Buttershaw St Paul’s bounced back from their opening-day defeat in the Central Yorkshire League First Division in sensational style as they hammered 405 for three off the Caribbean attack.

They then restricted the league newcomers to 260 for eight in reply, despite a century from their skipper Terence James.

Gary Wainwright was the star man in this run feast with an innings of 212 not out – an effort that certainly took its toll physically.

“I struggled a bit in the field after that,” he explained. “I did take two catches but I missed the chance of a third. I was so knackered I couldn’t get down to it!”

“It was a very good day though. We just missed out on promotion last season, with only one team going up, I just missed 1,000 runs and I just missed out on winning the league averages. This year, I’m hoping to go one better on all counts.

“Although I’ve played most of my cricket in the Bradford League I think this is a good standard and it’s good having people like our skipper Paul Carroll at the club. He’s got a lot of experience at higher levels but, like many of us, he’s a local lad as well.”

Also amongst the runs for Buttershaw were Jamie Robinson (86) and Naveed Bhatti, who hit 52 off 18 balls.

Birstall are still struggling to make their mark in the Premier Division.

The 2008 champions went down to fancied Wrenthorpe by eight wickets.

Craig Wood (97) and James Keen (45) helped Birstall to 250 for nine but former Birstall man Eric Austin hit an unbeaten 96 – having shared a 106-run opening stand with former Yorkshire and Pudsey St Lawrence man Gary Fellows (59) – and Wrenthorpe eased home with plenty to spare.