Gloucestershire held their annual end-of-season presentation dinner in the Grace Room of the County Ground yesterday. The evening was in recognition of the players and was deemed “a huge success”.

The event included presentation of awards in recognition of the players’ achievements in the 2006 season. All of the awards were preceded by video clips of the season to evoke memories of the season’s highlights.

Some of the emerging young players were rewarded for their successful season including Jackson Thompson who was awarded the Collis Cup as Academy Player of the Year. The club also arranged for an award to be presented in recognition of the sad bereavement of Ray Parsons, the former chairman, last month. The Ray Parsons Award for The Young Player of the Season was presented by Ray’s widow, Fay to David Brown.

The Most Outstanding Individual Bowling Performance was awarded to Jon Lewis for the best bowling in an innings of a County Championship match (7 for 38) and the best in a match (10 for 75 against Somerset at Bristol).

The Most Outstanding Individual Batting Performance was awarded to Hamish Marshall for his unbeaten 105 in the Pro 40 against Surrey at The Oval in September. The award was collected on his behalf by Jon Lewis as Marshall was on his way back to New Zealand.

The Thule Champagne Moment allowed the attendees to enjoy a magnificent montage of cricket from the C&G Trophy match versus Surrey at Bristol. The award was presented by Pete Barker of Thule to David Brown for his debut match-winning innings of 63 not out from 26 balls during that match.

The final award of the evening was the presentation of the players' player of the season which was awarded by Club sponsors WDB Brands. The winner this year was Alex Gidman and proved to be a very well supported choice amongst the attendees at the dinner.