Antigua’s top score was 26, and the Kings still lost seven wickets chasing 52

A fast bowler made a defiant late cameo, a target of 52 nearly went begging, and the St Lucia Kings ended up with a win they will not want to sit through again. Friday night at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Gros Islet gave this Caribbean Premier League its oddest game so far.

Forde runs through Antigua

The Antigua and Barbuda Falcons batted first and never got going. Matthew Forde took 4 for 29 and the Falcons closed on 98 for 9 from 19 overs. Rahkeem Cornwall top-scored with 26, and Alzarri Joseph, batting well down the order, was unbeaten on 16. The rest of the scorecard needs no further explaining.

Forde has now done this to the same opponent twice in five days. On 9 August he held his nerve in the last over as the Kings won by four runs, a game Andries Gous had shaped with 82. This time he did the damage with the new ball instead, then came back and made 11 off seven when his own side made a mess of the chase. Player of the match was the easiest decision of the night.

Fifty-two to win, and seven wickets gone

Rain had already trimmed the first innings to 19 overs, and by the time the Kings walked out the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern calculation had left them 52 to get from eight. That is 6.5 an over on a ground where the Falcons had just been held to less than a hundred.

It should have been routine. Instead the Kings kept losing wickets, seven of them, and only got past the target with two balls left. The scoreboard read 54 for 7 when it finished. A three-wicket win looks respectable in a table. Chasing 52 and going seven down for it does not.

Short chases are harder than the maths suggests

There is a reason these games keep producing scares. A revised target compresses everything. There is no time to look at the pitch and no cushion for a couple of quiet overs, so every batter walks in already behind the clock. Miss two balls in a row and the required rate climbs past eight.

Antigua, to their credit, bowled at it. Having defended 98 for most of eight overs, they will feel the two balls they had left in them were the difference. It took van Schalkwyk and Bishop, batting at eight and nine, staying calm to see it home.

Back at Gros Islet on Sunday

The Kings do not have to travel. Their next match is at the same ground on Sunday, a 4.30am start for anyone following in India, and it comes after a week of two wins over the Falcons that have flattered them both times. Antigua are next in action on 20 August against the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.

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