By Sham Ali
(Celebrating 43rd Anniversary – Match #1191):- On a sweltering day at the Brentwood High School cricket ground, Cosmos bowling attack, once again, delivered a full load of sweet bread and got baked after West Coast Warriors won the toss and elected to bat.
It was another lackluster performance by the new breed of Cosmos players as the opposition feasted on a bowling attack (if that’s what it is) that had all the markers of how to bowl, rank long-hops and full-tosses, and a nice serving of extras. Not much had changed from the previous week, and the Warriors opening batsmen took full advantage of the offer as they got off to a flyer as Cosmos ‘bowlers’ (for identification purposes) handed them a full platter of juicy deliveries.
Through the run feast, two encouraging spells came from opening medium pace bowler, Ryan Ganesh, who continue to impress as he held a steady line and got the ball to move nicely off the seam conceded just eight runs in his opening spell of four overs.
While right arm off spin bowler, Khamraj Conyers, seems to have recovered from his state of confusion from the last match where he appeared to have questioned his ability by not knowing how good a spin bowler he is and opted for pace instead in that match. He ultimately proved his worth, and rediscovered his usual self in conceding just 21 runs in his five overs.
However, the story was quite the opposite for the remainder of the bowling attack that appeared to be from another planet leaking 169 runs in the remaining 15 overs.
There was not much to crow about in the field either. At 104 for 2 with opening batsman A. Singh getting 51, Cosmos had a chance to pull the game back into a balance, but they let two crucial chances went begging and paid a high price. Naresh Persaud has issues and his ‘gears’ kept tripping; he made a mess of a straight forward catch at deep mid-on when he ran in and then found out that he had to be reverse as the ball went over his head into the boundary off Conyers’s first over to give C. Persaud a chance when he was 18.
In the next over off Shane Singh, Devindra Balgobin at deep mid-off failed in judgment when track down a skier, from new batsman R. Khan, only to give up the chase at the last minute, and the ball fell just in front of him. That was two costly chances as the pair then settled in for an 82-runs partnership with C. Persaud getting 57 and R. Khan getting 71 before the Warriors inning closed on an imposing 216 for 5 off their allotted 25 overs.
Towgeshwar Thakoordeen was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 30, and Conyers and Persaud getting one wicket each.
The plan to chase down the opposition’s target was brainless on a good batting wicket, small ground, and a good outfield that offer value for shots. Instead of Cosmos batsmen applying themselves and stroke the ball on an outfield that offer value, they went looking for glory in every ball but Jesus never arrived. The mess though started with the batting line-up that looked like pulling numbers out of a bag, and had all the makings of a ‘back-street-little-boy-cricket-plan’ than anything of value or purposeful approach to the target ahead, and it revealed itself rather quickly.
At 40 for 1, in the 7th over, Cosmos opening pair showed some intent with Shane Singh (24) and Akash Rahim (18) at the wicket before both batsmen ran themselves out. The procession started thereafter, and Cosmos middle-order of captain Yudeshwar Shivpersaud, Devon McCarthy and Naresh Persaud and Davindra Balgobin looked like what the gods ask Sisyphus to do in Greek mythology – push a stone uphill, as they found themselves reeling at 79 for 7 in the 15th over, and staring down the barrel.
Balgobin, Thakoordeen and Yogeshwar Ramgobin got 14 runs each while Ganesh had a glory maximum before the inning closed on 131 all out. Y. Bachan and R. Khan took 3 for 11, and 3 for 19 respectively. It was an extremely pitiful performance from the Cosmos team that is capable of much better, much, much better, but this group appeared oblivious of their performances, and was quite comfortable in coming second in this match.
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