Cosmos Crumble Against Suburbia
By Sham Ali
(Celebrating 34th Anniversary – Match #1036):- Suburbia registered a major moral boosting victory over Cosmos last Sunday at Van Courtland Park with a massive 143-run victory.
It was a good toss to win on a scorching day and Suburbia made full use of the opportunities presented to them early in the inning. Sham Ali got the early breakthrough when he sent back the hard-hitting opening batsman Syed Abdullah with his second ball, and two ball later R. Burnett survived when Rasheem James spilled a meal at mid-off. Another chance went begging off Ali in the next over when Sushant Modani skied to cover where S. Shah and Rana were left ball watching.
It was two costly miss as Burnett and Modani settled into a good 70-runs partnership before Ricky Kissoon trapped Modani (34). Captain Javien Thomas was then let off on the boundary before he stroked a breezy 24. Thereafter, Cosmos was left to rue another two miss chances off Burnett as he held a rather shaky suburbia middle order together. He went on to score 78 runs before Thohidhuzzaman Rana clipped his stump in the 29th over. However, by that time he had played a vital inning on a tricky wicket and a heavy outfield and pushed his team to fighting 180 for 6 off their allotted 30 overs. Hasib and Rana were again impressive with the ball taking 1 for 32 and 2 for 29 respectively, while James got 2 for 16.
At the end of Suburbia’s inning Cosmos boys looked roasted, but none was not prepared for burnt they got in the next thirteen overs. Shah drove loosely to slip. Imrul Hasib got a leading edge when he attempted to turn a short ball to leg. Imrul Habib then played a hair-brain heave when he charged down the wicket and lost his stumps.
At 16 for 3, Cosmos had their backs against the wall, and they needed to wrestled their way out with a partnership. But then a series of ill-advised strokes proved fatal as the inning took a dramatic nosedive. Daniel Chuninlal drove loosely to mid-off. Sohan Dass was run out in a stop-go mix up. James drove straight to mid-off. Rana missed a straight ball, and Kissoon dragged one onto his stumps, 22 for 8.
And within five overs of gentle medium pace Cosmos strength in their middle order were decimated. The scorecard looked like an unwritten program of zeros and ones as the inning petered out in a manner sadly unfamiliar to those who have watched Cosmos over the years. It took Suburbia just 14 overs to seal a thumping 143 runs victory. The victory, thought well earned was little consolation for a young Cosmos line-up as Suburbia echoed that it was their first win against Cosmos in their long history, and that it came at a time when Suburbia is looking to rebuild their team and that is a route worth taking.
