By Neto Baptiste
PIC Liberta Blackhawks all-rounder Amahl Nathaniel is commending a number of young players for showing grit on the opening weekend of the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association (ABCA) Two Day Competition.
Nathaniel blasted 116 from 114 deliveries with 12 fours and four sixes as Blackhawks rallied to an impressive innings and 164 runs triumph over CUB Bethesda Golden Eagles in Bethesda. Although the performance earned him the player of the match accolade, Nathaniel said he was pleased to see a number of other players contributing with match winning performances as well.
“To see the youngsters in the team putting up their hands and to see Michael Greaves getting 95 but unfortunately he didn’t convert but to see him start the season with that 95 and to see Joshua get his hundred against Bethesda are good signs, especially early in the competition. It shows that we have some persons capable of getting bigger scores,” he said.
Nathaniel also pointed to Joshua Thomas who made 103 a major contributor.
He however underscored the important role played by the teams bowling attack to limit the opponents’ batting strength to subpar scores.
“We have our veteran Mr Elvis Weaver and he came and put the pall in his areas and he was destructive. Our newcomer, Elroy Francis, he was marvelous as well and they just basically ran riot in the first half. They had some resilience from their opening batsman in Teron Payne but Mr Cornwall’s experience was enough to dismiss him and then we had Kadeem Phillip just wrap up the last two wickets. We were never worried, it was just all about being consistent and being patient and that was all we were focused on and we stuck to those two things we knew that eventually everything would come into our favour,” the player said.
Asked about the team’s preparation leading into the competition, Nathaniel said they made the best of the time they were given to get ready.
“We would not have gotten the time we would have liked but Liberta, we keep things simple, we stick to the basics and we had a decent pre-season. Guys were in the gym, guys were doing a lot of running and Mr. Benjamin [Kenneth] made sure the facilities were available for us to do a lot of drills and that’s basically what we did, we stuck to the basics leading into the season,” he said.
Bethesda made 48 and 171 all out while Liberta posted 384 for seven declared to easily win the clash.
