Dion Stovell is at the centre of a transfer tug-of-war after opting to leave Southampton Rangers.

Last season’s most valuable Premier Division player has handed in a transfer request, with Cleveland County and Willow Cuts now battling for his services.

Rangers will be loathed to lose someone of Stovell’s talents, although there is a suggestion that the Rangers all-rounder is merely testing the waters with his request.

Stovell played an integral role in Southampton’s successful Premier Division title bid last season, shining with both bat and ball.

He finished as the league’s top scorer with 402 runs at an average of 57.43 and claimed 16 wickets at an average of 15.75 with his off spin to earn the Premier Division most valuable player award.

Losing a player of Stovell’s calibre would be a heavy blow to Rangers’s title defence.

“Dion has put in a request for a transfer,” Gerri Saltus, the Southampton Rangers Sports Club president, said. “He is in limbo at the moment.”

Both Cleveland and Cuts have spoken to Stovell about joining them in the top flight this season, with Carlton Smith, the Cleveland president, pointing to the connections the batsman already has with the Eastern Counties side.

Willow Cuts, meanwhile, have hinted that Stovell could play a major part in helping develop their promising young side, although Dexter Basden, the Cuts coach, indicated that his club’s bid for Stovell’s services was more in hope than expectation.

Having represented Cleveland in the Eastern Counties at both senior and junior levels, the Harris Bay club have every right to feel positive about their chances of securing the services of Stovell, who led them to victory over Flatts in the second round of last season’s Eastern Counties deputising for suspended captain Dennis Musson Jr.

“A lot of people don’t know that Dion grew up playing Junior Eastern Counties for us, so it’s not like unchartered territory for him,” Carlton Smith, the Cleveland County president, said.

“He feels at home with us and also knows what Clay [Smith] brings, which is a key factor.

“He knows we have a good programme at Cleveland and are trying to keep it going.”

Dexter Basden, the Willow Cuts coach, hopes that Stovell decides to take his talents further west to his club.

“I have been in talks with him and he has always liked Willow Cuts’ style of play,” the former Somerset Cup Match captain said.

“A player of his calibre can help a lot of our youngsters coming through because there’s a few senior guys who will definitely take a back seat this season, including myself, and Dion would be an asset to us.

“We are just keeping our fingers crossed and waiting to see what happens.”

Meanwhile, five of the island’s clubs have written to the Bermuda Cricket Board requesting a special meeting to outline their concerns about the way the game is being run locally.

In a letter sent on March 4 and addressed to Lloyd Fray, the BCB president, representatives from five of the island’s clubs have asked the Board to convene a special meeting.

Although the clubs did not reveal their concerns over the state of the sport, the structure of six-team Premier Division is believed to be among them.

The letter reads: “Dear Lloyd, we are writing to you to request that the following clause of the Bermuda Cricket Board Constitution be invoked which states....a special meeting of the Board may be called by a resolution of the Board or by written request of at least (5) Board Members of the Board.

“We therefore ask that a meeting of the board be convened within fourteen days of this letter.

“There are some concerns regarding the state of cricket in Bermuda which the list of clubs attached would like to have addressed at this meeting.

“We thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.”

In a brief statement yesterday, the BCB acknowledged it had received the letter from the concerned clubs “and is currently in the process of inviting the clubs [to a meeting] in the near future.”