The cricket transfer talk took an interesting twist yesterday with Allan Douglas Jr of Cleveland rumoured to be switching to Eastern Counties rivals St David’s while Treadwell Gibbons Jr has returned to Western Stars.

Just days before the start of the season, Cleveland’s hopes of being serious title contenders after last season’s third-place finish have been dashed.

“Our ambitions for the season went from winning the league to survival,” Carlton Smith, the Cleveland president, said yesterday when he confirmed the rumours about Douglas who was last season’s captain.

No transfer paperwork had been received by the Bermuda Cricket Board yesterday for Douglas’s move, although there will be another late transfer period.

Smith did go to the BCB yesterday to sign the papers for Gibbons to return to his former club and later in the day the batsman was named in a transfer list posted on the Board’s website.

That list also included Derrick Brangman’s surprise transfer from Southampton Rangers to Bailey’s Bay.

Cleveland open their season tomorrow against Western Stars in the Twenty20 competition at Sea Breeze Oval, as brothers Wendell and Clay Smith, who coach Stars and Cleveland, go up against each other.

However much of the talk at the ground, no doubt, will surround the latest transfers with Cleveland now set to appoint a new captain in anticipation of Douglas leaving.

“I heard about it on Sunday night and Clay called me on Monday,” Smith said. “I haven’t talked to him [Douglas], but I can tell you it has been a trickle-down effect because for sure Treddy is going to leave and go back to Western Stars.

“I have to go to the board to sign his transfer form, Western Stars have been in his ear all winter to come back now that they’re up.”

Smith said the loss of Douglas and Gibbons, along with last season’s life ban imposed on wicketkeeper Jason Anderson, will be big losses to the Eastern Counties champions.

By leaving Cleveland’s league team, both players will also not be eligible to play for Cleveland in the counties this season as stipulated in the Eastern Counties rules.

“Before, when you leave [an Eastern Counties club] you had to sit out a year, but now if Allan and Treddy come back next year they can play county next year,” Smith said.

The third blow for Cleveland was the decision by Dion Stovell to transfer to St David’s from Southampton Rangers rather than join Cleveland, for whom he plays in the Eastern Counties. He was also linked with a move to Willow Cuts.

“I haven’t talked to him to find out what prompted him to go to St David’s,” Smith said. “He was really considering us but what made him go to St David’s I have no idea. I thought he was going to stay at Rangers.

“It’s amazing that this has happened within a month, from the plan that we had at the prize-giving of wanting to go for the league. We won County Cup, they brought back the Champion of Champions and we won that.”

According to Smith, Cleveland will have Jason Simons and Tamauri Tucker back playing this season, but otherwise the focus will be on bringing through young players.

“We have gone from possible title contenders to trying to survive along with possibly Western Stars and Willow Cuts. Treddy, Jason and Allan were my big three in the league, while adding Dion to the mix in county.

“Stars is Treddy’s home so I had no objection to signing his form. We talked about it in training and I think the captaincy is going to be offered back to Dennis Musson, our most senior player now.”

Gibbons is eligible to play for Stars against his former team tomorrow, possibly adding a little extra spice to the first competitive match of the season. The two teams also met at Sea Breeze Oval in a promotion/relegation play-off match in 2012 which Cleveland won by 29 runs after Stars failed to chase a modest 136.

They had to wait another three years before gaining promotion in Wendell Smith’s first season as coach last year. Stars have picked up three players in the late transfer period with Raul Khan joining them from Somerset Cricket Club, while Ian Armstrong is the latest player to depart champions Southampton Rangers, joining Stars.

Tomorrow’s second T20 match at Sea Breeze Oval will pit Bailey’s Bay against Willow Cuts, while Somerset Bridge will play St George’s at White Hill Field and Flatts will take on PHC in two First Division T20 matches. Matches start at 11am and 3pm.

LATE TRANSFERS

R Khan (Somerset to Western Stars); D Brangman (Southampton Rangers to Bailey’s Bay); T Gibbons (Cleveland to Western Stars); R Bean (Cleveland to PHC); I Armstrong (Southampton Rangers to Western Stars).