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Despite strong spells from Warrican and Mujeeb, fielding lapses cost Royals in a tight finish

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Aug-2025Karima Gore continued his superb form in CPL 2025, scoring his second consecutive half-century to guide Antigua and Barbuda Falcons to a commanding six-wicket victory over Barbados Royals on Saturday. Chasing 152, Falcons rode on Gore’s unbeaten 64 to claim their first points of the tournament in front of a home crowd.After a disappointing loss against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in their season opener – despite Gore’s 61 – Falcons bounced back with a disciplined all-round performance. Winning the toss and opting to field, the Falcons bowlers kept Royals in check for most of the innings. Quinton de Kock provided a brisk start with a fluent 57, and captain Rovman Powell added a late flourish with a powerful unbeaten 51 off just 24 balls to take Royals to 151 for 6. Jayden Seales was the pick of the bowlers for Falcons, returning 2 for 15 in an economical spell.In response, Falcons lost a couple of early wickets, but Gore held the innings together. Batting at No. 3, he anchored the chase, rotating strike effectively and finding the boundary when needed. He scored 39 off his first 41 balls, and by the end of the 16th over, Falcons still needed 45 off 24. Gore then accelerated, smashing 19 runs off his next six deliveries – including two consecutive sixes off Eathan Bosch in the 18th over – to ease the pressure. Eventually, it came down to six off the final over, and Gore sealed the chase with two balls to spare.Royals will be left ruing their missed opportunities in the field. Several dropped catches and missed run-out chances allowed Falcons and Gore to flourish. The fielding lapses not only released pressure but also gave Gore at least two reprieves, which he capitalised on to steer the game in Falcons’ favour.Left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican and offspinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman conceded just 43 runs from their eight overs combined and picked up a wicket each, but it wasn’t enough to contain Falcons.

Hasaranga took 2 for 25 upon his return from injury

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Sep-2025They began their high-stakes contest against Sri Lanka miserably, slipping to 0 for 2 after Nuwan Thushara and Dushmantha Chameera bowled back-to-back wicket maidens with the new ball. But Bangladesh went into the innings break with the match still alive in tricky batting conditions, thanks to an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 86 between Shamim Hossain and Jaker Ali.They came together at 53 for 5 in the tenth over, and walked off together at the end of the innings, unbeaten on 42 and 41 respectively. That both went at strike rates in the 120s, and both struggled to find the boundary for long stretches – including a barren spell of 21 balls – indicated both the excellence of Sri Lanka’s defensive bowling, particularly that of Chameera whose yorkers achieved a rare level of precision in overs 18 and 20, and the two-paced nature of this Abu Dhabi surface.Shamim hit the only six of the innings, a pick-up shot over midwicket off Matheesha Pathirana in the 19th over, and that shot and Pathirana’s figures – 0 for 42 in four overs – indicated that pace onto the bat was one quantity batters could feed off in these conditions.Sri Lanka’s other frontline bowlers were exceptional, however, with Thushara and Chameera finding swing with the new ball and mixing up their pace nicely with the old ball to finish with identical figures of 4-1-17-1. Wanindu Hasaranga, meanwhile, made a big impact in his comeback game, taking two wickets and nearly having another when a wrong’un burst through Jaker’s defences and brushed the off stump, only for the bails to stay put.That Bangladesh managed to set Sri Lanka a target of 140 was remarkable given how they began, with their left-handed openers Tanzid Hasan and Parvez Hossain Emon struggling to find the middle of the bat against the new ball and perishing when they tried to hit out, scoring a combined 0 off 10 between them. Litton Das helped them recover somewhat with a 26-ball 28 that included three fours in the sixth over when he went after Dasun Shanaka, Sri Lanka’s fifth bowler, but Bangladesh didn’t do their cause any good by losing Towhid Hridoy to a run-out when he attempted a risky third run.They could have lost Shamim in this manner too, when he was on 11 in the 13th over, but a superhero dive ensured he just about beat keeper Kusal Mendis’ between-the-legs flick onto the stumps.