The Trinbago Knight Riders head into tonight’s final league game against the Barbados Royals in Guyana under pressure to arrest a mini-slump in the Caribbean Premier League. After suffering two successive defeats, a win would guarantee TKR a top-two finish and the security of two chances to reach the CPL final. Anything less will leave the standings in flux as the tournament heads into the playoffs.

Their last two defeats came at the hands of the St Lucia Kings (by seven wickets) and the Guyana Amazon Warriors (by three wickets).

PORT OF SPAIN

Before last night’s home match against the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, the Royals were sixth and last in the CPL table with three points, well outside the playoff places.

That left them needing to win their remaining fixtures and get some help elsewhere to secure the final playoff berth.

However, the playoff uncertainty is over for the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons. Their tense four-wicket victory over the Amazon Warriors secured the Falcons their first-ever CPL playoff place and altered the qualification picture. Only one playoff spot is now left.

Wednesday night, the Falcons won the battle of the bowlers. Jayden Seales produced a match-turning spell on the night he celebrated his 24th birthday, returning superb figures of four for 15 as the Warriors were skittled for 99. Usama Mir supported with three for 17.

“I feel really good. I had a good tournament leading up to this, and I understood what I needed to do tonight, which was just to come out and execute the plan,” Seales said in his Player-of-the-Match interview. “Wickets in the Powerplay are always important, especially against Guyana. We know they bat very deep, so the more we break into their batting, the more we keep chipping away at the wickets. It obviously worked well for us,” Seales added.

Despite his own performance however, Seales stressed that the win was due to, “a total team effort, because all the boys did well—from myself to Usama Mir, Amir Jangoo with that crucial 50—so it is a total team effort.”

The chase was anything but routine. The Falcons recovered from 24 for four in the Powerplay as opener Jangoo anchored the reply, carrying his bat for a match-winning 51 off 57 balls.

Spinners Imran Tahir and Moeen Ali troubled the batters, but Fabian Allen’s late cameo (15 off 14) helped the visitors reach 100 for six with five balls to spare.

Falcons captain Imad Wasim praised his bowlers’ application and Jangoo’s batting. “Jayden Seales, how good he bowled,…today he was fantastic. And all the bowlers; Usama bowled really well,” Wasim said. On Jangoo he added: “Look, he is such a good player. Playing for West Indies, that is what we expect from our players who are internationals. I thought it was a 140-150 wicket, the wicket was really good, but both sides’ bowlers bowled really well… Both sides’ batters played some bad shots.”

Reflecting on the milestone of reaching the knockouts, Wasim was measured but ambitious. “We are here to win the tournament,” he said in his post-match interview. “Now we have qualified for the playoffs and anything can happen in the playoffs. The way we are playing, some mistakes we are making we will sit (and discuss) again.. We haven’t played our ‘A’ game yet and we are into the playoffs. We want to play ‘A’ games now.”

Wasim added: “We are working really hard. Every player is burning the house down which is fantastic and the results are coming off, so that’s what we want for our team. Results are not in our control but effort is in our control which we did fantastically today.”

The Falcons’ victory leaves the playoff picture tightened. The Kings, Knight Riders and Falcons have now qualified; the one remaining spot will be contested by the Amazon Warriors, Patriots and Royals.

For TKR, a win tonight against the Royals is pivotal, not only to regain momentum after back-to-back defeats, but to secure that advantageous top two position that can prove decisive in the knockouts.

If Mohammad Amir is fit to return to the TKR attack as hoped, it would be a timely reinforcement for Nicholas Pooran’s side.

Wednesday’s

summarised score:

AMAZON WARRIORS 99, 18.1 overs (Shai Hope 26, Quentin Sampson 19, Ben McDermott 14, Dwaine Pretorius 12, Moeen Ali 10; Jayden Seales 4/15, Usama Mir 3/17).

vs FALCONS 103-6, 19.1 overs (Amir Jangoo 51 n.o., Imad Wasim 16, Fabian Allen 15 n.o., Kevin Wickham 13; Moeen Ali 2/10, Imran Tahir 2/27)

—Falcons won by

four wickets.