Donovan sees Clyst home in penultimate over | 'Andy remained calm throughout and played a near flawless knock' – Dan Kendall

CLYST St George bounced back from their opening day defeat by Braunton with a three-wicket win at Ivybridge.

Harry Solomon top scored for the B Division newcomers with 57 in a batting-first total of 206 for six.

Clyst had to chase all the way down the order before hitting the winning runs in the second-to-last over.

“We improved on everything we set out to from last week,” said Saints’ skipper Dan Kendall.

Josh Zimmerman (24) opened up with Abraham Kopparambil (26) then Zach Dunn (25) and Solomon pushed the score along to 128 for four.

Solomon was the last man out with three balls to go having added a further 46 with Adam Huxtable along the way.

Owain Saville (1-33) and Inder Singh (0-29) kept the runs down for nine overs each. Nathan Wells included Solomon in his stats of two for 35.

“Our spin quartet bowled with great control and skill to keep Ivybridge to 206, which we felt was a little below par,” said Kendall.

Kendall (45) and second-wicket partner Freddie Creer (28) went off in sedate pursuit of the target before Zimmerman turned to spin to winkle them out.

Huxtable (2-37) and Lewis Clarke (3-33) gave little away, although Tom Bunker’s 31 in a hurry moved things along.

Twenty-two to win from the final five overs did not look too onerous, especially after Singh and Andy Donovan took 11 runs off one of them.

Donovan swished Josh Coker for four to win the match and take his tally to 49 not out.

“There were some important contributions throughout the run chase, led by the superb Andy Donovan who remained calm throughout and played a near flawless knock to lead us home,” said Kendall.

Zimmerman didn’t lie awake on Saturday night worrying about his side’s loss against Clyst St George.

For Zimmerman the fact it was such a close-run was the relevant detail.

“It was a cracking game of cricket that could have gone either way,” said Zimmerman.

“Clyst fielded unbelievably and probably saved themselves 40 runs, that won them the game. 

“Small margins like that make a difference in this division. But we know we are not far away.”