Shadab and Alzarri end Amazon Warriors' unbeaten run and take Falcons to top of table

Falcons now have 13 points to Amazon Warriors' 12, but the latter have three games in hand

Antigua and Barbuda Falcons 182 for 5 (Hasan Nawaz 36, Shadab 30*, Tahir 1-21) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 117 (Dindyal 25, Alzarri Joseph 4-41, James 2-11, Moqim 2-18, Shadab 2-19) by 65 runs

Shadab Khan and Alzarri Joseph turned in match-altering performances to end Guyana Amazon Warriors' perfect start to CPL 2026 and take Antigua and Barbuda Falcons to the top of the table. Falcons now have 13 points to the Amazon Warriors' 12, though the latter have three games in hand.

Before this defeat, Amazon Warriors had won six out of six games this season. And they looked in good shape to continue their run after choosing to bowl, with their bowlers keeping a tight lid on the scoring for 17 overs, restricting Falcons to 122 for 4. At that stage, Cricinfo's forecaster put the expected total at 151.Alzarri Joseph ripped through the Amazon Warriors top order•CPL T20

Falcons' top four had all spent time at the crease without being able to break the shackles - Karima Gore, Evin Lewis, Amir Jangoo and Hasan Nawaz all passed 20 while scoring at sub-135 strike rates.

It all changed when Falcons' spin-bowling allrounders came to the crease. Moeen Ali (18 off 12) and Fabian Allen (11 not out off seven) hit three sixes between them, and Shadab smashed an unbeaten 30 off just nine balls, hitting two fours and three sixes. In all, Falcons ransacked 60 runs in their last three overs, with Romario Shepherd going for 41 across the 18th and 20th.

And just like that, Amazon Warriors were chasing 183. They began frenetically, with Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Mavendra Dindyal putting on 33 for the first wicket in just 14 balls, but Alzarri turned the tide by striking twice in the third over of the innings.

And having removed Gurbaz and Shai Hope, Alzarri struck again in his next over, sending back Dindyal for a 13-ball 25. That would remain the highest score of the Amazon Warriors innings, which went into a rapid spiral. Seamer Joshua James and the Pakistani wristspin twins Shadab and Sufyan Moqim took two wickets each - with Shadab going for just 19 in his four overs - as Amazon Warriors folded for 117 in just 14.2 overs.

Alzarri, meanwhile, finished with 4 for 41, and rose to second on the season's wicket-takers' list with 14, one behind St Lucia Kings' Matthew Forde.