By Neto Baptiste
The Antigua and Barbuda Falcons are still searching for their best performance in this year’s Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League, according to head coach Paul Nixon.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday night’s crucial clash with the Trinbago Knight Riders in Trinidad, Nixon said the team continues to identify areas for improvement as they push for a place in the playoffs.
“We still haven’t played our best game, our A game. We still always strive for that and the boys have been practising well. We’re working hard, we’re working on our processes. We’re always learning, we’re watching every game as well. We keep learning and it’s a knockout stage now in our mindset so that’s the way we have to address these games. We’re always learning and that’s the great thing about this game. There’s always something to try and get better on. There’s always something to grow at and that’s what we try and do. We want players to come to us as well. We want self-thinking cricketers, that’s really important. The guys are in a good place and we’re confident and ready to go,” he said.
The Antigua and Barbuda Falcons currently sit atop the standings with nine points from eight matches, and a victory over Trinidad on Wednesday would put them in a strong position to secure one of the four playoff spots.
Despite being pleased with the team’s performance so far, Nixon told Observer Media that he also wants to see individual players reach their personal milestones, believing their success will ultimately benefit the team.
“I think we’ve seen a lot of world-class players. Saim Ayub, who got a great 100. Colin Munro scored a hundred, Hety [Hetmyer] scored hundreds, so I’d like to see one of our top-order batters put themselves in the position of scoring, facing 25, 30, 40 balls. I think it’s important that they can kick on now and get a 65-plus or a 70 to help win games, and that takes a lot of pressure off bowlers. We can be a little bit smarter with the ball at times. Every ball is an event in this format, and you have to respect that. Our bowling unit keeps making sure that we don’t just settle for the same field for a certain ball. We make sure that we are stringent with our discipline,” the coach said.
The Falcons have won four, suffered three defeats and had one no-result in their eight matches to date. The undefeated Guyana Amazon Warriors are second with eight points after four outings, with the St Lucia Kings, who were scheduled to face the Barbados Tridents on Tuesday night, third with eight points. A win for St Lucia would place them atop the standings with 10 points.
Nixon says Falcons yet to spread their wings as CPL playoff race intensifies
