Willow Cuts have been declared the winners of Saturday's controversy-riddled Premier Division Knockout match against Cleveland.

Top umpire Randy Butler confirmed the result yesterday, adding that there would be no need for Bermuda Cricket Board to make a ruling as originally had been reported.

Confusion reigned at the end of the match because of discrepancies in the two scorebooks. And although Butler, one of two umpires in attendance, ruled that Cuts were victorious, the Cleveland scorekeeper and some of their players felt otherwise.

Cleveland player Aaron Adams told The Royal Gazette after the match: "We don't know what's the case. There are discrepancies all over the place and we will have to wait and see what happens . . ."

However, Butler said yesterday: "There is no discrepancy . . . Willow Cuts were the winners by a one-run margin and that is what our report to the Board will say.

"We (he and second umpire Richard Austin) checked on the scores throughout the day, and certainly after the two teams had completed their innings, the two scorers agreed on the scores."

While the Cleveland scorebook showed Willow Cuts to have scored 169 when they batted first, Butler said that their total was in fact 177.

And he insisted that when Cleveland went in to bat, all of their players and the opposition knew that the winning target was 178.

"That was the case. The Willow Cuts score of 177 was posted on the scoreboard and that was always the target," said Butler.

The Cleveland scorebook initially showed that they finished on 178, but when the individual scores and the extras were added up the correct total came to 176.

"There were certainly a lot of inaccuracies in the Cleveland scorebook, but the Willow Cuts scorebook was fine. They had everything down in order, they were more correct than Cleveland," said Butler.

"Furthermore the regular scoreboard was being updated every over after 40 overs while Cleveland were chasing the winning target. Everybody was happy and accepting things as play progressed. And Cleveland went off the field knowing that they had lost by one run, there were no complaints, everybody was happy.

"There was no talk about any controversy when it was all over, everybody accepted the result and with the scorers agreeing we all left the game."

However, Butler, secretary of Bermuda Cricket Umpires Association, reminded clubs that to avoid future problems, they should ensure their scorekeepers were qualified and familiar with all of the umpires' signals.