Petra Williams for Spectator Sports
Were you there?
Were you watching from the comfort of your home, listening on the radio as you went about your duties, following the action on another device, or gathered with friends at a private or public watch party? Perhaps you were among the thousands at Kensington Oval, caught up in the noise, colour and anticipation of a Caribbean Premier League Final.
Wherever you were, were you part of the Falcons’ Fortress, cheering our three-year-old franchise to its inaugural CPL T20 title?
Because last Sunday night, the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons Franchise did more than win a cricket match. They completed a journey that began long before the first ball of the Final and gave a nation a new chapter in its sporting story.
A Caribbean party with room for everyone
CPL T20 cricket brings extraordinary energy to the Caribbean. With franchises based across seven countries and squads blending domestic, regional and international professionals, the tournament attracts fan bases far larger and more varied than the population of any one franchise’s home territory might suggest.
As the competition progressed, loyalties ebbed and flowed. Teams were eliminated with travel plans already made, and supporters had to decide what to do with all that cricket enthusiasm when their first-choice side was no longer in contention.
For the experienced CPL fan, the attraction is often a blend of team loyalty and the cricket-party experience. You may arrive wearing one team’s colours and leave applauding another team’s extraordinary performance.
Imagine, then, an Antigua and Barbuda Falcons versus Jamaica Kingsmen Final in Barbados, with Guyanese, Trinbagonians, and members of the wider Caribbean diaspora among the spectators at Kensington Oval.
The crowd was loud and animated, celebrating the maximums, reacting to every falling wicket and appreciating the performances unfolding before them. Franchise paraphernalia mingled with national flags. Some spectators had travelled to support teams that were no longer in the competition but found fresh reasons to cheer.
Something distinctly Caribbean about that. We can mourn the departure of our team and still recognise a magnificent cover drive, a devastating bowling spell or a six that deserves to be celebrated, regardless of who struck it. The cricket remains the centrepiece, but the occasion belongs to everyone.
And that matters. Those spectators were not merely filling seats. They were part of the atmosphere that carried the spectacle beyond Kensington Oval to viewers across the Caribbean and the world.
Into that gathering came the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons, representing one of the CPL’s smaller home markets. Small in population, perhaps. But not short of talent, discipline, determination or ambition.
The Falcons had already delivered their strongest campaign in the franchise’s three-year history. They finished second in the preliminary round, secured a place in Qualifier 1 and then dismantled the Guyana Amazon Warriors to book their first appearance in a CPL T20 Final.
That playoff victory was a statement of intent. Shadab Khan claimed a hat-trick, Sufyan Muqim took four wickets, and the Warriors were dismissed for just 76. Rahkeem Cornwall then blasted 49 from 16 deliveries as the Falcons raced to a nine-wicket victory.
I was there with my Antigua and Barbuda hand fan, waving our colours and trying to cool myself. As I wrote after that match, though I had brought the flag and the fan, the Falcons supplied the breeze!
The team had already transformed Sir Vivian Richards Stadium into the Fortress during its home leg, where national town crier Steve ‘Ibis’ Freeland’s cry of BELIEVE NAH MAN! quickly became the rallying cry. When the Falcons returned to the road, the belief travelled with them.
By the time the Final arrived, our little nation had plenty of reasons to dream.
One more match for the Main Prize
The Jamaica Kingsmen were not about to surrender the championship without a fight. Sent in to bat, they attacked from the outset. Maaz Sadaqat was particularly destructive, racing to his half-century from 27 balls and keeping the Kingsmen’s innings alive even as wickets fell around him.
At 59 for 2 after the Power Play, Jamaica had established a strong platform. Then the Falcons’ spinners changed the complexion of the contest. Muqim removed Saim Ayub and Rovman Powell in his first over. Shadab dismissed Romaine Morris, and Muqim struck again, removing Hassan Khan. Four wickets fell for just three runs in 12 deliveries.
For a moment, it appeared the Falcons might repeat their demolition of the Warriors. But Sadaqat had other ideas. He kept attacking, reaching his first century in a CPL Final off just 49 balls. His eventual 114 helped carry the Kingsmen to 170 for 9, setting the Falcons a target that demanded a composed and purposeful chase.
Muqim finished with outstanding figures of 4 for 14, once again demonstrating why his arrival had strengthened the Falcons’ bowling attack at the decisive stage of the competition.
