Kimbolton skipper James Biddle was left to rue a controversial umpiring decision which all but ended his side’s hopes of a second successive promotion.

The village side battled out a derby draw with fellow promotion hopefuls Huntingdon & District in Tucker Gardner League Division Two last Saturday.

Kimbolton were adamant they had star Huntingdon batsman Khaqan Arsal caught behind off Chris Gilthorpe on 15, but the umpires were unmoved and he went on to pile up 89 in a team total of 211-8. Kimbolton dug in to reach 152-6 in reply with Biddle unbeaten on 68.

Biddle insists he has no beef with Arsal for not walking even though the incident is likely to be a defining moment in Kimbolton’s season.

Biddle said: “Everyone in the ground knew it was out apart from the men who matter.

“That one dreadful decision changed the complexion of the whole game and damaged our chances of being promoted.

“I’ve got nothing against the player for not walking. Most people would have done the same thing in that situation - it was a derby game between two teams aiming for promotion.

“He did get a bit of abuse during the game, but he came over to apologise afterwards.

“He said he had a few poor decisions go against him this season, but had a bit of luck on this occasion.

“We are still in with an outside chance of promotion going into the final day and we would certainly have accepted being in that position before a ball had been bowled this summer.

“Perhaps we haven’t been quite good enough to go up over the course of the whole season, but we have certainly established ourselves back at this level.

“We have a solid base on which to build next season.”

Kimbolton, Huntingdon & District, and St Ives all feature among five sides, covered by 13 points, who could still go up on the final day of the season this Saturday.

Third-placed Huntingdon & District have the best prospects of the locals as they travel to Sawston & Babraham in their final fixture.

St Ives are likely to be left to regret a costly loss against strugglers Khalsa last Saturday.

Richard Greiller and Jack Haycock both hit half-centuries as St Ives amassed 184-6, but their Peterborough opponents completed a successful chase with more than an over to spare.

Kimbolton host St Ives this Saturday with both sides needing a big win and also being reliant on results elsewhere.

Second-placed Blunham are favourites to go up, but they face a tricky test at fourth-placed Fordham.

Champions Eaton Socon have missed all the drama behind them. Terry Day’s side drew their penultimate fixture at Sawston & Babraham last Saturday.

Matt Taylor top-scored with 63 as they amassed 177-6 but their hosts survived on 150-8.

Eaton Socon bring down the curtain on their best-ever season at Abington this Saturday.