Fourth Straight Defeat For Falcons

 St Lucia Kings Condemn Falcons To Straight Fourth Defeat

Noor Ahmed Finished With Figures 3 for 18 © CPL T20 Via Espn Cricinfo

   

St Lucia Kings defeated Antigua and Barbuda Falcons with ease as they chased down the target of 143 runs in a mere 17 overs. This has left the Falcons winless in four matches and placed them at the bottom of the table. Noor Ahmed picked up 3 wickets for 18 runs in his four overs. Johnson Charles and Tim Seifert carried the Kings to the finish line. This loss means that the Falcons now need to win at least five of their remaining six matches to qualify.

Coming in to bat, the Falcons got off to a slow start against David Wiese. But, Fakhar Zaman attacked Matthew Ford at the other end and smashed two boundaries on the offside and a six on the ground. Zaman's quickfire innings ended as he sliced ​​the ball towards cover off Roston Chase. Justin Greaves was lucky as he smashed two boundaries off Alzari Joseph. Greaves kept the scoreboard ticking until he was holed out at deep midwicket for mistimed a slower ball.

Sam Billings and Imad Wasim hit a boundary each in the 15th over and the Falcons crossed the 100-run mark. But Noor completely baffled the Falcons. His first victim was Jewel Andrew, who mistimed a googly at long-on. He then dismissed Billings and Fabian Allen off consecutive balls to leave the Falcons at 110 for 6 in 17 overs. Wasim hit two boundaries off Joseph in the 18th over while skipper Chris Green hit 13 off eight balls to take the Falcons to a respectable total of 142 for 7.

In-form Faf du Plessis took the attack straight after Shamarh Springer and smashed three boundaries and a six in his 20-run second over. Du Plessis hit two boundaries before smashing a six off the bowler. He hit two more boundaries against Mohammad Amir, one down the ground and another over midwicket. The mayhem ended when Du Plessis holed out at long-on after three consecutive dots.

Charles held the innings together, scoring maximums on a couple of occasions but kept the scoreboard ticking. Left-hander Akeem Auguste smashed two sixes off Allen as the match-up was in his favour before Charles hit a maximum off Green. Allen caught Auguste, catching him in front when the batsman attempted a sweep shot. Seifert continued from where he left off in the previous game and ensured a win for the Kings by smashing three sixes and a four off Amir in the 24-run 17th over.

Brief scores: Antigua and Barbuda Falcons 142/7 in 20 overs (Justin Greaves 36, Imad Wasim 29; Noor Ahmed 3-18) lost to Saint Lucia Kings 144/3 in 17 overs Faf Du Plessis 28, John Charles 47*, Imad Wasim 1-21) by 07 wkts