Ryan Higgins’ successful first season with Gloucestershire was marked by two awards at the club’s annual awards evening.

The 24-year-old all-rounder, signed from Middlesex last winter, collected both the Bowler-of-the-Year and the Players’ Player-of-the-Year accolades.

Higgins only just missed out on passing 500 runs and 50 wickets in the Specsaver County Championship Second Division.

He hit 482 runs in the competition and claimed 48 wickets, the latter tally bettered only by Warwickshire-bound Craig Miles, who ended the season on a high and finished with 56 victims.

Higgins’ success bowling with the red ball was a huge bonus from a young player, who arrived with the reputation of being more accomplished with the bat, and helped Gloucestershire overcome the loss of seamers David Payne, Liam Norwell and Dan Worrall through injury for much of the season.

The Batsman-of-the-Year award went to Chris Dent, who marked his first season as four-day captain by ending up leading run-maker in the Championship with 851.

Young Player-of-the-year was Miles Hammond, who responded to the challenge of opening the batting by averaging 34, while Ben Charlesworth took the Academy Player-of-the-Year prize, having broken into the first team impressively in the closing Championship games.

Ian Cockbain picked up the John Higson Memorial Award for the best one-day performance for his spectacular 123 in the Vitality Blast T20 game against Middlesex at Bristol.

Head coach Richard Dawson praised the team’s performances throughout the year and particularly over the last five weeks of the season.

An upsurge in form at and beyond the Cheltenham Festival saw Gloucestershire climb to fifth place in the Championship Second Division, having also reached the quarter-finals of the Blast.

A raffle and auction at the awards evening raised over £1500 for the club’s Academy.

Lisa Pagett, manager of Western Storm, told guests it had been another good year for the team, despite losing their semi-final match on Finals Day to eventual winners Surrey Stars.

She praised the contribution of the squad's international star Smriti Mandhana, who was superb with the bat this summer and also spoke highly of the quality shown all year by the players.

Awards were also made to Gloucestershire Womens’ team. The Player-of-the-Year and Batsman-of-the-Year was Abby Evans, while Bowler-of-the-Year went to Charlie Phillips.