Four years after being “handed” the Eastern Counties Cup when St David’s boycotted the competition, Cleveland can now say they deserve to be holders of the Island’s oldest counties after a resounding 147-run win over St David’s last Saturday.

The win came 33 years and a day after Cleveland last got their hands on the cup, but now they can justifiably call themselves the Eastern Counties champions-elect. They picked a team that the community felt could pull off an upset and they did, scoring 282 for eight and then dismissing St David’s for a mere 135.

Carlton “Pluke” Smith, their president, who made the bold decision to bring back Clay Smith as coach, was almost lost for words at the trophy presentation where colt Jason Anderson was named man of the match for his 76 and three catches behind the stumps.

“Friends who I played with, Aaron Adams, Peter Philpott and Courtney Trott, I’m just glad for them that they have won it,” said Smith, a former Cleveland player himself.

“I feel like I’ve won it, too, with some strategic moves I made as president as far as decisions with players and coaches. It’s just a great day for the Harris Bay-Devil’s Hole community. After the dust settles and the euphoria wears off, the next task is defending it in four weeks’ time and surviving in the Premier Division.”

Critics avoided calling them champions after 2010 series that began with St David’s boycotting their first-round match and handing the cup to Cleveland. That match was followed by draws with Flatts and Bailey’s Bay, but their grip was short-lived, as Bay took the cup off them in the opening round of the 2011 series.

Three years later and few can argue Cleveland’s right of place after they outplayed, and now they must prepare to meet Bay on August 16 to begin their defence.

“We’re in uncharted territory, trying to defend it after we’ve won it,” Smith said. “It was given to us a few years ago when St David’s backed out and we really didn’t feel like we lost it when we did lose it because we didn’t earn it.

“Now we worked hard and earned it, and we will do our best to defend it.”

Cleveland have come close to winning the cup over the years, including last year against holders Bailey’s Bay, only to see St David’s dethrone the champions in the second round.

“I’ve seen us put up a good total, get seven wickets and end in a draw, so until we got the last wicket [against St David’s] I wasn’t too comfortable,” Smith said.

“A big dark cloud could have come over and soaked the field, but everything went in our favour. Clay Smith is a good technical coach, captain Allan Douglas is a confident guy, period, and it filtered down to the team.”

Clay Smith earned family bragging rights after taking on brother Wendell, the St David’s coach, and winning. “This is probably the biggest moment of my coaching career,” he said.

“What it means to the people of Devil’s Hole is special. I’ve had so many of them say, ‘Clay, let’s put an end to this’ and today to see so many of them out here supporting us from ball one right to the end was very special.

“There was a period when Sammy [Robinson] and Delyone [Borden] were batting that it became a little stale and I just told the guys to keep patient and keep bowling at the stumps.

“The bowlers deserve tremendous applause for their work ethic. It was hot out there, a lot of them were cramping, but they fought through it. One thing I asked my players is I know we have the talent but do we have the heart and they showed they had the heart to win it. Jason was nothing short of first-class: his innings was superb and set the platform for the rest of the team to play their natural game.”

Douglas, who won on his debut as captain, admitted that he cried with relief that the long wait is finally over. “I’m 27 so I wasn’t even born when they last won it and have sat my whole life waiting for this trophy just like the elders in Harris Bay,” Douglas said. “This is definitely for them, not the players who are playing now.”

OJ Pitcher, the St David’s captain, who was the first wicket to fall, admitted that Cleveland deserved their win. “Some people are blaming some umpiring decisions for playing a role,” he said. “They may have, but you can’t blame the umpires, who make mistakes the same way us as players make mistakes.

“All I can say is congratulations to Cleveland; it was a long time coming. Now we just have to come back and regroup and next year, hopefully, we’ll win it on our home ground.”