Allan Douglas Jr of St David’s and Jordan DeSilva, the Somerset captain, were voted Most Valuable Players for the Premier and First Divisions at the Bermuda Cricket Board’s annual awards ceremony on Saturday night at the Gosling’s Wine Cellar.

Douglas, who transferred from Cleveland to St David’s after playing two games for his former club, had an outstanding first season with St David’s, finishing top scorer in the division with 482 runs as the team went on to win the Premier Division title.

His outstanding early season form with both the bat and ball earned him a recall to the St George’s Cup Match team where he scored 77 and 33 and claimed five wickets for 64 runs.

“I wasn’t going to St David’s to be the main man, I wanted to have a relaxing season and enjoy my cricket with a good group of guys,” said Douglas, who acknowledged that the decision to leave Cleveland did not exactly go down well with some fans.

“I had real strong support from my St David’s supporters and they made me feel right at home. Some players and fans just threw me to the wayside when I left [Cleveland] but the captain [Dennis Musson] had my back and supported me. I talked to him and told him ‘I want to win the league and I don’t see the club bringing in players to help us win the league, so it’s time for me to move on’.

“He said ‘man, I don’t knock you for that, go ahead and do your thing’. I appreciate him for that. People are gradually getting over it, I still go around there and have a drink, but the seriousness of it is gone out the window now that the season is done and dusted.”

Douglas almost won the Cup Match MVP award after his outstanding all-round performance, but was beaten by century maker Janeiro Tucker.

“I was out of Cup Match for two years after they dropped me in 2014, but it was good to be back in Cup Match for St George’s,” Douglas said. “The main aspect of my game is my fielding but my batting and bowling finally came along and people have started to respect me as a spinner.”

DeSilva also led his league team to success after taking over the captaincy from Jekon Edness, guiding the West End club back into the Premier Division as champions. He led from the front scoring a division high 408 runs, including a knock of 120 which was the highest individual score in the Logic First Division.

DeSilva was also the only First Division player to score two league centuries and was joint high with most catches (seven) with Logan Phillips of Flatts, and Lamont Brangman of Devonshire Rec. Janeiro Tucker had the most catches in the Premier Division with 11.

DeSilva stressed that his priority as new Somerset captain was winning promotion.

“That was the main goal, we weren’t happy with getting relegated,” DeSilva said. “Our goal was to win everything that was available, the only thing we didn’t do was go undefeated after losing one league game.

“But getting promoted and winning the Twenty20, we can say it was a good season.

“We may not have the most talented players, but we’re a tight-knit unit and a young team, with just two players over the age of 30.

“This was a division lower than where I wanted to be, but you can only play the opposition that’s put in front of you. As a team we all said let’s go out there and prove why we should be in the Premier Division. It was a good team effort and we made the best of our situation.”

Both clubs claimed several honours, with George Cannonier of St David’s taking the Premier Division’s Coach of the Year award after edging out the likes of Irving Romaine of Bailey’s Bay, and Wendell Smith, whose Western Stars team finished a respectable fourth in their first season back in the top flight.

St David’s also won the Best Hosted Venue award for providing a clean and spacious room for the umpires, with an excellent view of the wicket. Tea was always on time and well prepared.

Southampton Rangers won the Best Club Tea award as voted by the captains.

Samantha Robinson of St David’s was voted by the umpires as the BCB Scorekeeper of the Year for her willingness to assist the officials, always making their task easier and constantly on time and with excellent record keeping.

There were ties for most wickets in the two divisions, with Dean Stephens of Willow Cuts and Vernon Eve of Southampton Rangers claiming 29 wickets in the Premier Division. Paul Carr-Harvey of Flatts, and Macai Simmons of St George’s, shared the First division awards with 22 wickets apiece.

Somerset’s Jacobi Robinson was the only bowler to get two five-wicket hauls, while Reid Jones of Somerset was named the Groundsman of the Year for the quality of his wickets all year. Jeff Richardson of Somerset claimed the First Division Coach of the Year, ahead of Ryan Steede of St George’s.

Top wicketkeepers were Temiko Wilson of Western Stars in the Premier Division, and Ricardo Brangman of Rangers, each with 14 dismissals, with Wilson, who also scored 347 runs, taking the Wicketkeeper of the Year award. He also had nine catches and five stumpings, while Brangman had 12 catches and two stumpings.

Cal Waldron of PHC won the Special Coach award, given to a coach who goes beyond the call of duty. He assisted with the under-14 and under-16 academy teams, as well as running the youth programme at his own club.

Bailey’s Bay won the Twenty20 Premier division title, while Nyhrobi Carmichael, their young fast bowler, was named the emerging Young Player of the Year after helping the team win the Belco Cup and Twenty20.

Terryn Fray of Bailey’s Bay won the award for posting the highest Premier Division score, a knock of 131, while the best bowling performance went to Vernon Eve of Southampton Rangers, who claimed six wickets for just six runs in a match against Western Stars.

The Chivas Team Sportsmanship award, as voted by the umpires, went to Bailey’s Bay whose discipline, organisation and friendliness did not go unnoticed by the officials. Melvin Best was the Umpire of the Year, while Alex Knight won the Emerging Umpire of the Year award.

The final award of the night — the Special Achievement Award — was presented to St George’s stalwart Leroy “Tubby” Richardson, at 95 the oldest surviving former Cup Match player, who still watches cricket on a regular basis and never misses Cup Match.

Richardson began playing cricket in 1939 and played his first Cup Match in 1941 in Somerset. He also captained St George’s in Cup Match before playing his last Cup Match in 1955.

“To all you young men I say please play the game hard but play it clean. This business about approaching the umpire because they make a decision that you think is wrong, forget it, play the game clean,” Richardson said to a round of applause.