Then came Rahkeem Cornwall. Another explosive opening from Big Jimbo delivered 20 runs in the first over. He was dismissed on the final ball, but the message was clear: the Falcons were not going to tiptoe towards the trophy.
Evin Lewis and Amir Jangoo kept the scoreboard moving, taking the Falcons to 76 for 1 after six overs. Lewis eventually fell, but Jangoo and Hasan Nawaz took control of the chase. Their unbeaten 89-run partnership combined sensible batting with the confidence to punish anything loose. With the required rate firmly under control, the pair steadily brought the championship within reach. And then Nawaz launched the winning six. The Falcons finished on 173 for 2 with 20 balls to spare, sealing an eight-wicket victory.
Players sprinted onto the field. Supporters erupted. The three-year-old Antigua and Barbuda Falcons were CPL T20 champions for the first time.
The Fortress was never just a place
The championship belonged to the players and the coaching and support teams who had navigated a demanding tournament. Coach Nixon and Captain Moeen Ali led a squad whose success depended on contributions across the roster.
Shadab Khan’s all-round brilliance, Alzarri Joseph’s pace and Joshua James’s dependable bowling helped drive the Falcons’ historic campaign. Cornwall supplied explosive starts, while Muqim’s wicket-taking spells proved decisive in both matches at Kensington Oval. In the Final, Jangoo and Nawaz delivered the partnership that finished the job.
Yet the story would be incomplete without the supporters. The Fortress began as the Falcons’ home at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, but it became something less dependent on geography. It travelled with the team in the voices of supporters at away matches, through watch parties and across the screens and radios connecting Antiguans and Barbudans and other supporters to the action.
The team gave people a reason to gather, to wear their colours, to debate selections and performances, and to believe that a young franchise could compete with the established names of Caribbean cricket.
By the Final, that belief had become part of the nation’s sporting conversation.
Beyond the Boundary: The Value of a CPL T20
A CPL Final also reminds us that cricket’s value doesn’t end when the last ball is bowled.
For Barbados, hosting the decisive matches creates opportunities for hotels, restaurants, transport providers, vendors, event workers and other businesses serving travelling supporters and tournament personnel. The benefits extend beyond the stadium, although their scale would require visitor-spending and event data to quantify.
This would have been replicated to varying degrees across home legs. CPL provides a stage for Caribbean destinations, businesses, entertainers and sporting talent. The images, conversations, and experiences that visiting fans carry home are part of that wider value.
For Antigua and Barbuda, the Falcons’ championship brings a different but equally meaningful opportunity.
Beyond hosting successful home matches, our country’s name traveled with the team throughout the tournament and now sits beside the title of CPL champions. Every replay of the winning six, every championship photograph and every conversation about the season places Antigua and Barbuda in front of audiences beyond our shores.
That recognition is not a substitute for deliberate sports-tourism planning, investment or the continued development of local cricket. It is, however, an opportunity to build on.
The Fortress showed what a cricket match can become when sport, entertainment and national identity meet. The championship gives Antigua and Barbuda a powerful new story to tell prospective visitors, young cricketers, sponsors and future supporters.
And for those of us at home, the journey itself has already delivered something valuable: shared moments of anticipation, frustration, excitement and, finally, celebration.
Were You There?
I return to the question with which I began. Were you there when the Falcons became champions?
Perhaps you were at Kensington Oval when Nawaz sent that ball sailing over the boundary. Perhaps you were at a watch party, surrounded by people who became friends for the duration of the chase. Perhaps you were at home, shouting at the television, or listening on the radio while trying to carry on with something else.
Perhaps you were one of those supporters who arrived at the Final with another team in your heart but found yourself applauding the Falcons by the end.
Wherever you experienced it, you were part of a Caribbean cricket occasion that delivered a new champion and a new story for Antigua and Barbuda.
Congratulations to the players, coaches, management, franchise owners, the home leg operations team, and everyone who contributed to this historic achievement. And congratulations to the supporters who carried the Fortress from Antigua to the wider Caribbean.
Our Falcons arrived in the CPL three years ago. In 2026, they gave us a championship.
The Falcons’ final chapter of the season is written. The next chapter of the franchise’s story is waiting. And all being well, Spectator Sports will be right there.
BELIEVE NAH MAN! 🦅🇦🇬