Rod Hartas Trophy: Bathurst make easy work of Mudgee in nine-wicket win

Mudgee won the toss at Victoria Park and elected to bat on its home turf, but were dismissed for just 114, with Bathurst chasing down the total with nine wickets to spare to win.

Bathurst vice captain Blake Aubin admitted the result was an easy one, even though Mudgee started the match well.

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"They started off really well, getting 20 off their first two overs but then a couple of quick wickets and then it went down hill," he said.

"We just chipped away at them and all our bowlers chipped in with wickets. The feeling is, because the team is so young, it's next level. The step up from club level in fielding is awesome.

"I think there were two run outs and some good catches. It's pretty cool to play with a bunch of young guys and there's a lot of talent within the team."

He said the team was hoping to bat first, to give the whole batting order a chance to put on a score.

"We lost the toss and they wanted to bat first but we were hoping to bat first, to give everyone a go because last game was quite a similar result against Blue Mountains," he said.

Aubin paid credit to openers Andrew Brown and Hamish Siegert, with their knocks of 40 and 42 respectively playing a huge role in the team's victory.

"They got us off to an awesome start. If you get off to a start of 0-80, you'd win most games I feel," he said.

"If we batted first and we were 0-80, I think we'd have been on for a very big score. The side bats all the way down to number 11, so it would've been interesting to see what sort of score we could've got but we'll never know."

Bathurst's final Rod Hartas Trophy group stage match is against Gulgong at the Sportsground next month.

With Bathurst's spot in the final all but secure, the other spot is up for grabs, with Mudgee, Blue Mountains and Gulgong a chance, depending on results in the final round of matches.