Captain Dave Masters knows former county colleague Darren Stevens is the dangerman when Minster visit Kent League Premier Division title rivals St Lawrence & Highland Court.

The sides meet in a big game on Saturday with Masters’ league leaders 23 points clear of their second-placed hosts.

Minster maintained top spot with a three-wicket victory over defending champions Lordswood last weekend while St Lawrence beat Blackheath thanks to a century from Stevens.

The Kent legend, who left the Spitfire Ground two summers ago, scored 121 off 97 balls.

Masters knows him well from their time together at Leicestershire and the 48-year-old all-rounder remains a class act.

“Stevo’s a big player for them,” said Masters.

“He’s just come out of county cricket.

“I played against him quite a bit and I played with him at Leicestershire before he moved down to Kent.

“He didn’t use to bowl, he was just a net-bowler.

“He turned himself into a good county bowler and batted in the middle order and that helped him play a few more years, being able to do both disciplines.

“He played county cricket until he was 46, and he’s a good cricketer.

“His eyes stayed good and I think that’s the biggest thing for cricketers, when your eyes start to go, especially for batters.

“He could probably still play at county level.”

Minster, who have won seven of their eight games this season, know victory at St Lawrence would put them in a strong position to push on for the title.

Nothing’s won at the start of July but having beaten Tunbridge Wells and Lordswood in their last two matches, another victory would be significant in their championship bid.

“Lordswood were second before we played them last weekend and now St Lawrence have overtaken them so it’s another big game,” said Masters.

“I keep saying to our lads just keep going, don’t think about losing.

“Let’s keep going and try to win as many as we can and before you know it you can be 35 or 40 points clear.

“I knew if we could win these three games - Tunbridge Wells, Lordwood and St Lawrence - it would put us in a strong position.

“We should be hard to catch then but cricket’s a strange old game. You can go from being top of the league to halfway down it if you lose three or four games.

“Losing can become a habit, as winning does, so we need to keep going.”

James Speer and Aron Nijjar took three wickets apiece on Saturday as Lordswood were bowled out for 141 at Gilbert Hall.

Speer went on to hit an unbeaten 45 off 31 balls, with six fours and a six, to seal a three-wicket success.

It came after Kai Appleby hit a crucial 45 off 23, including eight fours and two sixes.

“It was a good game,” said Masters. “We bowled well and they bowled well. You have to give the bowlers credit sometimes.

“James Speer took three wickets, then came in at No.9 and got 45 at the end to win us the game.

“He’s had a good season generally. He hasn’t shown how good he is with the bat until this week but he’s bowled really well.

“We just relied on our best bowlers to bowl and they got the job done to get them out for 141.

“Lordswood are one of the strongest, if not the strongest, bowling attacks in the league.

“They came hard at us and we lost people early on but the boys at the bottom won the game for us.”