Cosmos Send Staten Island Sailing
By Sham Ali
(Celebrating 32nd Anniversary):- Sohan Dass showcased a brief glimpse into his grandeur days as a Guyana national player when he delivered a scintillating knock of 87 runs not out at Walker Park Staten Island last Sunday to give Cosmos their fourth consecutive win. Walker Park is known for its long history and recently some histrionics that had left Dass as the unfortunate candidate of a mankading episode in the last meeting between the two teams. And on this return encounter the vocals were sounded again; it is not the type that one would associate with SI, but this is a new look SI team and Cosmos methodically delivered a kind response
Sohan Dass hit an unbeaten 87 as Cosmos beat Staten Island. Photo by Shiek Mohamed
Conversely, Dass remained unperturbed and played an inning of character and purpose in Cosmos reply to Staten Island’s 170 all out. Cosmos won the toss and inserted Staten Island to bat after the match was reduced to 30 overs due to “who knows what? To asked Staten Island to bat first was a move that had some second guessing after the opposition scoreboard was ticking along at a healthy rate of seven runs per over midway through their inning.
Prasant Nandavanandam (try pronouncing that after two strong shots of Eldorado XM gold) was leading the way. His aggressive intentions were clear from the time he walked to the wicket and pushed the total along with a breezy 63 runs that that had the pronunciations of 7 cracking sixes. His inning took Staten Island to 115 for 3 after 15 overs and placed his team in a good position for a big total
But Cosmos kept pegging away, and it was Ralston Levy left arm orthodox, that subsequently ended the Nandavanandam’s inning when he deceived him with a well flighted delivery and Cyril Choy completed a neat globe-work. Edie had held on to a, excellent one-handed catch at 1st slip to remove Ibrahim off Sham Ali while Ricky Kissoon disturbed Majid’s furniture. At the fall of Nandavanandam’s wicket, Cosmos pounce on every opportunity and fought themselves back into the match.
Levy felt as though he had to inspire and he did. K. Mehta pushed to extra cover and took off for a quick single; Levy darted in from point picked up and shies down the stumps at the non-strikers end to leave Mehta well short of his crease. Cosmos effected another two run outs; Riaz Ahsan sent a perfect return to Choy form the mid-wicket boundary to leave Khodituwaku stranded, and A. Syed responded to a poor call from Rampersaud. Choy held on to two smart catches behind as Cosmos quell the flow of runs 51 in the last 15 overs. R. Levy completed a superb spell of 3 for 10 off 6 overs, R. Kissoon 2 for 37, and S. Ali and K. Edie took one wicket a piece.
Cosmos, in reply got off to a shaky start when they lost two quick wickets of with only 20 runs on the board, Rasheem James then went to a rather dubious lbw decision, 54 for 3 off 9 overs and Cosmos camp had a bit of concern. The inning needed some experience, composure and someone who can take the attack to the opposition at the right time, in other words it needed Sohan Dass. He strolled to the wicket and was greeted with some ‘reminders’ from the opposition.
But Dass is a seasoned campaigner and answered in the affirmative with the willow. The first ball which he received he stood firm and spanked it high, hard, and over the square leg boundary, and parked it into the tennis court, that pull had some ‘reminders’ and a touch of class. It was a sign of things to come. Keith Edie stood in good support with Dass at the other end and played a crucial role in a crucial partnership of 54 runs to push the total to 108 in 17 overs before Edie had a rush-of-blood and played an ill-advised heave to the man at deep mid-off.
At the fall of Edie’s wicket the match would take another twist as Cosmos lost another two quick wickets. At 121 for 6, Cosmos needed a role from one of their most experience batsmen and Dass delivered. Staten Island though had an interesting plan, to attack Cosmos with medium pace after six wickets were down instead of using their left a left arm orthodox spin of Syed, that move may have been a blunder at a crucial time especially on a turning pitch.
Ralston Levy, the man who patrolled the outfield earlier was up for the challenge again. He pushed Dass to convert “those Jessie Barfield single” into tows and that resulted in a regular signal for a drinks. The pair posted an unbeaten 50 runs partnership with Dass leading the charge. A sumptuous bang through extra cover tied the total. Dass remained focused as he did throughout his inning and then parked all the mankading hoopla in the tennis court when he unleashed a powerful bang over the mid-wicket boundary to zip up not only the match. Dass remained unbeaten on 87 with 8 massive sixes and 4 crunchy fours while the dependable Levy got 22 runs, as Cosmos completed a convincing victory.
Cosmos will play Islandwide at Floyd Bennett at 10:30am and Villagers at Gateway 2:30pm in a Twenty/20 double-header on Sunday.
