Led by Connor Slattery (71) and skipper Adam Ryan (52) knocks, Bathurst put on 247 runs at The Scots School and rolled Lithgow for 118 runs before the 30^th over.

Nic Broes continued his exceptional all-round form by taking 5-24 after hitting 38 earlier in the day at the top of his side’s dig.

Bathurst’s Dave Henderson seized his opportunity on debut by taking an economical 2-26 off his eight overs.

Bathurst came into the match with a defeat against Blue Mountains to their name and in need of a win to keep the finals in sight.

Ryan was pleased with the pressure his side applied with the ball.​

“We really cleaned up the tail well. They dug in pretty well at the top and kept us at bay. We had to work really hard for the wickets,” he said.

“To the boys’ credit they got the job done. The wicket of Ben Sheehan is the big one for them and when we were able to get him cheaply then we knew we were a good shot of getting them out for a lower score.

“The boys bowled well and took chances when they came. We were complacent at times and dropped a few chances but we then soon took the chance again straight after.”

Broes and Andrew Brown (13) gave the hosts an ideal start to the day with a collection of boundaries crunched out of the middle of the bat.

Lithgow began to apply pressure to the Bathurst order with the back-to-back dismissals of Broes and Tanvir Singh for the second and third wicket.

Slattery arrived at the crease full of intent and with an eagle eye for anything pitched too short by the Lithgow attack. His innings included 11 boundaries.

His batting display quickly turned the innings to Bathurst’s favour and thanks to the late work of Ryan and Sam Macpherson (16) the team had set Lithgow a tricky target.

When openers Sheehan (13) and Mick Hutchinson (8) fell in consecutive overs the uphill battle began for Lithgow.

Jon Cronin (28) gave the visitors a spark of hope but his dismissal – the first of Broes’ five – sparked a quick collapse.

Lithgow lost their last six wickets for just 19  as both Broes and Henderson blitzed through the lower order.

Ben Parsons and Matt Fearnley picked up a wicket each.

Bathurst will face competition leaders Orange on February 3 in a match that will decide who reaches the final.

Orange can't miss out on the decider but a loss for Bathurst puts them in the firing line should Blue Mountains account for Lithgow.