The Yorkshire Premier League made a long-awaited return after an 18-month hiatus on Wednesday night with Queens getting off to a particularly eye-catching start. 

The Halifax club trounced Pontefract 2 20-0 with every home player winning 3/0, headed by New Zealand international Lwamba Chileshe, who was at least pushed to 15/13 in the third game by Ponte’s no.1 string Adam Taylor. 

Queens’ 17-year-old second string Finnlay Withington and England National Performance Coach Josh Taylor were victorious in quick fashion, as were James Earles and Danny Bray further down the order. 

Abbeydale, who were crowned 2019/20 champions when the season was cancelled with three matches of the season left due to Covid, slipped to a 17-7 home defeat as they got their title defence under way. 

The night had started well for the Sheffield side with two lower-order wins for Oli Turner and Sam Watts, but 2018/19 champions Dunnington roared back, with Julian Tomlinson, youngster Jared Carter and former England international Chris Simpson turning the match on its head. 

Tomlinson and Carter won in straight games over Nick Wall Snr and Phil Scully respectively, while Adam Turner was Simpson’s victim in four tough games. 

Hallamshire sit second in the nascent league table after a resounding 17-4 victory over Hull & East Riding. 

The sight of three-times world champion Nick Matthew playing at second string in Hallamshire’s line-up was ominous for Hull and sure enough the 41-year-old dropped only seven points in routing Mike Reid. 

Matthew’s protégé Nick Wall won in four at top string against Ben Smith and there were also straight-games triumphs for the Sheffield club’s Harry Falconer and Alex Cutts. Hull did get a win on the board though, with Yusef Forster toppling Fergus Hunt at fifth string. 

Chapel Allerton sit in third after a 17-5 win over Woodfield who suffered for the late absence of world no.36 George Parker. They did have his brother Luke playing at third string though, who got the visitors’ only win of the night, 3/0 over Isaac Green. 

Other than that, it was smooth going for Chapel A with world no.56 Richie Fallows, Conor Sheen, Richard Hinds and Rahul Bansal all convincing winners. 

YPL newcomers Doncaster got off to a winning start by leaving Pontefract with 16-9 on the scoreboard in their favour. 

It wasn't the best of start for the South Yorkshire side as Ponte’s Daniel Siddal and John Riley both won 3/1 at fifth and fourth string respectively, but Donny’s top order turned it around. 

Nick Ratnarajah, Joel Arscott and Miles Jenkins all won in four games to consign the West Yorkshire side to an opening-night defeat.