JOE Settle smashed the Bolton League second team batting record on Sunday with an incredible 319 not out.

The Horwich RMI player beat the previous record of 240 set by Neil Hyde in 2013.

The opener batted throughout the 45 overs, destroying a struggling Tonge side with a powerful knock peppered with fours and sixes and shots which landed outside the Crompton Way ground.

And, to make the achievement even more impressive, the 23-year-old has only just started playing again after two years away from the sport.

“I had a year away from cricket last year because I did the Ironman,” said Settle, who works in the family bakery business on Chorley New Road.

“I haven’t picked a bat up for two years and scored 40-odd in my first game and 319 not out in my second, so it’s not a bad start.”

“To be honest I never felt on for a big score at the start. I wasn’t feeling right and I was thinking ‘just hang in there’.

“But once I got to 50 I started to feel better and once I got past 100 I really got in. When I got to 150 I thought ‘here we go’ and I just went for it.

“I was seeing the ball really big after that, like beach ball, and they were going a long way. I hit one or two over the road into the supermarket.

“Someone said I hit 34 fours and 17 sixes.

“I think the Ironman has helped me. You have to be mentally strong to do the Ironman and I think the mental discipline has rubbed off on the cricket.”

Settle, who has played for Horwich since he was 12, plays in the second team due to work commitments.

“I’ve been asked to play for the first team but we have the bakery and we open until 2pm on Saturdays, he said.

“You can’t turn up at the last minute for the first team, it isn’t right, but the second team is more lenient.”