Alex Chuninlal of Cosmos.
By Sham Ali
(Celebrating 34th Anniversary – Match #1044-45):- Cosmos ran into the ground in their double header last Sunday against the top ranked, Queens United, and Suburbia in the Twenty20 match up.
In the first match against Queens United – the #1 ranked team in the Round Robin competition- at Idlewyle.
Cosmos decision to field appeared to be a justified, and it would have been confirmed even further in an eventful over from young Alex Chuninlal after Cosmos had picked up two early wickets. Andrew Davis was taken by Faisal Taj at point off Kissoon and Nikumra Bonner handed Alex Chuninlal a ‘rocket’ at mid-on off Ralston Levy. At 52 for 2, Gavin Wallace, the former Jamaica national player, pushed the first ball from Chuninlal to silly mid-off and called Staple for a sharp single. Chuninlal, in his follow-through darted down the wicket and his younger legs got the better of Staple on the throw to older brother, wicketkeeper, Daniel Chuninlal.
Marino Dixon was the next man in, he had blazed a century when these two teams met a few weeks ago, he offered an early chance when he tried to turn his second ball to square-leg and got a leading edge that looped back to Chuninlal, it went in and spilled out. Wallace then took Chuninlal 5th delivery to mid-wicket where Rasheem James grassed it. That was two costly opportunities as the pair settled for a crucial partnership worth 62 runs. Levy struck in the 14th over when Thohidhuzzaman Rana held on to a skier at mid-off to remove Dixon(22).
Faisal was quite economical in the death overs as Cosmos fought to keep the match in a balance. He picked up D. Morgan, C. Choy, and J. Smith in an inspired spell to return with figures of 3 for 15, while Chuninlal a counted for Wallace (32) when Queens United inning closed on 165 for 8 off their allotted 20 overs.
Cosmos in reply needed good inning from one of their senior batsmen, but instead their top order gave a rather muted response with series of injudicious shots that left the lower order guessing. Young Alex Chuninlal, cosmos poster boy, showed some maturity with the bat. His inning simply added a veneer of respectability to the total after the top order failed to fire. He took Bonner boldly one bounce into the mid-on boundary and then dismissively through mid-wicket. It was a show of determination from tjus young man in the lower order. He remained on 17 not out when the Cosmos inning closed on 100 for 8 off their allotted.
Faisal Taj blazed 71 runs of just 29 balls, that included 6 fours, 5 sixes. Photo by Shem Rodney
Cosmos v Suburbia
Pickup and lets raced over to Roy Wilkins for the second match against Suburbia. Kevin Prince was given the opportunity with the new ball and he responded better than expected. However, Cosmos would be required to dig a little deeper in this match after Suburbia won the toss and elected to bat. Cosmos battled to separate the partnership between Fowler and Baker after they picked up T. Henry(14) in the 3rd over, but these are two excellent batsmen who were adept in these conditions and exploiting the gaps in the field with some excellent running between the wickets. Zennife. Fowler and Orlando Baker posted an excellent 2nd wicket partnership of 145 runs to take Suburbia to 170 for 2 in the 17th over. Fowler on 95 off 46 nalls missed out on a century when he miss-timed a pull from Paramanand Sanicharan to mid-on. Baker (77) kept the score ticking as Suburbia posted a challenging total of 198 for 2 off their allotted 20 overs.
Amjad Khan can often be a one-man show in this version of the game, and in this match he appeared that way in the power play overs eventhough, Cosmos had lost two early wickets for just ten runs. A 68 runs partnership with James gave the inning some life before James (8) was the victim of a rather palpable decision when he was adjudged to be bowled by a signal from the square leg umpire to the ruling umpire. Khan then went in the next over for 52 off 29 balls when he was bowled by a short delivery that refused to get up.
At 87 for 4 off 12 overs, Cosmos needed 112 runs to get in 8 overs. It was a big ask, but Cosmos still had hopes with ‘boom boom’ Faisal Taj at the wicket. He is capable and was due for some runs. He took charge in a steady partnership of 75 in six overs with Ralston Levy that kept Cosmos in the hunt despite a case being made in vein after two five-ball overs were bowled from the end of the umpire that initiate the previous decision against James.
Taj can be a destructive batsman and he appeared to be in good command of the opposition’s attack and was striking the ball quite cleanly. At 144 after 17 overs. Taj then took 18 runs off the 18th over to take the score to 162. Levy was caught on the mid-wicket boundary off the first ball in the 19th over for 30 runs off 15 balls. Taj was firing; he then took 20 runs (6, 4, 2, 2, 6) off the next five balls in 19th over to take the score to 182 for 5. And with 17 runs needed off the last over Taj had a word with Daniel Chuninlal and they separated with a firm bump of the gloves.
1st ball- Daniel Chuninlal got 1 leg bye.
2nd ball- Taj got 2 runs
3rd ball- 1 run, Taj was run out going for a second for a belligerent 71 runs of just 29 balls, 6 fours, 5 sixes.
4th ball- 4 runs from Rana through mid-on.
5th ball- 0 run, Rana got bowled. 190 for 6.
6th ball- ???. Never bowled!!!
The umpire waited until the incoming batsman got to the wicket and then decided to call over; another 5-ball over and it came in the 20th over. An unbelievable occurrence that simply damper the spirit of what has been a hard fought, highly competitive match between these two teams.
