Town were held to a draw at Stony Stratford, but garnered enough bonus points to extend their lead at the top to three points.

And that was mainly thanks to Butt and Burton who both cracked impressive tons during a third wicket partnership of 213.

Butt is a class act who has represented Pakistan in an under 19 World Cup at a time when Burton was learning his trade with the Upwood junior teams, but they combined beautifully to steer Town to an imposing 313-4.

Butt clobbered five sixes and 16 fours in his 133, while opener Burton stroked 14 fours and a six as Town recovered so well from the loss of two early wickets they were able to declare five overs early.

That left the home side 60 overs to reach their target in perfect batting conditions. The blazing sun, a flat track and the presence of Zimbabwean international Deon Ebrahim in their ranks gave the hosts reason for optimism and they made a solid start to their reply.

An opening stand of 80 followed by a partnership in excess of 50 for the second wicket put Stratford in a decent position, but some niggardly seam bowling from Basharat Hussain stopped them in their tracks.

Hussain returned figures of 2-44 from his 17 overs which compared favourably with the 2-96 from 16 overs from Town's bowling spearhead Waqas Chugthai.

Captain Ajaz Akhtar remained wicketless and the Stratford innings highlighted the fact that the lack of a high class spinner might stop Town staying at the top of this table.

Phil Adams didn't bowl a single ball in the 60 overs, Butt contributed one over, although David Clarke did well to claim a wicket in his eight tidy overs as Stratford eventually closed on 272-7. Ebrahim remained unbeaten on 83 at the close.

Other results favoured Town who face a huge match at home to reigning champions Finedon this weekend.

Full local cricket coverage: peterboroughtoday.co.uk/cricket

Scorecard:

Northants League - Premier Division:
Stony Stratford drew with Peterborough Town

Town
D. Clarke b Arris b Avery 10
A. Burton c Choksi b Mitchell 121
S. Brahma Bhatt c Carter b Peter 18
A. Butt c Ebrahim b Mitchell 133
W. Chughtai not out 12
Extras 20
TOTAL (4 wkts) 314
Bowling: D. Avery 12-1-60-1; M. Choksi 8-0-53-0; P.Mitchell 8-0-59-2; O. Peter 2-0-9-1; D. Ebrahim 8-0-51-0; S. Myatt 8-1-45-0; D. Arris 4-0-33-0.

Stony Stratford
S. Wharton lbw Hussain 56
G. Carter lbw Hussain 35
D. Ebrahim not out 83
D. Arris c Burton b Smith 11
P. West run out 0
M. Choksi lbw Chugthai 13
M. Avery lbw Chugthai 0
S. Myatt c and b Clarke 34
P. Mitchell not out 22
Extras 18
TOTAL (7 wkts) 272
Bowling: W. Chugthai 16-0-96-2; A. Akthar 10-3-45-0; B. Hussain 17-3-44-2; J. Smith 8-2-35-1; A. Butt 1-0-8-0; D. Clarke 8-1-33-1.