The wait is all but over. Most sightscreens are up, the coloured jerseys are washed and pressed, and that new-ball shine is calling.

From power plays that explode to death overs that break hearts, the cricket season starts today with new signings, old rivalries and fresh pitches ready to be broken in.

Every dot ball matters and wickets speak volumes, while every six is its own chapter.

Spring is almost a memory and it’s time for the “Boys of Summer” to take centre stage. Here is The Royal Gazette’s guide to what we can expect from the teams this year.

St David’s Cricket Club

St David’s enjoyed a stellar 2025 season, sweeping both the T20 and 50 overs competitions with something approaching contemptuous ease under the leadership of the father/son and coach/captain duo of Ricky and Derrick Brangman.

This year should reveal whether 2025 was a true barometer of the club’s potential or a dramatically false reading — the kind that lulls one into complacency just before the floor gives way.

The transfer market has not been kind. Gone is the majority of the club’s top order, with brothers Onias and Oronde Bascome, along with Tre Manders, all having packed their bags and moved on.

Add to that the loss of frontline left-arm spinner Kevon Fubler and promising Under-19 bowler Sa-Qui Robinson, and Derrick Brangman enters 2026 carrying the weight of the bowling attack on his shoulders as well as the captaincy.

With a giant bullseye affixed to their backs and half their squad having defected, 2026 promises to be less a title defence and more a survival exercise for St David’s, although they did beat St George’s in the Champion of Champions curtain-raiser two weeks ago.

St George’s Cricket Club

St George’s, despite falling agonisingly short of the mark in limited-overs league action and failing to make significant inroads during Cup Match, still enjoyed more success than most in 2025.

Clay Smith’s charges came good in single-elimination competition, winning both the T20 and 40-Over knockout competitions.

The team rallied around first-year captain Sinclair Smith, and while they may be disappointed to have lost Clay Darrell in the transfer market, they have picked up youthful talents Keegan Jones, Sa-Qui Robinson and De-Nyi Thomas.

That trio of Bermuda youth internationals possesses potential to achieve. However, while Jones and Robinson are expected to be available to contribute immediately, Thomas’s presence may be infrequent due to his pursuit of a professional career in England.

Southampton Rangers Sports Club

Southampton Rangers arrive in the Premier Division newly promoted and with absolutely no intention of behaving like short-term visitors. The South Shore club enters 2026 with great expectations..

Club president Darren Burchall and his cricket committee have recruited a host of established talent, with Herbie Bascome coming in as coach and Clevie Wade assisting.

Young captain Dalin Richardson now has assets in all departments with specialist batters Deunte Darrell, Onias Bascome, Oronde Bascome and Alex Dore; elite all-rounders, including Delray Rawlins, Alex Dore, Allan Douglas Jr, and Dion Stovell; as well as Darrien Gibbons, Seth Campbell, and Jordan DeSilva.

Rangers, stocked with the kind of talent that raises eyebrows at selection meetings, possess the components to win it all.

Bailey’s Bay Cricket Club

If St David’s had a rough offseason, Bailey’s Bay had a worse one. The departure of former Bermuda captain Rawlins is not so much a transfer as a seismic event — the kind that leaves a crater.

Even with Rawlins available, Bay struggled last year, which does not bode well, with the hole left by the early order batters massive and requiring all hands on deck to cover it.

Fortunately, they have been able to attract a quartet of rising stars in the form of wicketkeeper/batter Jahnoi Bean, early order bat Jaiden Manders, and all-rounder Tai Cariah. They are former Bermuda Under-19 members, while Jahir Smith is a four-sport athlete bursting with potential.

Also departed is coach Gus Logie, leaving former team-mates Irving Romaine and Roderick Masters to share the coaching burden. Rodney Trott takes the T20 captaincy, relieving Terryn Fray, who retains the 50-over reins.

Greater consistency will be demanded from the likes of Michael Agard, Azende Furbert, Jarryd Richardson and Sharye Tavares if Bay are to have a chance of avoiding another year of mediocrity.

As it stands, Bay’s best chance for success will be during the Eastern Counties Cup, in which they will be able to bolster their ranks with the likes of Rawlins, Derrick Brangman and Tre Manders for a run at the crown they surrendered to Cleveland County last year.

Somerset Cricket Club

For much of the past two decades, Somerset’s reputation has rested almost entirely on Cup Match heroics, but last year under new captain Dominic Sabir and coach Janeiro Tucker they set about dismantling that reputation.

Sabir guided the West Enders to second in the T20 Premier Division before narrowly missing a similar finish in the 50 overs competition — ending third behind St George’s by a 0.375 deficit on net run-rate.

Somerset were among the busiest operators in the offseason, losing three players, including frontline medium-pacer Jermal Proctor, who departed following what is diplomatically described as a dispute with the club.

The other two departures — Jahnoi Bean and Tai Cariah — played little, and their absences are more than offset by the arrivals of Callum MacFarlane, Jan-Johan Nel, Kwasi James, Zeri Tomlinson and the trailblazing Brianna Ray, who last year became the first female cricketer to play in a Colts Cup Match.

Warwick Workmen’s Club

Warwick spent much of last season with one foot in the Premier Division and the other hovering over the trapdoor, escaping relegation on the final weekend. Expect more of the same nail-biting in 2026.

While their established rivals — and literal landlords — Southampton have been aggressively stocking up on talent, Warwick has spent the offseason treading water.

Gone to pastures further west are valued youngsters Callum MacFarlane and Zeri Tomlinson, who have signed with Somerset, while veteran slow bowler Kevon Fubler has come on board, joining medium pacer Seth Campbell, who has decided to make his loan permanent.

