Appleby in a quick finish
Division 2 Division 1
Minster’s title charge continued with a 10-wicket victory over Whitstable when top met bottom. Dan Masters (2-30) removed Luke Jackson with the first ball as Whitstable, playing a man short, were bowled out for 147. Opener Hamish Wilde impressed for the visitors, making 79 off 107 balls, but three wickets apiece for Fabian Cowdrey and Riki Ashwell kept the score down.
Minster raced to victory inside 14 overs without losing a wicket. Kai Appleby smashed 14 fours and four sixes in a knock of 84 off 43 balls against his old club, while Cowdrey’s unbeaten 60 came off 40 deliveries and featured 13 fours and a six. Minster captain George Duggan said: “It’s tough to see a side heading in the opposite direction to ourselves, it’s not great to see, but we can only beat what’s in front of us and we did it convincingly.
“Kai’s a respectful guy and still has a lot of relationships at the club, he’s not the kind of person to rub their faces in it.”
Old Wilsonians had their revenge over The Mote.
Bowled out for 60 earlier in the season, rejuvenated Wilsonians won the return match in Maidstone by four wickets. Mote captain James Marriott said: “It’s a really tough defeat to take but one where we have to say the better side won.
“The Mote must learn from this and move forward.
“We have to put more pressure on ring fielders throughout the 50 overs, and we must look to run the first run hard to open a possibility of a two to players out on the boundaries.”
The Mote handed a debut to 15-year-old Oliver Watts and were cruising along at four an over early on. They didn’t lose a wicket until the 22nd over, Matt White nicking to the keeper for 34 with the score on 83.
Wickets in hand was going to be key in the last 20 overs but Wilsonians bowled well, taking the pace off the ball.
They twice dropped Richard Coles, who went on to make 73 from 104 balls, but with David Ellicott-White (4-30) and Sydney Sherlock (5-37) on form, The Mote were all out for 231.
Glen Aukett twice found the edge as two good catches in the slips from Chris Back saw Wilsonians 24-2. But they batted well, with Matthew Golding making 94, and completed victory with almost four overs to spare.
Second-place Ashford slipped to a second successive defeat after collapsing against Dartford. Following their loss the previous week to Minster, Ashford slipped to 119 all out in 34.2 overs and Dartford completed an eight-wicket victory with almost 20 overs to spare.
Chestfield lost to OD CUACO by 36 runs. Half-centuries for Jamie Batten (80), Jack Abrahams (65) and Chris Webster (62) led CUACO to 317-8.
Dominic Chambers anchored the reply with a superb century, eventually falling to Andrew Ainger for 118.
There was support from Conor Moldrich (32) and Daniel Patching (27) in the top six and Jago Pearson (27) and Arron Bennett (25) down the order but Chestfield were all out for 281. Calum Brown took three wickets for the visitors.
Sidcup beat neighbours Orpington by 79 runs.
Visitors Sidcup were bowled out for 216 with two balls of the innings remaining.
They were well on top in the field against their relegationthreatened opponents, with the reply all over on 137. Yasir Arafat supplied an unbeaten century as Bromley beat Broadstairs by 145 runs. Electing to bat first, Bromley posted 228-8 after being led out by 40 from opener Sam Smith. Arafat later hit 109 not out while Callum Morgan picked up 3-48 for Broadstairs.
Broadstairs could only manage 83-9 in reply as Amjad Khan took 5-13.
Jayojit Basu top scored for his side with an unbeaten 42, while eight of his team-mates could only muster single-digit scores.
Folkestone won by five wickets in their meeting with St Lawrence & Highland Court.
Winning the toss and choosing to bat, St Lawrence made 235-8 from their 50 overs. Skipper Will Hilton top scored for his side with 70 followed by 68 from tail-ender Jamie Vant-Harrison.
Chris Jay (43) and Matt Jay (25) opened in reply with a partnership of 76 before the former was caught by Hilton off the bowling of VantHarrison (3-32).
Jarred Lysaught (64) and Leon Morgan (44 not out) then helped Folkestone reach a winning total of 236-5. Hayes, meanwhile, beat Linden Park by 70 runs after defending their score of 265 all out.
Opener Grant Sheen top scored with 64, sharing an 87-run partnership with James Bamber, who hit 51 from 65 deliveries.
Stuart Eddicott added 30 along with 41 coming from Beau Couldrey, while Freddie Hulbert took 5-36 for Park. Sheen picked up 5-35 to limit Park’s chase to 195 all out after a top score of 58 from Paul Seldon.
Holmesdale beat Bromley Common by five wickets thanks to an unbeaten century from Luke Blackaby. After opting to bat, Common opened with a 102-run partnership between Leigh Walker (61) and Toby Finzel (50), both of whom were dismissed by Michael Bryant (4-39).
Oliver Hickford scored 38 before falling to Dom May, who finished with figures of (4-51) as Common closed on 245-9.
May started with 31 in reply followed by Blackaby’s 100 not out and Nick Miller’s 50, with Holmesdale reaching a victory score of 246-5. Tenterden recorded a 45-run victory against Upchurch. Jamie Drewe top scored for Tenterden on 79 to help his side towards a score of 182 all out.
Tom Richards and Jamie Bristow-Diamond then picked up three wickets apiece to limit Upchurch to 137 all out, with David Masters topscoring on 46.