Saturday was one of the most memorable days in Freddie Khan’s life. Not only did he see his daughter get married, the Huntingdon & District CC captain also managed to get back in time to see his side crowned league champions.

A victory over Ickwell in their penultimate fixture in Hunts County Bats Division One clinched the title and promotion to the Tucker Gardner Premier League.

Khan said: “When my daughter told me of the date for the wedding I was aghast. I told her then it could well be a crucial day in the club’s recent history, but there was no changing of dates so there I was, watching her go through the religious ceremony with half my mind wondering what was happening at the match.

“I selected the team, put things in place so everyone knew what they had to do and went to the wedding. I had to turn my phone off because I was continually getting text messages about the state of play.

“Finally the religious bit was over and my daughter looked over and said I could go to the cricket.

“I got there about 5.45pm and it was looking as if Ickwell might win. They had a couple of batsmen going well and our slow bowlers were running out of ideas. I stood on the boundary shouting instructions, made a few changes with the bowling and they collapsed.

“We won by about 40 runs and after seven years of finishing runners-up we had won the title and got back to the Tucker Gardner Premier League after an absence of goodness knows how long.”

Indeed, the club had played in Division 1 of the Tucker Gardner league around 15 years ago. Khan was in Pakistan when the league kicked them out for continually failing to get a team out and they had to start again in division five of the County Bats competition.

They consolidated, gradually worked their way up and eventually got into division one, where they appeared to be always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

It was ironic then that on a day when his daughter became a bride that his team should also take the top prize.

“I only became skipper again at the start of the season,” said Khan. “I persuaded a few players who had left to return, got in an overseas player I knew from Pakistan and reckoned things would work out when we beat two of the better teams twice. In the big games we got most things right and are back where we belong.”