the Lithgow outfit at the Sportsground in an unofficial practice match, and while the result will count for nothing towards their overall standings it was a pleasing effort from the local side coached by Richard Newell ahead of their official clash with Orange this weekend.

After Lithgow won the toss and elected to have first use of the Sportsground wicket, the home side quickly made them regret the decision when they began to steadily run through the visitors’ top order.

In a near perfect all-round effort with the ball, Bathurst dismissed Lithgow for just 72 inside 32 overs with each of the seven bowlers used making a contribution.

Dylan Sargent finished with the incredible figures of 2-1 from four overs while Aaron Dodd took 2-15 from four.

Ryan Newell, Josh Sly, Ryan Peacock and Kevin Cosgrove each claimed a wicket and all managed to keep the run-rate down in the process. In reply the home side were never under any sort of threat as they coasted past the target with plenty of wickets in hand.

At the drinks break they were already at 2-70 after Atticus Strong (15) got them off to a good start with Newell (20) and Peacock (27) continuing on the good work before being retired.

Cosgrove completed the victory with an unbeaten 31 as Bathurst eventually called it quits at 2-113 in a performance that will send a strong warning to the other sides in the Mitchell competition.

Coach Richard Newell says that it was a big boost for the side ahead of their next match, an official Mitchell premiership game against Orange this weekend.

“The word is that Orange and the Blue Mountains are supposed to be the stronger sides this summer so we’ll find out how we’re going this weekend,” he said.

“For these boys is was their first district level game of any sort so the way they played was fantastic, they were sharp on the ball right from the start and really played with some maturity beyond their years.

“Not one of these players was part of the side that made the grand final last season - they have all moved on into the under 14s so the signs are very good for these guys.”