Carlos Brathwaite’s decisive final delivery denies Hampshire victory

Lahore Qalandars secured a win against Hampshire Hawks in the Global Super League (GSL) in Guyana, with Carlos Brathwaite delivering a perfect final ball. James Fuller acknowledged Brathwaite’s decisive delivery prevented Hampshire Hawks from achieving an improbable victory. With 18 runs required from the last three balls, Fuller struck consecutive sixes, bringing Hampshire to within a single maximum of winning their second tournament game. Nevertheless, Brathwaite, renowned for securing the T20 World Cup for West Indies under comparable pressure, maintained composure to bowl a yorker from which Fuller could only manage a single run. Speaking to BBC Radio Solent, Fuller commented on the delivery: “That last ball was a great ball.” He added, “As soon as it was coming down I knew it was a yorker and there was not much you could really do with that.” Fuller further praised Brathwaite’s execution, stating, “You have to take your hat off, it was a great ball after two sixes, under the pump and with the game on the line.” This incident recalled Brathwaite’s memorable performance in 2016, when he famously hit Ben Stokes for four consecutive sixes to secure the T20 World Cup for West Indies against England in Kolkata. In that match, the West Indies all-rounder needed 19 runs from the final over and cleared the ropes with Stokes’s first four deliveries to clinch the victory. Scoring proved challenging for both teams on a low, slow pitch. The Pakistan Super League team, Qalandars, posted what initially appeared to be a modest total of 135-5 after their 20 overs, largely due to Luke Wells and Muhammad Akhlaq adding 44 runs from 23 balls towards the end of the innings. Despite Fuller’s late heroics bringing them within a single boundary of victory, Hampshire struggled to take command of the run chase, ultimately finishing at 131-8, four runs shy of their target. With a record of one win and one defeat from their initial two matches, Hampshire will have an opportunity to return to winning ways when they face tournament hosts Guyana Amazon Warriors at Providence on Sunday. Fuller maintained that qualifying for the final, which will see the top two teams in the five-team league table compete on 7 December, is still within their grasp. “Absolutely it is still on,” he stated. “We hopefully win the next two and we are looking forward to a bit of atmosphere and another night game [against Guyana] which will be nice.” He added, “We have had one try out and we know what the conditions are going to be. We just have to be smart with that and learn.”