Shanaka hit 49 off 17, and Antigua chased 188 with three balls left

Dasun Shanaka faced 17 balls at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on 20 August and hit five fours and four sixes. He finished unbeaten on 49, dragged the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots from 147 for 6 to 187 for 6, and lost anyway. The Antigua and Barbuda Falcons chased 188 with three balls to spare and won by three wickets.

Forty runs off the last eleven balls

For 18 overs the Patriots had been busy without being frightening. Kyle Mayers made 34 from 18 at the top, Johnson Charles 17, and Andre Fletcher spent 24 balls on 20 before a Jayden Seales throw ran him out. Jason Holder’s 27 from 25 was a captain holding an innings together rather than launching one.

When Jason Holder fell in the 18th over the score was 147 for 6. The last 11 balls produced 40 runs. Shanaka faced eight of them, and Wanindu Hasaranga, at the other end for the other three, barely had to do anything.

Only one Falcons bowler came out of the innings well. Shadab Khan’s four overs cost 22 and bowled Kevin Wickham. Shamar Springer took two but went at 10.50 an over, Seales conceded 47, and the Falcons handed over 15 wides.

Lewis hit five sixes and not one four

Amir Jangoo went in the first over of the reply, caught by Obed McCoy off Mayers for 2, and the chase then ran through Evin Lewis. He made 48 from 38 without once finding the boundary along the ground. Every one of his five boundaries cleared it.

Karima Gore’s 22 came and went early, but Hasan Nawaz settled in and added 78 with Lewis for the third wicket. At 114 for 2 in the 14th over Antigua were comfortable. Then Mayers had Lewis caught by Holder off the last ball of that over, and Holder had Hasan Nawaz caught by Chaudhary off the first ball of the next. Two wickets, two deliveries, and 74 still needed from 35.

Shadab’s twelve balls

Shadab walked in and hit 30 from 12 with two fours and three sixes. That was the passage the game turned on. Holder eventually had him caught by Hasaranga at 152, and Kusal Perera was run out by Holder and Fletcher off the very next delivery, so Antigua lost two in two for the second time in the innings.

Springer’s 15 from six balls covered most of what was left before he was caught at 179. Moeen Ali, the Falcons captain, was there at the end on 25 not out from 12. Holder finished with two wickets, both of them the wickets that should have won the match, and Mayers took two of his own. It made no difference.

Shadab took the player of the match award for the 30 and the 1 for 22. The two points matter more than they look: five of the seven teams in the Caribbean Premier League are now level on four, and the Falcons sit fourth of them on a net run rate of minus 0.008. The Patriots are seventh on two.

Follow every CPL result with us