Antigua & Barbuda Falcons maintained their one hundred per cent home record as they beat the Trinbago Knight Riders by six wickets at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
The partnership of Kusal Perera and Shadab Khan, worth 76 unbeaten, was enough to bring the Falcons back from a precarious start to the run chase. Khan crafted arguably the performance of the tournament so far, as he starred with both bat and ball. An unbeaten 52 off just 20 balls and figures of just 1 for 8 from his four overs left no doubt who the Player of the Match award would go to.
But the Falcons showed plenty of gusto between the end of the Power Play and the strategic timeout, picking up the crucial wickets of Pooran and Munro as well as Matthew Breetzke in that period. After an early assault, the introduction of Khan and Tobagonian Joshua James into the attack, was a turning point for the home side. James took 2 for 23, including the notable scalps of Pooran and Keiron Pollard.
The Knight Riders would have felt disappointed to end 165 for 6 given the start they made. At one point the 200-mark seemed only a matter of time but the wickets that fell saw the Knight Riders lose their way. Aside from Pooran and Munro’s early antics, the rest of the team’s scores were rather ordinary and the momentum at the break was with the home side.
In the early stages of the run chase, it appeared the Falcons had taken inspiration from the Saint Lucia Kings a night previous and employed a cautious approach to their innings. The Power Play yielded just 33 runs with the loss of Rahkeem Cornwall. What followed was a fascinating battle between the two sides with the Falcons trying to keep a consistent pace just behind the required run rate and the Knight Riders bowlers taking a steady flow of wickets to stunt the momentum.
It looked like the Falcons just needed one hero to take them home as Amir Jangoo and Moeen Ali had threatened to be exactly that, before eventually falling into a mistake. They ended up with two as Perera and Khan put on a display of destructive hitting. The eighteenth over was the crucial blow, as twenty-one-year-old Nathan Edward got it all wrong, having bowled nicely previously. He conceded 27 runs in the over and even had to be replaced for the final ball by Pollard after a second waist-high no-ball.
After that, the game was in Falcons hands, needing 11 off 12. Shadab Khan had no time to wait around as he finished TKR off in three deliveries. Back-to-back wins for the Falcons that sees them go top of the table for now. Back-to-back defeats for the Knight Riders, as the defending champions haven’t had it their own way so far.
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