Imran Tahir took five for 17 at 47, and Saint Lucia lost seven wickets for 27 runs
No bowler as old as Imran Tahir had taken a five-wicket haul in men’s T20 cricket until overnight at Providence. The Kings collapsed from 54 for two to 81 for nine while he did it.
Sep 10, 2026
Saint Lucia Kings were 54 for two at the end of the seventh over at Providence overnight in Guyana. Twenty-seven runs later they were 81 for nine. Imran Tahir took five of the seven wickets that fell in between, finished with five for 17, and at 47 became the oldest bowler to take a five-wicket haul in men’s T20 cricket.
Seven wickets for 27 runs
Kings had chosen to bat and were going nicely. Kamil Pooran was 43 off 35 with six fours and two sixes, and the fifty had come up in the sixth over. Then Tahir trapped him in front in the eighth over, and the innings stopped being an innings.
Roston Chase went lbw for one. Kemol Savory, on T20 debut, went the same way to Mehidy Hasan Miraz. Charith Asalanka nicked off. McKenny Clarke and Matthew Forde were both bowled by Tahir in the same over, and Joshua Bishop was lbw to him in the 14th over. Seven wickets for 27 runs, nine down for 81, and Tahir’s four overs were done: 5 for 17 at 4.25 an over.
Mehidy’s figures were nearly as good, three for 13 from his four. What saved the Kings from something worse was Obus Pienaar, who was still there and made 35 from 28, and Maheesh Theekshana, who hung around for 11 balls. The last pair added 38, and Kings were bowled out for 119 with seven balls of their 20 overs unused.
The record, and the man who held it
Tahir is 47 and he was captaining the side. The five-for is the best return of his T20 career, bettering the five for 21 he took for the same franchise last year, and it moved him past a name almost nobody outside the associate game knows.
Tomakunte Ritawa of the Cook Islands was 46 years and 299 days old when he took five wickets in a T20 in 2022, and that had stood as the oldest five-wicket haul the men’s game had recorded. Tahir has cleared it by more than seven months. His own effort in the CPL last year, at 46, sits third on the same list.
Sampson needed 11 balls
Chasing 120 should have been simple and was not. Glenn Phillips made 37 from 40 balls, Shai Hope 21 from 31, and the Warriors were 40 for one after ten overs with the required rate creeping. Phillips was bowled by Theekshana, Hope caught behind off Asalanka, and Chase, who finished with three for 34, had Shimron Hetmyer caught for 14 in the 18th over. That left 22 needed from 17 balls with five wickets in hand and a Guyana crowd going quiet.
Quentin Sampson hit five sixes. He faced 11 balls in total, finished on 37 not out, and Guyana got home by four wickets with nine deliveries to spare. Tahir took the match award, which felt right, though the scorecard says Sampson struck at 336.
Where it leaves the table
Guyana are top with 14 points from eight matches, a game in hand on most of the field and two still to play, against Trinbago Knight Riders and Barbados Tridents. Their only defeat remains the 65-run loss to Antigua and Barbuda Falcons the night before this one.
Saint Lucia are done. Ten matches, four wins, eight points, and no fixtures left to change any of it. Jamaica Kingsmen sit level on eight with a match still to come, the Patriots have seven from nine, and the Tridents have six from seven with three to play. The Kings can only watch.