Petra Williams for Spectator Sports

Mission Part One: Accomplished and I was there!

After following the Falcons from the start of the season, in the Fortress of Sir Viv Richards Stadium, and watching this 2026 campaign grow from Believe into something altogether more serious, I made it to Kensington Oval.

And naturally, I came prepared.

This Fan Came with Her Fan

My fan was on double duty. Fashioned in the colours of the Antigua and Barbuda flag, I could wave the national colours to cool myself down in the Kensington heat and, with a little strategic fanning in the right direction, help my Falcons blow the Amazon Warriors away.

Well… 76 all out. Target chased in 5.2 overs. Nine-wicket victory. First team into the 2026 CPL Final.

Apparently, the wind direction was just right. 

And what a watch party it turned out to be.

Kensington Oval was overwhelmingly dressed for Guyana: Warriors shirts, Warriors flags, Warriors voices. This was supposed to be their party. But somewhere between a Shadab Khan googly and a Rahkeem Cornwall thunderbolt, the guest list got rearranged.

My little Antigua and Barbuda flag-fan suddenly gave some serious competition in the blowing-away department, rising to hurricane levels in a hurry.

Shadab Can. And Shadab DID.

Before Big Jimbo turned the chase into theatre, the Falcons’ bowlers had already done the demolition work.

Guyana’s 34 for one at the end of the PowerPlay looked respectable enough. Nothing particularly alarming there. Perhaps even the beginnings of a platform.

Then came Sufyan Muqim and Shadab Khan. Sufyan started pulling bricks out of the Warriors’ middle order, removing Glenn Phillips and Mohammad Haris.  Shadab decided pulling out bricks was taking too long.

Hat-trick. And not just any hat-trick. Three consecutive googlies.

Shimron Hetmyer tried to take him on and found long-on. Mehidy Hasan Miraz was trapped LBW. Then came the beauty: a perfectly flighted googly that went through Quentin Sampson, sending the Falcons into celebration and my fan into a frenzy.

Three balls. Three wickets. One enormous hole where the Warriors’ middle order used to be.

Guyana were 45 for six, and Sufyan wasn’t finished yet. He returned to remove Khary Pierre and Shai Hope, while Shadab grabbed his fourth. Between them, the two Falcons spinners collected eight wickets, four apiece, turning a CPL Qualifier into a spin-bowling masterclass.

By the time Shamar Springer wrapped things up, the Guyana Amazon Warriors had been bundled out for 76.

By now, the Amazon posse around me was softer; I could take calls from loved ones back home, in the middle of a packed stadium. Me and my cherished sidekick, my fan.

Jimbo Walked Out

A target of 77 can sometimes become tricky in a playoff. A couple of early wickets, a little scoreboard pressure. The fielding side gets noisy, and the crowd wakes up. Then 77 could behaving like 177.

The massive Amazon Warriors crowd was ready, but Rahkeem Cornwall apparently had somewhere else to be. From almost the moment he arrived, Big Jimbo went BOOM. And my fan and I were taking on the crowd that said he can’t run, challenging them, ‘where the runs on the board’.

Imran Tahir got hit, Mehidy Hasan Miraz got hit and Khary Pierre got hit, no exception.  Cornwall was not interested in nudging the Falcons cautiously toward the finals. He was going there at full throttle. The ball disappeared square, straight and over the boundary as he transformed the chase into his own private exhibition, delivering a good dose of hush to many.

And this was where being inside Kensington Oval became particularly special. The crowd was overwhelmingly behind the Warriors and, at first, Cornwall silenced them. You could almost hear thousands of Warriors supporters collectively reconsidering their evening.

But then something wonderful happened.

Good cricket won them over. The shots were too clean. The power too outrageous. The entertainment too good for cricket people to sit there pretending they weren’t seeing something special. Slowly, the applause started. Then the cheers. Soon, Warriors supporters were reacting to Cornwall’s assault with the appreciation reserved for a cricketer producing something exceptional, even when he is doing it to your team.

Cornwall raced to 49 from just 16 balls, taking the Falcons to the doorstep of victory and coming agonisingly close to a half-century. He needed one more run. Instead, after a break to address his injured teammate at the crease, Hetmyer caught him off Tahir.

Then came one of my favorite moments of the night.

Kensington stood for him. Falcons supporters, and Warriors supporters too. A standing ovation. Forty-nine runs. Sixteen balls. A playoff chase effectively demolished before it had time to become one. That is cricket.

Evin Finished It

Cornwall departed with only 27 required, but there would be no sudden Guyana revival. Evin Lewis, who had spent much of the early carnage watching Big Jimbo from the other end, simply picked up where he left off.

Even while battling a cramp, Lewis hammered 21 runs off Shamar Joseph off 6 deliveries. Amir Jangoo barely had time to settle in.

Thirty-two balls after the chase began, it was finished. 77 for one in 5.2 overs, the second-fastest successful chase in CPL history. A nine-wicket victory in Qualifier 1. And, most importantly, the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons became the first team to qualify for the 2026 CPL Final.

This One was Special

This season has delivered tense finishes. Some matches demanded patience, nerve, and perhaps a little prayer. There have been games when the Falcons had to scrap, recover, defend, chase and find somebody, anybody, to produce the moment that mattered. This was not one of them.

This was a statement. The bowling attack that has been the backbone of this Falcons campaign delivered its most destructive performance when the stakes were at their highest. Shadab and Sufyan were world-class while Springer helped close one door.

Then Cornwall kicked the other one clean off its hinges.

Captain Moeen Ali described himself as “absolutely buzzing” to be in the Final, but his attention was already shifting towards Sunday.

Head Coach Paul Nixon was similarly delighted, describing the bowling performance as “elite” and thanking everyone who has backed and believed in the Falcons.

His final words said everything about where this journey now stands: “One more to go…”

Mission Part One: Accomplished

And that really is it.

For weeks, we talked about qualification, then the Final Four, then the top two. Then the advantage of having two chances to reach the Final.

The Falcons needed only one. They are in. The Antigua and Barbuda Falcons will play for the 2026 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League title.

The dream we have been following all season is now down to one cricket match.

And somewhere in those stands will certainly be Petra The Spectator, surrounded by whichever supporters turn up for the other side, carrying a little piece of Antigua and Barbuda with her.

I brought the flag and my fan, but last night the Falcons supplied the breeze.

We are pressing the repeat button; in some shape, come Sunday

BELIEVE NAH MAN, The Falcons Are in The CPL T20 Finals.