Captain Dave Masters hopes Minster’s Twenty20 Cup success will be the push they need to secure the Kent League Premier Division title.

The Islanders have had a late-season wobble in the championship, losing back-to-back games against struggling sides.

They lost to bottom team Canterbury by 51 runs on Saturday although with St Lawrence & Highland Court also losing, their lead at the top remains 23 points with three matches to play.

But the first leg of the double is in the bag after Minster won Twenty20 finals day at Hayes on Sunday.

They beat Tunbridge Wells by 14 runs in the semi-finals, posting 142-5 before limiting their opponents to 128-9.

That was followed by a two-run victory over Bexley in the final, defending 157-9 by restricting the reply to 155-9.

They host Tunbridge Wells in the league this Saturday, buoyed by the Twenty20 victory.

“The boys know we’ve been well under par in the last two league games,” said Masters.

“We know we’re better than that and we probably needed the Sunday to come round to show how good we actually are.

“Now that’s done and dusted I think the boys will have the momentum going into this weekend.

“That Canterbury game is easily forgotten when you win the Twenty20, so it’s a good thing.

“Not too many teams do the double.

“It doesn’t happen very often so if we can get the Premier Division done in the next couple of games, happy days.

“The league has been our main focus but we’ve brought a few youngsters through in the Twenty20 and it’s been good to see where they’re at for the Premier Division.”

Masters (2-3), Aron Nijar (2-30) and James Speer (2-31) did the damage as Canterbury were dismissed for 149.

But Minster struggled on a damp track and were bowled out for 98.

“It was the same as the week before, we didn’t turn up,” said Masters.

“I don’t know whether the boys were waiting for Sunday and their energy was on that, but we looked very lacklustre.

“It was a poor wicket, the rain had got on it.

“We bowled really well early on, and had them 70-7, but we didn’t finish them off and it cost us the game.

“They bowled well and we seemed to miss balls they didn’t.

“We had seven bowled and it wasn’t through playing big shots, it was trying to defend the ball and the pitch doing the work.

“We didn’t lose anything in terms of the table but we could more or less have won the league on Saturday, bar a few bonus points.

“We’ve got three games left and we’re in no worse a state than we were before Saturday.”

Minster had the services of Essex player Shane Snater although his county wouldn’t let him bowl.

He was hoping to get time in the middle but went for 5.

“He came in as a batsman, which he’s more than capable of at that level,” said Masters.

“He’s quite a big player for Essex as a bowler and they’ve got a Championship game starting on Thursday.

“He’s played a lot of one-day cricket so they said he was allowed to come and have a bat to try and get some time in the middle.

“That’s his job to play cricket and if he’s putting his job at risk by bowling, then you’ve got to respect what Essex want.

“I know what cricketers are like, he probably would have bowled if he’d been allowed to, but it is what it is.”