JAMAICA Kingsmen Captain Rovman Powell said he was proud of his team despite an eight-wicket defeat to Antigua and Barbuda Falcons in the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League final at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Sunday.

Antigua and Barbuda Falcons needed just 16.4 overs to chase down Kingsmen 170-9 and win their first-ever Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title, turning Maaz Sadaqat’s brutal 114 from 58 balls into a footnote.

“It’s a good feeling, to be honest. I think it’s a very hard-fought campaign for us. I’m so proud of the boys,” Powell said in a televised interview.

Maaz Sadaqat of Jamaica Kingsmen hits a four during the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League Final versus Antigua and Barbuda Falcons on Sunday.

Batting first after losing the toss, Kingsmen were 30-2 in the fourth over before Sadaqat exploded. The left-hander hammered nine sixes and eight fours in a stunning hundred, adding 80 runs for the third wicket with Saim Ayub (29) to surge to 100-2 after 10 overs where it looked like the Kingsmen would have reached the 200-run mark.

However, the Falcons’ left-arm spinner Sufyan Moqim produced the spell of the tournament — four for 14 runs from four overs — and ripped the guts from the Kingsmen’s innings. After Ayub’s dismissal at 110-3 in the 12th over, no Kingsmen batsman made double figures.

Powell said his side fell short with the bat in the second half of their innings.

“I think after the halfway stage we felt as if we were 10 to 15 runs short,” Powell admitted.

Antigua and Barbuda Falcons celebrate winning the Men’s Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League Final against Jamaica Kingsmen at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Sunday. (Photos: CPL T20)

“We knew it was a pretty good batting wicket. Credit has to be given to our batters for the first 10 overs. Maaz played fantastically for us, and the partnership he strung with Saim Ayub carried us to 100 for 2 in 10 overs. It’s disappointing that as a batting group on such a good wicket we didn’t really capitalise on that start,” he further said, hailing Ayub’s removal of Rakheem Cornwall (20) at 20-1 in the first over, and Evin Lewis’s (38) fall to Vitel Lawes at 84-2 in the eighth over.

Despite these feats, however, the chase was a demolition as
Amir Jangoo (57 not out) and Hasan Nawaz (47 not out) never looked troubled as they finished the job with 20 balls to spare.

“I think as a batting group, when we lost four wickets in the middle overs, four key batters who were supposed to put the impetus on the game in the last 10 overs, and as a bowling group, we didn’t control the powerplay as well as we wanted to,” Powell said.

But for Jamaica, a team that lost its first few games and was written off, Powell said that the final itself was redemption.

POWELL… it’s disappointing that as a batting group on such a good wicket we didn’t really capitalise on that start

“I honestly feel it’s a proud journey for us. We have accomplished a lot of things. We set out to be in the finals, and when we came to the tournament we wanted to see if we could progress all the way. It was a slow start to the competition, as we lost our first few games, but we built a little bit of momentum with our home crowd back home in Jamaica and from there the guys started to believe that we could actually play cricket,” Powell said.”

“We went to Trinidad, which is a difficult place to play cricket, and we played a very good game down there. That confidence kept building within the team. We knew that as soon as we squeezed into the last four of the competition how dangerous our team could be, and the guys just kept chipping in. Credit has to be given to them throughout the entire competition. They listened to the leadership that myself and the head coach provided and I am actually proud of the boys,” he said.