RBCPL24: Allen thwarts TKR with bat and ball, as Falcons finally soar

Thanks to Fabian Allen and their highest 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) score so far, 176 for 6, the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons were good enough to finally earn their first points of the season.

At the Sir Vivian Richards Ground in Antigua on Thursday, they restricted four-time champions Trinbago Knight Riders to 170 for 9 to win by six runs.

Allen removed the inexperienced Shaqkere Parris with the fourth ball of his second over, the tenth. Then off the next ball, he parried a powerful drive that was sailing over his head into the air and snaffled the ball as he and it dropped towards the ground.

The score? 72 for 3. The batsman? The in-form Nicholas Pooran.

Up until this match, coaches Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Curtly Ambrose, the latter recently described as “brilliant” and “passionate” by skipper Chris Green, had not yet found a way to translate the hard work they consistently do into positive performance.

Man-of-the-Match Allen showed the way in this game, finishing with figures of 3/23 after a contribution of 25 not out to his team’s innings with the bat.

Allen strode to the wicket with the score on 142 after 17 overs. He faced 11 of the remaining 18 balls, taking one six and two fours off them and with Imad Wasim (46, 29, 2×6, 4×4) pushed the total past the 160s that had proven inadequate twice before.

In the event, 169 would not have been enough.

Green conceded that “we were not at our best in the last couple of games”. But he stressed: “We have to carry on playing this positive, aggressive brand of cricket. Nothing needs to change.”

Given first strike, openers Justin Greaves (37) and Fakhar Zaman (38) were very positive, getting the Falcons to 65 before Greaves was stumped by Pooran off Narine with one ball left in the powerplay.

Promoted to #3, Roshon Primus puttered around for 26 balls, never looking at all convincing. Coming at #4, Imad in stark contrast was all business, falling four short of a well-deserved half-century off the penultimate ball.

Earlier, when Pooran went, skipper Kieron Pollard joined Keacy Carty to get his team to within 33 of the target.  Then, he was bowled off the inside edge by a revitalized Mohammed Amir.

Carty’s 34 and  Andre Russell’s eight left nine, ten, Jack with 14 to get off the last over. This time, though, there were no slip-ups.

ABF were punished for time infringements with a reduction in the number of boundary riders permitted and then a red card for Amir in the last over. But, preferred to Shamar Springer and Amir, who had left ABF ruing defeat on two previous occasions when victory seemed all but assured, Primus redeemed himself and his team with the ball.

So the Falcons are taking flight. At last!

An elated Green stressed that “the equation is simple” and made certain to single out the outstanding trio for honourable mention.

“The thing that makes me so happy was that Primus, Springer and Amir […] have had some tough times but the character and the bravery they showed when nothing was going their way, that was serious character.”

TKR skipper Pollard was much more subdued, saying that he “felt we let ourselves down”. He did not, however, seem unduly perturbed, explaining that they were currently focused on discharging their contractual obligation to include the emerging players.

“It is early in the tournament,” he reassured the TKR fans via the post-match interview. “When we get back to Trinidad, the games will come thick and fast.”

He did not say and the wins. Not at least in so many words.

“There is a good bunch of experienced guys,” he added, for those who can read between the lines, “who understand the nature of travelling and cricket.”

But if only psychologically, the four-time champions cannot afford a second successive loss.

Next up for them is an away assignment against the St Lucia Kings at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in Saint Lucia on Tuesday. The hosts’ stunning come-from-behind win against the Patriots will have earned them new respect in all quarters and Pollard and company will be well aware of the threat they pose.

Still, it’s anybody’s guess who will come out on top on the day. Home advantage could tip the scales in the comeback Kings’ favour—especially if Pollard fails to call right when the coin is tossed and the Kings’ Faf du Plessis gets to decide who does what first.

Buoyed by their win, the Falcons go into their last home game on Sunday morning when they play away to so-far-struggling Saint Kitts and Nevis Patriots at Warner Park.  They know that they can no longer convincingly argue, as Green did, that “luck has not been on my side”.

It’s up to them to help themselves again—as Ambi and Shiv would almost certainly tell them—as they did against TKR.

After all, as any one of the Trinis can explain to them, you could make track for gouti to run on but lappe does make he own track.

Summarised scores

Toss: Trinbago Knight Riders

Antigua and Barbuda Falcons: 176 for 6 (20 overs) Imad Wasim 46, Fakhar Zaman 38, Justin Greaves 37, Fabian Allen 25; Sunil Narine 2/32, Waqar Salamkheil 2/27

Trinbago Knight Riders: 170 for 9 (20 overs) Andries Gous 39, Keacy Carty 34, Shaqkere Parris 31, Kieron Pollard 30; Fabian Allen 3/23, Roshon Primus 2/40

Man-of-the-Match: Fabian Allen

Result: Antigua and Barbuda Falcons win by 6 runs

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