Falcons Beat Barbados Royals by 6 Wickets for First CPL 2025 Win

 Antigua and Barbuda Falcons won a tight third match of The Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in front of their home fans at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, defeating Barbados Royals by 6 wickets with just two balls remaining in a pulsating affair.

The Royals are two-time CPL winners and had won the last two meetings with the Falcons but a litany of dropped catches and fluffed run outs cost them in their first outing of this year’s competition.

Falcons captain, Imad Wasim won the toss on a damp night in Antigua and his decision to chase proved to be a sage one with his side knowing what they needed to do and getting a chance to assess the best way to compile runs on a tricky surface.

Karima Gore was named the player of the match as his second consecutive fifty saw the Falcons chase down a target of 151, a mature innings saw him unbeaten on 64 off 53 deliveries.

Gore was ably supported by Jewel Andrew, the opener posting 28 off 25 deliveries before falling LBW to Jomel Warrican, who incidentally picked up his first CPL wicket in ten years, Jacques Kallis being his previous victim in the 2015 competition.

Fifties for Quinton de Kock and captain Rovman Powell gave the Royals hope of getting off to a winning start but Gore’s innings proved the decisive one, his accumulation of 24 singles interspersed with just five boundaries was noteworthy, “When I first went in, I'd just get used to the pitch but it seemed very difficult for me.” He said after the game, adding that “I pride myself on running, trying to keep as fit as possible… they always say singles are part of aggressive batting. So once you can run plenty with the odd boundaries, you will keep going.

Match Summary

Antigua and Barbuda Falcons vs Barbados Royals, Match 3

Antigua and Barbuda Falcons 152/4 (19.4 ov)

Barbados Royals 151/6 (20 ov)

Antigua and Barbuda Falcons won by 6 wickets

SCORECARD

Match Stats

Barbados Royals Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Brandon King - 1.5 ov), 2-33 (Kadeem Alleyne - 6.3 ov), 3-61 (Shaqkere Parris - 10.5 ov), 4-110 (Quinton De Kock - 16.3 ov), 5-117 (Sherfane Rutherford - 17.1 ov), 6-125 (Daniel Sams - 18.3 ov)

Antigua and Barbuda Falcon 1-18 (Rahkeem Cornwall - 2.2 ov), 2-57 (Jewel Andrew - 8.4 ov), 3-90 (Shakib Al Hasan - 13.5 ov), 4-122 (Imad Wasim - 17.1 ov)s Fall of wickets:

Playing XI

Antigua and Barbuda Falcons 

• Rahkeem Cornwall
• Jewel Andrew(WK)
• Karima Gore
• Bevon Jacobs
• Shakib Al Hasan
• Fabian Allen
• Imad Wasim(C)
• Odean Smith
• Obed McCoy
• Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar
• Jayden Seales

Barbados Royals 

• Quinton De Kock(WK)
• Brandon King
• Kadeem Alleyne
• Rovman Powell(C)
• Sherfane Rutherford
• Shaqkere Parris
• Daniel Sams
• Eathan Bosch
• Jomel Warrican
• Ramon Simmonds
• Mujeeb-ur-Rahman

 

Match Details:

Date: Sunday, August 17, 2025 11:45

Venue: Mladost Cricket Ground, Zagreb

Toss: Antigua and Barbuda Falcons elected to bowl

Umpires: Carl Tuckett (West Indies) Leslie Reifer (West Indies) Zahid Bassarath (West Indies TV)

Match Referee: Denavon Hayles (West Indies)

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