By Neto Baptiste
Although disenchanted, veteran Empire Nation player Justin Athanaze said the team must rebound from the disappointment of knowing they will not advance to the semifinal round of the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association (ABCA) Super40 competition this year.
According to reports, it is the first time in 12 years that the Gray’s Farm team will not be among the final four in the competition, after losing a crucial fixture to defending champions and frontrunners, Liberta Blackhawks on Saturday.
“For us, now, it’s just to see how much we can get out of this last game, get some confidence and some momentum going into the Cool & Smooth as long as it’s played and see what happens after that. We can’t really worry about what has happened over the last couple of weeks, we just have to move on and get things in place and move forward.
“We really wanted to win the game [against Liberta Blackhawks] on Saturday and then win the game [against Jennings Tigers] on Sunday and see what would happen with the last game coming up. But we knew that as long as we lost against Liberta, it would have pushed us back in terms of qualifying, so it’s just one of those things where we just need to lift our heads up and move on,” he said.
Empire were beaten by eight wickets on Saturday but rebounded to claim a 15-runs triumph over Jennings Tigers on Sunday, moving to 14 points and sixth on the standings with just one round of preliminary fixtures left in the competition.
However Athanaze, speaking during the Good Morning Jojo sports show’s Winners Circle this week, found some comfort in knowing the team was able to rebound on Sunday despite the letdown.
“As long as you can win the toss and bat first and get any type of score, and as long as you can get some of the top order batsmen early and put some pressure on the lower order, that would put us in a very good position to win the game, and eventually that happened,” the former national player said.
Blackhawks, on 30 points, have already qualified for the semis while four teams, Rising Sun Spartans, Pigotts Crushers, New Winthorpes Lions and Jennings Tigers, all on 22 points, will battle for the other three remaining spots.
Spartans will host Crushers at Rising Sun, Tigers will travel to Bethesda and Lions will welcome Blackhawks in the final round of preliminary matches on Saturday.