CPL 2025, Match 3 Review: Royals grounded as Falcons take off with first win

Antigua and Barbuda Falcons won a tight third match of Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in front of their home fans at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, defeating Barbados Royals by six 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."