Lordswood have taken over from Bexley as leaders of the Shepherd Neame Kent League Premier Division.

While Bexley were drawing with Bickley Park, Lordswood secured a maximum points victory at home to Sibton Park on Saturday. However, the situation didn't look promising for Lords when they slipped to 9-4 batting first, but Lyndon Lockhart (93, pictured) led the recovery and valuable lower order contributions from Alistair Neale (37) and Dan Masters (25) lifted their final all-out total to 195.

That proved more than enough as second-from-bottom Sibton Park were bowled out for 89 in 24.4 overs, losing their last nine wickets for just 38 runs. Kevin Masters did most damage with 5-38 and John Williams chipped in with 3-12.

Defending champions Bromley moved into second place with a five-wicket victory over bottom-of-the-table The Mote. But The Mote skipper Tom Harvey certainly did all he could to prevent the Maidstone side from suffering another defeat.

Opening the innings after choosing to bat, Harvey hit 121 but, apart from Matt White (35), he received little support as The Mote finished on 238-8 from their 55 overs. Ricaldo Anderson and Craig Peters took three wickets apiece for Bromley, who chased down the required runs with eight balls to spare thanks to James Butterfill (78) and Matt Dennington (64). Harvey rounded off his fine all-round contribution with 4-71.

Third-placed Sevenoaks Vine scored an emphatic 132-run success over Tunbridge Wells. Evert Bekker, the Wells skipper, decided to insert Sevenoaks after winning the toss and then had to watch John Bowden (123) and Michael Koster (71) put on 125 for the first wicket. Vine finished on 284-8, with Chris Lawrence taking 3-87, and the Sevenoaks attack then shared the wickets around, led by Tyler Griffin (3-13) as Wells were dismissed for 152. Simon Routh top scored with 36.

Bexley held on for a losing draw in a tense affair at Bickley Park. The home side set what appeared to be a below-par target of 183-5, with Chris Coulson finishing 39 not out and Ian Mobey taking 3-25, Bexley started well and at 56 without loss looked set to canter home. But then five wickets went for 36 runs, including top scorer Greg Bain (43), and in the end Bexley were hanging on at 150-9. Abhijit Kale claimed 3-44.

Hartley Country Club chose to bat against Blackheath at the Rectory Field and amassed 293-7, thanks mainly to centuries from Charlie Hemphrey (134) and James Hockley (102 not out). Blackheath replied with 231-6, with Dave Hammond making 80, and the winning draw for Hartley leaves them in fourth place but only 12 points behind the leaders.

The 50-overs win/lose format begins in the Premier Division from this Saturday, and the title race is wide open for the final nine games of the season.