Sandwich Town face relegation from the Kent Cricket League Premier Division after a final-day defeat but Minster survive after a tense finish.
A five-wicket loss at Lordswood, coupled with the seven points picked up by Minster, leaves them second from bottom in the table after the last weekend of the season.
In a tight finish, Minster (226-9) ended their campaign just one point better off than Sandwich , after a three-wicket defeat to the bottom side Holmesdale.
Minster needed to get the seventh wicket to secure the additional point needed to stay above Sandwich Town.
Had the teams been level on points, Sandwich would have stayed up on head-to-head records.
After a delayed start, Minster were put into bat on a damp wicket against Holmesdale and posted 226-9 off 50 overs, Yashraj Joshi hitting 93 and Kai Appleby 45 for the island side.
Tailender Bill Prideaux added an unbeaten 24 off 12 balls but Holmesdale benefitted from better conditions and managed to knock the runs off in 38.2 overs. Prideaux also took three wickets for Minster, the last of those being crucial.
The seventh wicket came with Holmesdale just three runs short of completing the chase.
Lordswood’s winning end-of-season form continued against Sandwich, and it was captain Calum MacLeod who led them towards victory on Saturday, with a half-century.
MacLeod (57) and Arav Nair (28) put on 76 runs in a second-wicket partnership as Lordswood chased down Sandwich’s total of 133 all out, despite the best efforts of Roshan Jayatissa, who took 4-57.
For Lordswood, Will Straker took 4-20 and Joe Gordon 3-15.
Last year’s champions Blackheath also narrowly avoided a bottom-two finish, ending the season nine points clear of Sandwich, after a 44-run victory against Hayes.
Champions Tunbridge Wells lost their final match of the season to St Lawrence & Highland Court.
Blackheath beat league runners-up Hayes after successfully defending 169-9 at their Rectory Field Ground.
Aaron Burrage (51) hit a half-century for Hayes but they could only manage 125 runs in reply, Jas Bassan (4-20) and Jahid Ahmed (3-23) the standout bowlers.
St Lawrence & Highland Court beat the champions by four wickets after successfully chasing down 216.
Wells were put into bat and both Christopher Williams (69) and Michael Waller (50) produced half-centuries while Alexander Williams added 41 runs to their total.
Shermond Lewis took four wickets for St Lawrence and they knocked the runs off in 38.2 overs.
Oliver Curtiss starred in the run chase, scoring 102 off 95 balls, with 11 fours and four maximums.
Bexley set visitors Bromley a target of 210 to chase but their local rivals could only reach 148.
Aiden Griggs (88) top scored for Bromley and Matthew Stiddard contributed 64 runs to their total.
Gravesend and Beckenham look set to take their places in the top-flight for the 2026 season after finishing first and second respectively in Division 1.
A four-wicket win for Gravesend at OD CUACO saw them clinch top spot ahead of Beckenham, who lost by just two runs at Linden Park, all out for 191 in their pursuit of 193.
