All-star Pontefract team surge clear at top of Yorkshire Premier League

Number one Patrick Rooney sped straight from the airport, where he had just returned from the US Open in Philadelphia, and he was joined in Ponte's team by Scotland's Commonwealth Games silver medallist Rory Stewart and 21-year-old prodigy Sam Todd, who is back from a two-year absence due to an ankle injury.

Their power-packed team carded a 17-5 victory over Hallamshire – who themselves fielded three-time world champion Nick Matthew – to open up a 15-point lead at the top going into the half-term break.

The opening salvos were shared as Ponte's fifth string and captain Matt Godson took down young Canadian Thierry Moesner in three games, but on the adjacent court Hallamshire's Matt Gregory ousted Tom Bamford in three tight games.

While 21-year-old Todd confirmed a return to something approach peak form by dispatching Adam Turner rapidly, the second-string match went the distance.

Former world no.1 Matthew clawed out a two-game lead over Stewart (who now trains at Pontefract under James Willstrop), but the Scot roared back to claim a cracking encounter 11-9 in the deciding fifth.

That wrapped up the five bonus points, but world no.41 Rooney certainly did not take his foot off the gas, shrugging off the trans-Atlantic jetlag to dismiss New Zealander Temwa Chileshe in three rapid games.