Guyana's table-topping season ends as the Falcons and Kingsmen reach the CPL final

Antigua and Barbuda Falcons will meet Jamaica Kingsmen in the Caribbean Premier League final at Kensington Oval on Sunday after Guyana Amazon Warriors lost both of their play-off matches on the same ground

Guyana finished the league stage on top of the table with eight wins from ten matches, three points clear of Antigua and Barbuda, and needed one win from two attempts to reach the final. They managed neither.

The Falcons bowled them out for 76 in Qualifier 1 and chased the target down inside six overs. A night later the Kingsmen chased 207 with two balls to spare, and Guyana's season was over.

Both finalists are new to this stage. Antigua and Barbuda have never played a CPL final, and the Kingsmen are in their first season under a name the Jamaica franchise adopted only this year.

Hetmyer's hundred is not enough

Rovman Powell put Guyana in at Kensington Oval and watched Shimron Hetmyer answer with the innings of the play-offs.

Hetmyer finished unbeaten on 102 from 45 balls, with four fours and eight sixes, after Mohammad Haris and Mavendra Dindyal had both gone inside the first five overs.

He added 96 for the third wicket with Shai Hope, who made 40, and a further 65 with Quentin Sampson, who hit 29 from 17 balls. Guyana closed on 206 for 4.

Powell finishes it in 17 balls

Jamaica's reply was shared out. Maaz Sadaqat hit 41 from 17 balls, Kirk McKenzie made 34 from 20 and Keacy Carty held the middle overs together with 56 from 40.

Powell settled it himself, finishing on 40 not out from 17 deliveries with four sixes as the Kingsmen reached 207 for 5 in 19.4 overs.

"I think, maybe it is the best one that I've played. It's the most impactful, to be honest," Powell said. "I've always, as a captain, wanted to lead from the front. Tonight provided an opportunity for me to do that."

Powell was named player of the match and shared the award with Hetmyer, who called the Jamaica captain "a hell of a guy to do something like that".

Shadab and Moqim bowl Guyana out for 76

Guyana's first play-off had been shorter and more brutal. Shadab Khan took 4-16, including a hat-trick of googlies that removed Hetmyer, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Sampson, and Sufyan Moqim took four wickets as well.

Guyana were bowled out for 76 in 15 overs, Glenn Phillips top-scoring with 16 from 15 balls.

Rahkeem Cornwall then made 49 from 16 balls, with six sixes and three fours, and Evin Lewis finished on 23 not out from 13 as the Falcons won by nine wickets in 5.2 overs.

A first final for the Falcons

Antigua and Barbuda finished second in the league stage and have now reached a CPL final for the first time.

"I'm very happy that we've made it to the final with that sort of performance," said Moeen Ali, who took over the captaincy from Imad Wasim this season and joined the squad late after signing for Southern Brave in The Hundred.

Moeen has leaned on his Pakistan spinners throughout. "Shadab Khan has been amazing. His quality, he has shown it with batting, bowling and in the field. He is a leader himself. He has been one of the reasons we have been doing really well in CPL 2026," he said.

Jamaica back in a final under a new name

The Kingsmen are the rebranded Jamaica Tallawahs, renamed in April after a spell away from the competition and now under new ownership.

They finished fourth in the table, came through the Eliminator against Barbados Tridents and have won two knockout matches in a row to reach Sunday's title match.

"Feeling good to see a franchise come back to Jamaica, and we are in the final," Powell said.

Scorecard: Guyana Amazon Warriors 206 for 4 (Hetmyer 102*, Hope 40) lost to Jamaica Kingsmen 207 for 5 (Carty 56, Sadaqat 41, Powell 40*) by five wickets

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