Captain Dave Masters believes league leaders Minster are facing their toughest game of the season.

The Islanders moved 11 points clear in the Kent League Premier Division with a dominant 70-run win at Canterbury last weekend.

Next up this Saturday is a trip to The Nevill to face an in-form Tunbridge Wells side fresh from beating second-place St Lawrence & Highland Court.

“That’s a hard game,” said skipper Masters.

“I’ve said to everyone I think that’s our hardest game of the season, Tunbridge Wells and Lordswood.

“They’ll both be up there or thereabouts by the end of the season.

“Tunbridge Wells lost their first two games and since then they’ve been winning. They’ve got some good players and they’re a good batting side who know their ground well.”

Masters is anticipating a challenging track at the former county venue which hosted its last Kent cricket festival in 2019.

“I’ve heard rumours the pitch has really gone downhill,” he said.

“The whole ground has gone downhill apparently, which is a shame as it was a lovely ground.

“We’ll see how we go. If the pitch is playing badly, 180 might be a good score.”

Masters, a prolific bowler in his county days, will once again be the man to test out the track in his role as opening batsman.

It’s a position he’s taken on this season - and there’s method behind it.

“I’m a doing a job,” said Masters, who hit 27 off 35 balls at Canterbury. “We didn’t have anyone to open the batting at the beginning of the season.

“I wanted to get the balance of the team right so I threw myself up there to be the guinea pig for all the wickets, especially early-season.

“It might change later in the season when the wickets flatten out.

“At this time of year everyone knows there’s a lot of rain around and the wickets do a lot more with the new ball.

“It’s a seamer’s paradise at the moment.

“It’s a lot harder to score and stay in so if I can try and hang about and get runs where I can, it allows our better players to come in later and score more quickly. That was the idea.

“I didn’t want to lose our better players upfront when the ball’s moving all over the place.

“I’d rather they come in when the ball’s not doing so much and they’re facing the first and second-change bowlers.”

Kai Appleby is the perfect example of a player benefiting from Minster’s batting order.

Coming in at No.6 against Canterbury, he hit an entertaining 64 off 35 balls, with three fours and five sixes.

Chris Piesley, meanwhile, top-scored with 66 off 59 but is a doubt for the Tunbridge Wells game with a hip injury.

“Kai’s got the perfect role at the moment,” said Masters.

“That’s what I’m alluding to when I say about using our better players in the middle order.

“There’s nothing worse for the opposition when you’ve got the first three or four wickets and suddenly you’re facing Kai Appleby, James Thompson and Aron Nijjar when you’ve got your not-so-good bowlers on and the ball’s a lot flatter and the wicket’s not doing so much.”

Minster closed 40 overs on 264-7 before bowling out Canterbury for 194.

Bill Prideaux (3-8) reduced Canterbury to 23-3 while Thompson added to his 42 with figures of 3-36.

Masters said: “Once we got 260, which was probably 40 more than a par score, I was always confident we’d win with our bowling attack.

“It was a game of two ends because the wind played a massive part. Probably 80 per cent of the runs came from one end.

“Bill killed them up front. He bowled brilliantly with the wind.

“He bowled quite quickly, unsettled them and got three early wickets, then we chipped away at the rest.

“They had a good partnership in the middle from their two experienced lads but we stuck to it.”