Jacobs cautious despite convincing LICA victories

Antigua Observer article.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Despite their dominance in both the LICA Three-Day and 50-Overs formats of the game against visiting Montserrat, Antigua & Barbuda senior national cricket team’s head coach, Ridley Jacobs, said they must improve in some areas ahead of their next clash against Nevis starting October 11.

“We messed up a little bit in our fielding department, and that’s one of the areas we are going to focus on and also our batting and our bowling because we need to do better than what we are doing because there is still room for improvement. Those are the areas we are going to be focusing on these next couple of days going to Nevis,” he said.

Antigua & Barbuda trounced Montserrat by 201 runs in a 50-Overs match at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Grounds (SVRCG) on Sunday.

The hard work put in by both players and coaching staff, according to Jacobs, is paying dividends.

“They normally say that once you train properly and do the right things over and over, it becomes a habit and we had some good practice games where players perform very well. And it’s the same thing that happened in the last game we played so it’s just a continuation. The players have been performing in the trials and now that it is competition time, they have been performing, so the hard work has paid off,” the coach said.

Antigua & Barbuda dominated with bat and ball on Sunday, making 304 for nine in their 50 overs.

Orlando “Baby” Peters top scored with 90 off 94 deliveries while Devon Thomas, Sylvester “Bouncing” Joseph and Rahkeem “Jimbo” Cornwall had knocks 46, 45 and 34 runs respectively.

Montserrat then tumbled to 103 all out in 29.5 overs. Dino Baker was the only scorer of note with 46 runs. Cornwall bagged three wickets for three runs, Gavin Tonge snatched two for nine and Peters picked-up two for 13.

On Friday, Antigua & Barbuda had defeated Montserrat by an innings and 189 runs victory in a Three-Day match at the same venue.