Republic Bank CPL… Falcons cruise past Kingsmen to lift 1st CPL title

By Jemima Holmes in Barbados

The Antigua and Barbuda Falcons, in just their third year as a franchise, put on a composed performance with bat and ball at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados on Sunday night to script their first Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) triumph.
The script was the same as the entire week prior in Bridgetown, with the team winning the toss and bowling first, going on to win the game.
Captain Moeen Ali left nothing to chance and even after Maaz Sadaqat slammed a historic CPL final century, the Falcons remained cool as a cucumber, hunting down 170 in 17 overs.

Sadaqat to the rescue…again
Sadaqat’s approach to the innings was the same as the two previous games the Jamaica Kingsmen played; on the very first ball of the over, he flicked Jayden Seales behind square for a maximum.

Seales had his revenge, albeit not on Sadaqat, as he stifled Kirk McKenzie with three dot balls before inviting him to edge one back to slip to close out the first over.
Keacy Carty’s stay was short-lived, amounting to just nine runs, after he tried to pierce the gap at cover, but instead found the hands of a leaping Shadab Khan.
All the while, Sadaqat was his usual aggressive self, ensuring at least a boundary in every over.
He was joined at the crease by his compatriot Saim Ayub after Carty’s dismissal and he too had a scare early on.
Ayub, going for the sweep shot, had Rahkeem Cornwall’s delivery crashing into his pad and the umpire took a moment before raising the finger. Ayub, though, went for the review right away and eventually lived to bat another day as the review showed that the ball came into contact with his glove first.
The Pakistani batsman then added insult to injury in the next delivery, going through cover for a boundary.
By the 10th over, Sadaqat had brought up his half-century, off 27 balls, much to the delight of an applauding Kingsmen dugout. Sadaqat celebrated with a maximum off Cornwall, down to long-off in the next delivery, to push the Kingsmen to 97-2 after 10.

Then, the unthinkable occurred. From just two down at the half-way mark, the Kingsmen found themselves reeling at 115-6 at the end of the 14th.
The decline began with Sufyan Moqim’s introduction in the 12th over. Ayub, now comfortable on 29 from 22 balls, mistimed the shot and found the fielder, Hasan Nawaz. Captain Rovman Powell, after dominating against Guyana two nights prior, only lasted three balls, chipping Moqim’s delivery to backward point for a duck.
With the Kingsmen in all sorts of trouble now, Romaine Morris did not help, getting trapped lbw by Shadab in the next over. Moqim struck again as Hasan Khan opted to go downtown in just his third ball faced and found Seales at long off.
Fifteen balls passed and it seemed as though the Kingsmen would settle with Keemo Paul joining Sadaqat at the crease after he survived an appeal for a catch at slip, which came off his forearm and not the glove/bat.
Paul did nothing with the lifeline, later chipping down the track to Moqim but missed and was stumped for 3 off 9 deliveries.
As if compensating for the loss of wickets, Sadaqat punished Joshua James in the following over, hitting him for 23 runs to bring up his second century of the season and second at Kensington Oval.
Sadaqat almost saw it through to the end of the innings, but, in an attempt to up the ante in the final balls of the game, found James at long off on the penultimate ball, off Shamar Springer’s bowling.
Sadaqat slammed eight fours and nine sixes in his 114 off 58 balls, which made up the bulk of the Kingsmen’s total. With just 2 and 11 runs coming off the 19th and 20th overs respectively, the Kingsmen eventually posted 170-9 in their 20 overs.
Moqim was the pick of the Falcons bowlers, snaring 4-14 from 4 overs while Joseph picked up 2-27 from 4.

Acing the chase
Similarly to his onslaught against the Guyana Amazon Warriors in Qualifier 1, Cornwall wasted no time in beginning the big hitting, slamming 20 runs off the first five balls of the innings. Ayub, however, had the last laugh, shattering Cornwall’s stumps on the last delivery of the over.
Evin Lewis picked up where Cornwall left off and by the fourth over, Amir Jangoo joined in the boundary hitting to keep the Falcons going at a decent pace.
The Kingsmen thought they had their breakthrough in the fifth, as Lewis holed out to long on for a catch. However, a quick review of the front foot showed Andre Russell to be over the line, thus causing Lewis to turn back from his walk to the dugout.
Lewis, on 12, punished the Kingsmen for the slip-up, hitting a further two fours and two sixes, for 38 off 26 before Vitel Lawes clipped his off stump.
Jamaica’s momentum seemed to lull after that wicket as maximums, boundaries, and frequent slip-ups in the field kept decreasing the asking equation for the Falcons.
Jangoo brought up his half century in the 15th over, punching Lawes downtown to long on and then following up with a single. By then, the ask was less than 20 off the final 30 balls and one could just feel like the Falcons already had it in the bag.
Hasan Nawaz, at the other end, was in a hurry, smashing Russell for two massive sixes in the 17th over to seal the championship in that over, with eight wickets to spare.