Queens stretched their lead at the top of the Yorkshire Premier League to 33 points while Woodfield brought out the heavy artillery again to grab a much-needed victory down at the bottom. 

Oli Turner got defending champions Abbeydale off to a winning start at Queens but that was as good as it got for the visitors. The hosts’ fourth string James Earles began the fightback by making it eight successive wins for him this season in swatting aside Nick Wall. 

England National Performance Coach Josh Taylor overcame Phil Scully in four, England’s top junior Finnlay Withington was tested by Adam Turner despite the 3/0 scoreline and Kiwi Lwamba Chileshe also took four games to down Adam Auckland as the Halifax side cantered home in the end to an 18-5 triumph. 

Chapel Allerton and Hallamshire are just about hanging on to Queens’ coat-tails in second and third respectively but before we get to them, let’s head to Pontefract where their first team faced a Woodfield side packed with stellar talent. 

Ponte 1 got off to a flyer early in the night when veteran Jon Riley and James Wilkinson both won in three, but Woodfield’s top three were always going to pose a massive threat. 

Declan James, who was selected for England’s World Team Championship squad last week, world no.37 George Parker and former British champion Daryl Selby made up the visitors’ intimidating top order. Although Selby and Parker both won in straight games, the match decider saw James came up against soon-to-be England team-mate Patrick Rooney. In a cracking encounter, it was the more senior James who took it 3/1 to seal a 14-7 win which keeps the Doncaster side 13 points off the bottom. 

A weakened Chapel Allerton side just about outpunched Dunnington in north Leeds despite heavy lower-order defeats for captain Paul Allen and late stand-in Henry Duncanson.

At no.3, Matty Powell pulled out what was reckoned by spectators to be his best performance of the season in wearing down Cai Younger in a pulsating four games. Top string Richie Fallows won a rather error-strewn tussle with Chris Simpson in which the sound of a clanging tin was a little too regular. Meanwhile, Declan Christie’s 3/0 win over Julian Tomlinson on the nextdoor court was bringing home the five bonus points for Chapel A and a 14-8 overall scoreline. 

Hallamshire lurk just four points behind them in third after they also whipped out a couple of trump cards in the form of world no.34 Greg Lobban and three-time world champion Nick Matthew. 

The hosts’ fifth string Jack Smith got an early 3/1 win over Dominic Pegg and although opponents Pontefract 2 hit back through Billy Hawes and Tom Bamford, Hallamshire’s top two always looked likely to bring home the bacon. Indeed they did with respective straight-sets wins over Adam Taylor and Matt Godson. 

The night’s other fixture saw Doncaster host bottom side Hull & East Riding and although the underdogs got off to a terrific start with Fiona Moverley and Yousuf Forster picking up wins, the home side’s Nick Ratnarajah, visiting Kiwi Joel Arscott and world no.9 Joel Makin all won in handsome fashion to record a 15-6 victory that lifts Donny into sixth.