BEN Parsons was not quite able to emulate the efforts of star Bathurst cricket graduate Trent Copeland in snaring a hat-trick on the weekend, but his influence with the ball was arguably more important.
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Lining up for the Bathurst District Cricket side, Parsons claimed three wickets in the same over of Sunday's Western Zone Premier League match against Parkes.
It reduced Parkes to 3-3 at the Sportsground and from there the visitors never recovered.
They were all out for 98 and Bathurst went on to an eight-wicket triumph as it chased down the required total in just 11.3 overs.
It means Bathurst finished its WZPL round games undefeated and will host the February 16 final against Dubbo.
"Parso set us up by grabbing three wickets in an over ... the top three bats from Parkes," Bathurst skipper Adam Ryan said.
A day before Parsons' heroics for Bathurst, Copeland took the second hat-trick of his New South Wales Premier Cricket career to put St George in a commanding position in its two-day match against Western Suburbs.
The Saints made 231 batting first and by stumps had reduced Wests to 5-44, Copeland the chief destroyer as he claimed 4-21 off six overs.
Having earlier dismissed fellow Bathurst product Cal Hotham leg before wicket for six, Copeland's hat-trick began by bowling Wests skipper Josh Clarke. A successful LBW appeal and a caught out completed the feat.
Though Parsons narrowly missed out on his own hat-trick, in having Myles Smith (two) then Zac Bayliss (duck) out caught behind and Dan Wilson (duck) trapped LBW was still impressive.
It was his second three-wicket haul of the competition, finishing with 3-17 off 10 overs of which four were maidens. Connor Slattery (3-17 off 10) was also superb with the ball, while Matt Fearnley (3-38 off 10) added to Bathurst's strong start to the contest.
Openers Imran Qureshi (24 off 22) and Jaden Ekert (33 off 26) then spearheaded the chase as they put 63 runs for the first wicket in quick time.
Ryan (17 not out off 14) and Henry Shoemark (18 not out off eight) sealed the dominant win with 38.3 overs to spare.
"We will have a home final now," Ryan said.
"Jaydo and Imran started the chase on fire and set the pace, so it was good to continue on and finish with a commanding win."
