Played at the Peter Carroll Field in Leura, Blue Mountains/Lithgow won the toss and elected to bat, but with eight players, they were dismissed for 92 runs off 31.4 overs.

Bathurst caught their opposition’s total in quick time, 12.2 overs was all that was needed for the visitors to post a score of 2-95. 

The game was played on a new turf wicket at the Leura venue, something coach Shane Broes thought his side used well. 

“We actually played on the turf wicket, the first game played on that particular wicket,” he explained.

“It’s a brand new wicket and it played very well, which was good for the boys.”

Cameron Wright-Terry and Pawan Gajula opened for Blue Mountains/Lithgow, the opening batsman out for six and 20 respectively.

William Phillips, coming in at number five, hit a team high of 23. None of the Bathurst bowlers had any luck with him and was not out, by the time the last wicket fell.

Bailey Brien opened the batting for Bathurst alongside Ben Cant, the former not out for 46, while the latter was the first of only two wickets to fall for the visitors.

Nic Broes was bowled out for just 15 runs, while Connor Slattery was not out but he didn’t manage to get a run.

The coach didn’t single one standout player, rather describing the match as a solid team effort. 

“The wickets were shared. Nic got three, Mitch [Taylor] got two, Tanvir [Singh] got one and Jack [Goodsell] got one,” he said. 

“[Blue Mountains/Lithgow] bowled fairly short, so Bailey and Ben capitalised. We finished fairly quickly and we got a bonus point, which is fairly handy and should put us above Orange on the ladder.”

Bathurst now play a crunch game away against Orange on March 3, the winning set to take out the minor premiership and hosting rights for the final on March 10.

Knowing Bathurst’s previous two appearance in the final, being a washout and losing the final because they were ranked lower on the ladder, Broes wants his side to take the minor premiership in case weather does come into play. 

“Hopefully we can get first in, because the last two years we’ve been robbed with rain and been second on the ladder,” he said.

“We’re hoping to get a win and be on top, in case weather does intervene, we’ll be on the right side because of the ladder.”