ST AUSTELL skipper Alex Bone hopes Saturday’s dramatic three-run victory over champions Penzance in their ECB Cornwall Premier League will be ‘one we look back on’.

Bone and brother Gary’s superb 100-run partnership rescued the Saints from 97-5 to help post 222-7, although with the visitors 138-3 after 25 overs a victory looked improbable.

The dismissals of debutants Nic Halstead-Cleak (40) and Charlie Sharland (43) gave the hosts a chance, but when Grant Stone (26) and Josh Croom (33) needed 15 with four wickets in-hand, a home victory looked unlikely to say the least.

But after Mike Bone and Andrew Libby dismissed Croom and Stone, Adam Snowdon returned to dismiss Jonny Ludlam and Charlie Hearn in successive balls in the 48th over to spark wild scenes in the Saints camp.

Reflecting on the opening day victory, Bone, who has stated their ambition to win a first Premier Division title, said: “I think we played really well, I think we batted well and posted a really good total.

“Penzance started really well with the bat by putting our opening bowlers under pressure, but after that we really pegged the game back with some high-quality spin from Gary (Bone) and Libbs (Andrew Libby) and really good seam bowling from Ben (Sleeman) and (Steve) Raven.

“Then Snowy (Adam Snowdon) come back at the end and produced two really good deliveries to win us the game.”

Bone has taken over the role from brother Gary who stepped down over the winter after 12 years in charge, and despite being in a spot of bother at 97-5, felt calm.

He said: “It was amazing but weirdly I don’t think we ever felt in trouble as Gary and I have these partnerships a lot when we bat together. Gary is one of the best guys to have with you at the end as he knows how to play every situation.”

Bone has spoken about the desire to battle to the end, and felt that spirit shone through, adding: “There was some amazing fight from the lads, and like I said the other day we are a team that want to win from positions we shouldn’t. That’s one game this year that we might look back on that goes a long way to success.”

The Saints are on their travels on Saturday when they visit Truro (1pm), and Bone is keen to ensure they play with the same intensity.

He said: “We have an even bigger game this week against Truro, as after all that hard work we can’t afford to have a sloppy performance. We need to go there and put in a proper professional performance an d get the job done.”