Heading into the final round sitting third on the ladder, the Jameel Qureshi skippered Bathurst District Cricket Association outfit not only needed to beat Parkes at George Park 1, but hope Dubbo took the points over Cowra in their clash.

Quershi did all he could to help his side fulfil their side of the equation – snaring 5-23 off 7.5 overs and backing it up with a 51 – while in Dubbo Ben Strachan hit a six with eight balls remaining for the hosts to beat Cowra.

It means Dubbo will host Bathurst in this Sunday’s final.

“How good is that?,” Qureshi said when learning his side had qualified. “Cowra have a good side and I thought they’d give Dubbo a run for their money – they obviously did that – but it all worked out in the end.”

Parkes won the toss on Sunday and opted to bat first at George Park 1, the visitors scoring freely in the opening overs before the first wicket fell.

Matt Fearnley sent Anthony Heraghty (17) on his way in the fourth over to make it 1-24.

Both Peter Yelland (15) and Myles Smith (25) made starts but were unable to go on with it as Bathurst had Parkes at 3-96, but that saw Jacob Harvey join Zac Bayliss at the crease.

Together the pair put on 46 runs for the fourth wicket and were building nicely for Parkes. However Jacob Bognuda ended their stand when he had Harvey (39) caught out by Connor Slattery.

Bayliss (41) was the next to go as the first of Qureshi’s victims, making it 5-177. After that only Shane Jones (24) made any telling contribution, with Parkes all out for 221.

While Quershi found the most success with the ball, he offered praise to team-mate Nic Broes who finished with figures of 1-36 off 10 overs.

“I pinched a few wickets there coming in late, but I felt a bit sorry for Nic, he bowled really well and probably deserved to get a few more wickets than he did,” Qureshi said.

“I was always confident we could chase that with the team we’ve got, but in saying that, I think we probably should’ve restricted them to around 180. We did a few little uncharacteristic things we shouldn’t do, we bowled four no balls and gave them four free-hits.”

In reply Josh Toole got Bathurst off to a flying start as he hit 18 runs – three boundaries and a six – off the opening over before falling on ball six.

Both Dave Sellers (18) and Ryan Peacock (24) offered Broes support before he and Qureshi formed a 97-run stand for the fourth wicket.

After two hours, 33 minutes at the crease Broes was run out for 54, while Qureshi went on to make his half century before falling to Jones. When he departed it was 6-196.

From there Connor Slattery (16 not out) and Adam Ryan (seven not out) saw Bathurst home in the final over.

“I felt like we were always in control of the game, but we did get a little bit complacent there at times. Just finishing off little things, Nic and myself both getting 50, we should be finishing that off,” Qureshi said.

“But it’s all good … it’s great to be in the final.”