Luke Fulton, a Cup Match debutant last year, is playing throughout the summer, while Luke Horan will return later from his studies in England. Veterans Malachi Jones, Kamau Leverock and captain Staphen Dill will provide the experience.

PHC

PHC’s decision to accept a belated promotion spot in the T20 Premier Division is the cricketing equivalent of being invited to a dinner party after the menu has already been set. The seat is welcome; the timing, less so.

On one hand, they get to play at club cricket’s highest level but on the other they enter at a distinct disadvantage, having been unable to recruit from a position of strength during the offseason.

Perhaps as a consequence, just one new face — Jahmari Beach — has been added to a squad otherwise unchanged from a season ago, when PHC proved average in a below-par group. Being the best of a mediocre field is not quite the same as being good.

Remarkably, PHC’s most flattering comparison may be to defending champions St David’s, who themselves suffered a mass exodus of talent.

Conversely, PHC should do well in the First Division 50 Overs competition, ranking high among the favourites for one of two promotion spots.

Willow Cuts

Willow Cuts were once the kind of team you could rely on to surprise you — and not always in a bad way.

Better than most in the First Division, yet not quite ready for prime time, Cuts are a seasonal enigma — capable of derailing a title contender one week and collapsing against a bottom-feeder the next.

Such is indicated by the West End team’s presence in both divisions, with Cuts a favourite to contend in the T20 First Division but struggling in the longer limited overs version against the island’s best.

The loss of two of their leading lights, all-rounder Kwasi James, who has returned to Somerset, and accomplished early order batter Deunte Darrell, presents a dilemma not easily resolved.

The departures severely deplete their bowling and batting departments, with no known high-quality replacements recruited.

Great responsibility will rest upon the shoulders of Captain Ras Solomon Burrows, veteran Dwight Basden, and Shaquille Bean to carry the scoring burden, while the likes of Chakote Wainwright and Nyrico Swan may have to adjust to being frontline bowlers.

Cuts’ best chance for glory lies in the Western Counties Cup, where guest players can be imported like reinforcements arriving just in time for the siege and where wresting the trophy from Warwick stands as a plausible ambition.

Cleveland

Last season was a tale of two Clevelands.

There was the jubilant version that finally captured the Eastern Counties Cup after a long and patient wait. And then there was the other version — the one that suffered the ignominy of relegation in both limited-overs leagues. Both are true. Neither cancels the other out.

What had started as a season of genuine hope steadily dissolved into one of disappointment and drift as Cleveland consistently underperformed

The first sign that something was off arrived midway through the season, when legendary former all-rounder Clevie Wade resigned as coach at the conclusion of the ill-fated T20 campaign — a campaign that had already sealed the club’s relegation fate.

Stepping into the void, Herbie Bascome, regarded by many as among local cricket’s most astute minds, likewise was unable to devise solutions to the equation, as a similar scenario occurred in the 50-over format.

Good news for the club arrived with the offseason signings of Jermal Proctor, Clay Darrell, and Shaquille Pitcher, with Proctor the main prize.

Though not yet equipped for prime time, Cleveland should have few problems asserting dominance in the lower echelon, which after last year is exactly where they find themselves and exactly where the rebuilding must begin.

Flatts

The late C.V. [Jim] Woolridge, the self-proclaimed Voice of Summer, was many things — passionate, theatrical and devoted to Flatts Victoria above all reason.

The modern era of the club has spent years quietly failing to justify that faith and perhaps the defining image of Flatts’ 2025 campaign was their performance against Bailey’s Bay in the Eastern Counties first round, when they executed a masterclass in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory — a skill they have regrettably refined over the past few seasons.

Still, even the most committed losing streaks eventually run out of road. Flatts can hope 2026 is the year they finally cross the line from pretenders to genuine contenders — although hope, it must be said, has been their most consistent asset.

They appear to have benefited most from the demise of Western Stars, picking up two transfers in Master Temiko Wilson and Ryan Tyrell, as well as regaining the services of Treadwell Gibbons.

The trio immediately bolsters a top order and more than compensates for the loss of opening batter Jan-Johan Nel, who departed for Somerset in the offseason.

Such an influx may prove the tonic that Flatts has long needed — the difference between merely threatening success and actually delivering it.

Brother Jim would certainly approve.

Devonshire Rec

Devonshire Rec is a cautionary tale told in cricket whites — a once-mighty institution that now appears as a shadow of its former self, with precious little to suggest the dawn of a revival is anywhere on the horizon.

Already consigned to life in the lower reaches after a horrid 2025 campaign, Devonshire then endured the offseason equivalent of kicking a man while he’s down — the departure of several top players.

Gone to rival pastures are the likes of opening batter Treadwell Gibbons [Flatts], premier all-rounder Allan Douglas Jr [Southampton Rangers] and Shaquille Pitcher [Cleveland], leaving the club with a severe talent gap.

Considering Rec have made zero transfer additions to the depleted squad, matters appear likely to get considerably worse before they get even marginally better. In a division full of clubs hungry for promotion, standing still is the same as going backwards.

Somerset Bridge

While the rest of the island’s clubs obsess over promotion, recruitment, and silverware, Somerset Bridge has quietly committed to a different philosophy — one that prioritises participation, camaraderie, and the kind of cricket that reminds one of why one started playing in the first place.

Except for the six-week window when the Western Counties Cup demands their full attention, the White Hill club poses little threat to anyone but themselves. The Counties series stirs genuine ambition in the western region and 2026 will be no different — even if Bridge enters as a long shot to dislodge reigning champions Warwick or whoever else fancies wearing the crown.

Bridges possess no particular area of strength, and no one expects them to. But what they can be counted on to deliver is full commitment, good spirit and excellent community long after the stumps are drawn.