Two games went right to the wire in an enthralling second week of the Kent League Premier Division.
Lordswood beat defending champions Bexley by two runs whilst Hayes defeated Sevenoaks Vine by one wicket with one ball to spare.
Having won the toss and elected to bat, hosts Lordswood were bowled out for 160 with nobody reaching thirty. Shaun Evans took 3 for 29 and the rest of the wickets were shared.
Matthew Stiddard scored 65 and Ben Aldred 37, but only one other batsman made double figures. Jack Laraman took 3 for 22 and Tom Davis 3 for 44 as the visitors were hustled out with over six overs to spare.
Luke Schlemmer scored 100 for Sevenoaks Vine after they chose to bat first at Hayes, and James Logan added 52 not out from 45 deliveries as they finished on 233 for 5.
Any thought that they had scored enough were dispelled by a fine innings from Alex Blake. Having already scored two double centuries for Kent II’s this season, he scored 112 at a run a ball to bring the newly promoted close but when he was ninth out his team was still seven runs short. It remained for Stuart Eddicott to steer his team home.
Tunbridge Wells won the toss and elected to bat at Beckenham, racking up 232 for 6. Kent’s Marcus O’Riordan scored 93 not out, Sam Smith 47, and Max Waller 31. Junaid Nadir was the most successful bowler, in terms of wickets, with 3 for 55.
James Feat scored 40 in the hosts’ reply, but nobody else scored more than 25 as the hosts finished on 176 for 9. Wells used seven bowlers, all of whom were in the wickets.
Minster won the toss and elected to bat first at Bickley Park and finished on 192 for 6. Edward Moore scored 54, Joseph Parry 52 not out and Harry Mawson 34 not out.
Aron Nijjar’s opening spell helped to reduce the hosts to 9 for 3, but Elliot Hooper with 59, and Daniel Magin 34, gave them hope but they finished short on 178 for 9. Nijjar ended with an impressive 3 for 13 from his ten overs.
In the other match, Sandwich Town recorded their second victory of the season with a comfortable win over Blackheath. Having won the toss, they elected to bat and Zack Fagg led from the front scoring 125 as they finished on 266 all out. Tanweer Sikandar took 3 for 40 and Tom Foster 3 for 57.
Mahi Mahfuzul scored 51 off 54 deliveries but found nobody to stay with him and Blackheath were dismissed for 127. Rory Smith recorded the best bowling figures of the day with 4 for 11.