ST AUSTELL skipper Alex Bone hailed his side’s ‘first really good performance of the year’ as they swept aside neighbours Grampound Road by eight wickets on Saturday in the ECB Cornwall Premier League.

The Saints chose to field upon winning the toss, and opening bowlers Adam Snowdon (1-26 off 8) and Ben Sleeman (4-27 off 6.3) soon reduced ‘The Road’ to 47-4.

Sri Lankan Ravi Karunarathna made a fine 54, but with no real support coming from the lower order, Grampound were dismissed for just 125.

Steve Raven (2-40 off 8) and the miserly Gary Bone (3-12 off 8) shared five wickets.

The chase was a routine affair as St Austell’s previously misfiring top order came good.

Sri Lankan pro Thevindu Dickwella smacked 33 and fellow opener Connor Cooke added 45, which allowed Dan Jarman (30no) and Mike Bone (12no) to knock off the rest.

An ecstatic Bone said: “It was a dominant and a very professional win which I’m chuffed about. We put in the first really good performance of the year.

“Ben and Snowy were brilliant! After winning the toss and bowling first, they really backed up my decision and bowled superbly. Ben took wickets with Snowy bowling really well at the other end, it was a perfect partnership.”

St Austell’s top four had struggled for runs in the first four games despite beating Penzance and Callington, but there was no such drama this time around, and Bone hopes they can take that momentum forward.

He said: “At tea we were really happy, but we knew the job wasn’t done, we wanted those 20 points to sum up a top performance.

“On paper we have a really, really good top six and it’s now starting to show. If the top six get in form and stay there, we will be so hard to beat.”

St Austell moved up to third above Callington who were beaten by champions Penzance, but Bone’s got his eyes on further honours.

He said: “We’re very happy with where we are at this stage but we want more, we will keep taking it a game at a time and who knows where we can end up.”

St Austell go to Helston this Saturday, and Bone expects a tough game at Beacon Parc.

He said: “Helston are a bit like us with lots of homegrown talents, we won’t take them lightly and we will be raring to go.

“We also have two of our bowlers back. Liam Watson is back from holiday which is massive as he’s real quality, and Lloydy (Matt Lloyd) is also returning. He’s bowled really well so far this summer and also gives us great energy in the field.”

Bowling all-rounder Steve Raven is the unlucky man to miss out, while Curtis Dalby is unavailable.