By Neto Baptiste
The Jennings cricket team is wasting no time at looking at a scenario where they are declared champions of the now-postponed Two Day cricket competition hosted by the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association (ABCA).
The association, last Friday, announced the postponing of its competition following a directive from the Ministry of Sports that mass gatherings be avoided.
President of the Jennings Cricket Club, Glen Miller, said that should the competition be abandoned, Jennings should be declared champions given their position at the top of the standings.
“We have no control over this, it is a world crisis and whatever decision the officials deem fit but I don’t think that Jennings can come out on the sour end of the stick because we play a points-tournament and if semifinals and final cannot take place then in my opinion, we are leading the competition so if the competition is halted and you have to declare a champion, Jennings is champion,” he said.
Kenneth Benjamin, president and coach of former champions Liberta Blackhawks, however strongly disagreed with Miller, accusing the Jennings boss of proposing a scenario which benefits only him.
“The Blackhawks have won the Two Day championships five out of the last seven years and Liberta has been pushing to stop semifinals and finals and let the teams with the most points win and all of them keep saying it is going to benefit Liberta and I keep telling them that one of these days Liberta will not come first. Miller is a strong advocate for that, saying there should be a semifinal and final but nobody else in the world have semifinal and final in Two Day cricket anymore, you play for points,” the former West Indies player said.
“Now that Jennings is in the lead where the rules call for a semifinal and a final, Miller is now saying they should win because they have the most points but no chance, I will fight that down to the ground,” he added.
Meanwhile, coach of defending Two Day champions, Ajarni Frederick said Pigotts Crushers have put measures in place in an effort to avoid gatherings as they await further instructions from the relevant authorities.
“We have a group chat through which we converse in terms of getting information to the relevant personnel so it’s easier for us not to meet with each other [in person]. Some people come from different parts of the country and some people may be working at the time so it’s safer that way,” he said. A number of other associations, to include football, basketball, swimming and tennis have all ended activities related to their respective disciplines.