Chris Nash was able to celebrate this weekend, a rare occurrence over a difficult last 10 months.
Warwickshire's victory over Lancashire ensured Notts Outlaws qualified for the knock-out stages of the Royal London One Day Cup, safe in the knowledge that victory over Northamptonshire on Monday will secure a home semi-final.
On top of that, Cardiff City's defeat to Crystal Palace meant Brighton stayed up, meaning Seagulls fan Nash can enjoy another season of Premier League football.
Moments of relief were few and far between for a long while though for Nash, after he separated his right shoulder and tore a tendon last July in the opening Vitality Blast game.
It led to the most testing time of his career, with long hours of solitude for a normally vibrant character in the Trent Bridge home dressing room.
Even now, the former Sussex batsman suffers from pain if he sleeps the wrong way, but he is delighted to be fit and back in the Notts team having already hit four half centuries this season.
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"It's normally a year to 18 months until full recovery. I've put in a lot of work and feel like I'm four or five months ahead of schedule," he said.
"It's feeling really good from where I thought it would be. I'm happy.
"Sleeping on my right hand side, if I roll over and wake up in the morning then I'm in agony! It's a process and it was a big injury, a big operation.
"I've had to work hard over the winter and I'm happy to see it pay off.
"I've barely had an injury in my career, apart from having sepsis a few years ago, although I'm not sure that counts as an injury.
"It was the toughest time of my career with the injury. I had a lot of time on my own.
"I was down in Brighton in a gym on my own for two months, then it was a lot of time with Pipey (Notts physio James Pipe).
"It was only January when I could join in with the lads. I'm very lucky to have family around me and great support here."
Nash, 35, joined Notts on a three-year contract last summer. Year one, by his own admission was not a success.
Batsmen across the country struggled in testing early season conditions, then he got injured when the sun came out from behind the clouds, just as his form was following suit.
"It only makes me more determined to make a success of it here. It's great being here and trying to challenge for trophies. Last year was a tough year personally," he said.
"It was a tough year for a lot of the batters. There were a lot of low scores around last year in April and May.
"Then I got injured and that was hard. When you aren't playing as an older player, it really gets to you.
"I was coming into form when I got injured. Last year was very frustrating."
Notts is no longer an old boys club when it comes to the make-up of the squad. Twenty-somethings Ben Slater, Ben Duckett, Joe Clarke and Zak Chappell have arrived and dragged down the average.
Nash is now an elder statesman, but he welcomes the presence of young blood.
"It's a good challenge having players come in. I'm 35, almost 36. It could have been easy for me to be comfortable, but I wanted to be here and push myself with great coaches at a big club," he said.
"When they signed new players, anyone who says they don't enjoy that is doing themselves a disservice.
"For me as an older player, it's a new dimension and a new challenge to perform and stay in the team.
"The average has come down and I am an older player, but playing with young guys makes you feel young again.
"If you're in an old team you can feel old together. For me, I've been around Ducky (Duckett) and Clarkey (Clarke) a lot and it's been great."
Notts Outlaws squad to face Northants (from): Jake Ball, Matthew Carter, Zak Chappell, Joe Clarke, Ben Duckett, Alex Hales, Luke Fletcher, Jake Libby, Tom Moores, Steven Mullaney (c), Chris Nash, Samit Patel, James Pattinson, Luke Wood.
Elsewhere, Duckett made nine for England in his international T20 debut, a seven wicket win over Pakistan in Cardiff.
