Antigua and Barbuda Falcons 191 for 7 (Lewis 48, Nawaz 33, Shadab 30, Holder 2-39) beat St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 187 for 6 (Shanaka 49*, Mayers 34, Springer 2-42) by three wickets
Antigua and Barbuda Falcons got the better of St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in a bottom-of-the-table contest in CPL 2026. Falcons won by three wickets with three balls left in the chase to move straight to No. 4 on the seven-team table, and kept Patriots in last place.
Asked to bat by Moeen Ali, Patriots started well. Kyle Mayers and Andre Fletcher took them to 51 by the end of the powerplay for the loss of Johnson Charles, who fell in the third over for a 14-ball 17.
The stand of 57 between Mayers and Fletcher was the best of the innings for Patriots, and while it set a platform, the 41 balls they took to get those runs meant the momentum was never really with them. Fletcher, in fact, took 24 balls for his 20.
Wickets fell quickly after the two of them were dismissed in the tenth over of the innings bowled by Moeen. Fletcher run out, and things didn’t get better as Kevin Wickham was dismissed cheaply by Shadab Khan soon. After 11 overs, Patriots were a shaky 80 for 4.
Jason Holder and Nikhil Chaudhary also couldn’t inject much momentum in their 46-run stand for the fifth wicket, which took 32 balls, but the impetus did eventually come, and it was thanks to Dasun Shanaka. Shanaka slammed 20 in nine balls in a 21-run stand with Holder that took 11 balls, and then went full throttle, hitting 29 more in just eight deliveries as he added 40 in 11 balls with countrymate Wanindu Hasaranga. Shanaka finished unbeaten on 49 from 17 balls with five fours and four sixes.
In the chase, Falcons lost Amir Jangoo in the first over, bowled by Mayers, but Patriots’ slow progress with the bat up to Shanaka’s entry came back to hurt them as the match wore on.
Evin Lewis and Karima Gore put up 34 runs in 24 balls for the second wicket, and then Lewis partnered with Hasan Nawaz for 78 more in 56 balls – not electric but quicker than Patriots went through the middle overs.
Lewis fell for 48 off 38 balls in the 14th over, and Nawaz went in the following over for 33 in 28. The job still needed to be done at that point with 74 needed in just under six overs, and that’s where Shadab raised his hand, scoring a quick 30 in 12 balls. With Moeen chipping in with an unbeaten 25 in 12 deliveries and Shamar Springer adding 15 in six, Falcons were past the line. Not very convincingly, but good enough on the day.
Cricinfo
