Blackhawks bag fourth title this season

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The PIC Liberta Blackhawks lifted their fourth championship of the 2017 season after capturing the Antigua & Barbuda Cricket Association’s (ABCA) State Insurance Corporation 40 Overs finals on Sunday.
Playing at Barrel of Beef in Liberta, the home team rallied to a seven-wicket victory over rivals Empire as they took their tally of titles between 2008 and 2017 to 28 overall.
Winning the toss and opting to bat, Empire could only reach 113 before they were all out in 30.3 overs. Brandon Jn Baptiste top-scored for the visitors with 29, while Karima Gore dominated with the ball for the home team, bagging three wickets for 23 runs.
Blackhawks, in reply, reached 116 for three off just 15.1 overs. West Indies A and Leeward Islands’ all-rounder, Rahkeem Cornwall, top-scored with 29 runs.
Coach of the Liberta Blackhawks, Wilden Cornwall, welcomed yet another title but fears winning may become monotonous for his players.
“It has become very difficult for the past year or so because we keep winning and we keep training and I could see a little boredom in some of the players. Sometimes, it is very difficult to motivate them but at the end of the day, these guys love cricket and they want to represent their community and they want to do well,” he said.
“Some of them have bright futures ahead of them so it is very important that we keep on saying the right things to them so they can be motivated and want to go out there and win every time.” 
The former national and Leeward Islands player added that based on the next crop of players set to break onto the scene, the future looks bright for Liberta.
“We won some of these championships with 13 year olds and about four of them made their debuts. Two of them made their 40 overs debut and two made their debut who are 10 and 12 years old and so the future is really bright for our youngsters in Liberta. We have a five-year programme with about 15 youngsters in training so some more Jimbo [Rahkeem Cornwall] and Polo [Wilden Cornwall] are in the making,” Cornwall said.
Karima Gore was named player of the finals for his three-wicket haul.
In the Two-Day competition, which was won by the Liberta Blackhawks, Gore was rewarded for being the top scorer with 421 runs while Kadeem Phillip, also of Blackhawks, took the most wickets at 31. Caribbean Union Bank (CUB) Bethesda Golden Eagles and the Burton’s Laundry All Saints Pythons were second and third respectively.
 
 
 
 

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