Barbados Royals went down to Antigua and Barbuda Falcons by six wickets in a thrilling encounter to start their 2025 Caribbean Premier League campaign on Saturday night.
The Royals were asked to bat first and made 151-6 off their 20 overs on a challenging surface at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. This was due to two well-crafted half-centuries – 57 from opener Quinton de Kock and 51 not out off just 24 balls by skipper Rovman Powell.
The Falcons then replied with 152-4 off 19.4 overs to win with just two balls to spare. Their batting hero was Karima Gore who made 64 not out, which included two very important sixes. With the game in the balance and Falcons required run rate at over 12 runs per over, he pumped back-to-back maximums off the bowled of Eathan Bosch to give the home team a huge advantage.
Gore was named Player-of-the-Match.
The best bowlers for Barbados were the spinners Jomel Warrican and Mujeed ar Rahman who picked up two wickets and conceded just 43 runs in eight overs between them to build pressure in the middle overs. Warrican got the wicket of teenaged opener Jewel Andrew – his first CPL wicket in a decade, the previous was Jacques Kallis in the 2015 competition.
Speaking after the match, captain Powell was not too despondent. He acknowledged it was a highly competitive contest and pinpointed where he felt the Royals fell short. “I think batting was difficult early on. We dropped a few catches. It’s just a little bit of rust. It’s only the first game out of 10. Those things do happen. It’s just for us now to pick up the pieces and come better in the next one,” he said.
On his superb knock he said: “… it was pleasing to play an innings like that; I came in to bat when the team was under a little bit of pressure. We needed somebody to bat to the end. So I know once he (de Kock) got out, I had to bat to the 20th over.”
Barbados Royals will travel to St Kitts on Sunday where they will prepare for the second away game on Thursday, August 21 at 7 p.m. at Warner Park. They will face St Kitts and Nevis Patriots who are this year being led by Jason Holder, the former Royals captain and star allrounder. (PRS)
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