Ricky Kissoon picked up 4 for 17 in Cosmos win over Queens United.
By Sham Ali
(Celebrating 32nd Anniversary):- Cosmos pushed all the hype aside ahead of this match and chalked up their second win with a convincing three wicket victory over Queens United at Floyd Bennett Field last Sunday.
A day in which the temperature in May was just about perfect for cricket, however it was the pitch that was less than perfect which had some moisture due to overnight rain. The damp surface behaved like someone who spoke Swahili on a few strong shots of Bourbon for most of the day. Batting on it required undue application and patience while bowling was as easy as abc.
Ricky Kissoon, Cosmos left arm orthodox, exploited the conditions with a decisive “Underwood-like” spell of flight and variation as he and off-spinner Keith Edie pierced through the opposition top order. Surprisingly, Queens United won the toss and elected to bat. It was a decision that proved to be disastrous as Edie made the early inroads in only the 2nd over when Faisal Taj at gully snapped up a stinging slice to remove Deon Brown (0).
He (Edie) then disturbed the furniture of Dennis Evans and Cosmos ceased the initiative and wasted no time as they drilled further into the opposition’s batting line-up. It was Kissoon who got into fold in this match at the change as he sliced out the next four batsmen to give Cosmos a a wide opening as the opposition’s batting slumped to at 69 for 6 by the 25th over.
It was left to the veteran A. Hutchinson who dug-in with the tail and in a rearguard effort they composed two good partnerships to add some respectability to the inning. Hutchinson was last to go for a fighting, out of breath, 37 runs when Queens United inning closed on a 133 all out. R. Kissoon was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4 for 17 off 8 overs, K. Edie 2 for 22, L. Whyte 2 for 18, while R. Levy and D. Mohamed took one wicket a piece.
In reply, Cosmos did not anticipate much of a challenge and they got off to a good start before Ganesh Ramsingh was fortuitously run out with the score on 25, Edie then picked up from his last match as he went in and out in a hurry. Taj batted with some newly found patience before he got into his usual fray and went for 27 runs. Rasheem James was promoted to #4 and responded with some “new found” patience as he and the former Trinidad and Tobago national player, David Mohamed, pushed Cosmos into a good at 88 for 3 before James played loosely outside off stump and obliged the wicketkeeper.
Cosmos middle order got a bit airy fairy as though they had to be home early and the Cosmos inning suffered a brief hiccup to 106 for 7. Sham Ali and Lenroy Whyte organized the inning and then put a layer of “glossy finish” to it with a bit of flavor. Whyte went powerful and twice for the maximum while Ali sliced dismissively through point as the pair picked off the target without much sweat to take Cosmos to a comfortable 3-wicket victory with six overs to spare.
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