CPL awaits new champions as Kingsmen and Falcons look to make history

(Cricinfo) – For only the third time in CPL history, a final will be played without Trinbago Knight Riders or their fiercest rivals, Guyana Amazon Warriors, participating. After Nicholas Pooran’s TKR crashed out even before the playoffs, Imran Tahir’s Guyana Amazon Warriors were firm favourites to go back-to-back, having also clinched the GSL title last month.

But this has turned out to be the season of surprises, with Jamaica Kingsmen and Antigua & Barbuda Falcons, the CPL’s two newest teams making the final at the expense of the traditional powerhouses.

Kingsmen, featuring in their first CPL season, stopped Amazon Warriors in their tracks in Qualifier 2, with their captain Rovman Powell taking them home with an unbeaten 40 off 17 balls. At one point, Kingsmen were in danger of missing the playoffs, but ended up sneaking into it on net run-rate and St Lucia Kings missed out instead.