IT was as emphatic a win as many would have predicted.
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Bathurst may have gone into Sunday's Rod Hartas Trophy clash against Gulgong with a grand final place already booked in but there was still a great level of expectation for the competition leaders to clean sweep the pool stage.
They certainly lived up to their potential, thumping the visitors by 176 runs.
Hamish Siegert (63) and Blake Aubin (56) reached half centuries for the hosts after being sent into bat by Gulgong.
Quick-scoring efforts from Centennials Bulls duo Tyler Horton (44 from 35) and Kurt Toole (27 from 15) took Bathurst to 7-256 from their 50 overs.
Sam Gorrie was a bright spot for Gulgong as he racked up 4-30 from his 10 overs, including three maidens.
But in their chase Gulgong partnerships turned out to be a rare commodity.
They were rolled for 80 runs within 29 overs, handing Bathurst an unnecessary but welcome bonus point for their efforts.
Bathurst's young collective of five bowlers all had a great time with the ball.
Jacob Ryan was in blazing hot form with 4-20 from six overs and Hugh Parsons almost mirrored his figures from the previous Rod Hartas round with 3-22.
To get 250 against that bowling attack was a good effort.
- Andrew Brown
Tom Siede (2-10) continued his great run through the competition while Ethan Muller (1-8 from seven) and Tom Lynch (0-18 from six) had enviable economy.
Dion Hollow (17), Connor Whale (17) and Greg Reid (16) were the only Gulgong players to reach double figures.
Bathurst captain Andrew Brown said the team put in one of their best performances of the competition to date.
"I'd probably rate that performance an eight out of 10, maybe even a nine," he said.
"Hamish batted pretty well for his 63. He did give a few chances but Gulgong bowled quite well actually. Their fielding was what let them down. Their dropped catches were probably somewhere in the double figures.
"To get 250 against that bowling attack was a good effort. The quick finish helped us put up a good, defend-able total.
"Our bowling lineup has a lot of potential. It all just had to click on the day, and it finally did."
The win saw Bathurst go three from three from the round games and book in a grand final at home against the Blue Mountains on February 7.
"When we played them last time they only had 10 players and a couple of their players from previous years weren't there, so I'd expect them to be stronger," Brown said.
Blue Mountains also claimed a bonus point win on Sunday as they beat Mudgee by six wickets.