Bathurst were in an awkward position of 4-27 chasing the visitors’ 125 at The Scots School before Sellers (55 not out) and Qureshi (48 not out) got their side home in an aggressive 99-run partnership.

The match a do-or-die affair for Bathurst who needed a victory to draw level with Blue Mountains and Orange in the Mitchell Cricket Council competition.

The chase from Bathurst, achieved in less than 25 overs, was fast enough to see them progress to the final on net run rate.

The Barracudas will host Orange on Sunday.

“I think we were under the pump a bit there at 4-27 but ‘Wayno’ batted really well, we got a partnership together and did the business. It was really good,” Bathurst captain Qureshi said.

“Our bowling and fielding was really good. I can’t fault anything, it was a great performance.

“The only thing we could fault from the game was losing some wickets in clumps, which is what happened to us in Grafton [in Bathurst’s Country Cup semi-final defeat], which cost us there. Luckily it didn’t cost us today.”

Bathurst were in an uncomfortable spot of 2-7 after just two overs thanks to the dismissals of Josh Toole (6) and Sam Macpherson (0).

Sellers thought he was run out on eight runs after a mix up with batting partner Henry Shoemark but the umpire deemed the stumps had been disturbed before impact from the ball.

Even after an edge that just flew over the Blue Mountains slips cordon, Sellers continued his aggressive approach – one that Qureshi also adopted later in his own innings.

The pair hit 17 boundaries between themselves (Sellers nine, Qureshi eight).

“Wayne and I have batted together twice now and we’ve scored a few runs together,” Qureshi said.

“Because we lost to Orange the other week we wanted to try and win convincingly and ensure that finals spot.”

Sam Macpherson (3-18) and Ryan Peacock (3-23) did the biggest amount of damage with the ball for Bathurst.

Blue Mountains opener John Ford (51) was his side’s top scorer. James Heath (2-20) and Jack Begg (2-42) were the team’s pair of wicket-takers.