The Saint Lucia Kings took their second win over the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons in the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in a heavily rain affected contest at the Darren Sammy Cricket Ground by three wickets.

The Kings nearly surrendered an extremely favourable position, losing wickets in bunches after a second rain delay.

Joshua Bishop ultimately got the Kings over the line smashing a six with two balls remaining.

Matthew Forde was the standout performer with the ball, ending his set of overs with figures of 4/29. 

Roston Chase this time put the faith in his bowlers from the toss and that decision paid instant dividends as Matthew Forde removed Evin Lewis and Tim Robinson in successive balls just an over and a half into the game.

Forde struck again inside the PowerPlay, with the dangerous Rahkeem Cornwall nicking off having started to get his motor running, leaving the Falcons 44 for 3 at the end of six overs. 

It went from bad to worse for the visitors as they lost a further three wickets inside seven deliveries. This period saw a stunning catch by Charith Asalanka dismiss Moeen Ali before a crazy run out sent Fabian Allen sent back to the dugout without troubling the scorers. The Falcons were given some rest bite as the rain halted play with just an over to go in their innings. 

After heavy rain fell for an hour or so, the ground staff did brilliantly to get the pitch ready again and the Kings came out to bat with a revised target of 84 to win from 15 overs. Roston Chase decided to lead the team out alongside Andries Gous but fell foul early to Jayden Seales. The rain would hold things up again as just one ball later, the players took shelter from the elements for a second time. That reduced the game even further and the Kings faced a second revised target of 52 from 8 overs. 

From that point, the momentum of the game shifted to the visitors, who frustrated the Kings with a series of dot balls and lured them into some ugly dismissals. Joshua James repeated Forde’s antics from earlier, taking the wickets of Charith Asalanka and Darren Nedd in successive deliveries.

The home crowd fell silent as they saw their team slump to 21-6.

Matthew Forde chipped in with an important 11, before Shadley van Schalkwyk’s maximum in the penultimate over, put the Kings back in the driver’s seat. 

It fell to Joshua Bishop to face the last over from James needing 8.

A powerful drive through the covers eased the pressure slightly, before he latched onto a length ball to send the home crowd wild.