Olly Barkley delivered another fly-half masterclass as Zurich Premiership leaders Bath cruised to a comfortable victory against struggling Saracens.

Barkley created two of his side's three tries with delicate kicks behind onrushing defenders and added three conversions and a penalty.

The Premiership leaders shrugged off the loss of England star Mike Tindall, who was carried off with an ankle injury sustained when he opened the scoring.

An Andrew Higgins touchdown and a penalty try in the second half put the visitors in the clear and the only time Bath were genuinely threatened was when Frenchman Thomas Castaignede poached a magnificent solo score five minutes from time.

The task facing Saracens had looked ominous from the outset with key man Richard Hill absent recovering from the broken nose inflicted by Troy Flavell while captaining England against the New Zealand Barbarians.

Bath, on the other hand, welcomed back skipper Danny Grewcock and Tindall from England duty.

A dazzling early break from Darragh O'Mahony created the field position for Castaignede to edge the home side in front with a ninth-minute penalty.

But Bath's response was instant. A perfect restart forced Saracens to concede a lineout on their own 22 and Barkley threaded the ball past the Saracens midfield for Tindall to regather and score under the posts his last involvement in the game.

Bath's narrower game earned a 26th-minute penalty for Barkley which edged them into a 10-3 advantage.

Castaignede saw a drop-goal attempt drift wide before missing with a long-range penalty awarded after a late tackle on Haughton by Higgins.

And any attempt at digging in was damaged by dodgy defending which allowed Higgins to strike with the second half only a minute old.

Centre Alex Crockett on for hamstring injury-victim Matt Perry expertly gathered a long ball from Barkley and Higgins surged away to break three tackles and twist over in the right-hand corner.

Although the conversion left Saracens trailing by 14 points, it was the cue for their best spell of the game and their first try after 56 minutes.

Simon Raiwalui and Taine Randell led the way in denting the Bath midfield to create the opening wide on the right that saw Paul Bailey sprint in from 20 metres and Castaignede convert.

The Frenchman missed on the hour with a penalty which would have hauled his side within striking distance.

And the balance tilted back in Bath's favour in the 61st minute when they were awarded a penalty try by referee Martin Fox, who adjudged that Barkley was tripped by former teammate Robbie Kydd on the line as he chased his own kick ahead.

Castaignede led a late flurry when he jinked through a cluster of defenders to score after Bath had messed up a defensive lineout in the right-hand corner.

But he missed what should have been a straightforward conversion and then hit the post with the final kick of the match as he attempted to earn his side a bonus point they probably deserved for their second-half resistance.