By Sham Ali
(Celebrating 45th Anniversary – Match #1279 / 20240922):- Cosmos blew their chances of Towgeshwar Thakoordeen is beginning to make some ‘quiet’ noise in Cosmos with the bat, now that the field is not too crowded and the opportunity has presented itself in the T20 competition. A usually no show in the Cosmos batting order, Thakoordeen has announced his ability once again when Cosmos took on Majestic last Sunday at Baisley Pond.
Majestic chose to claim the toss and elected to bat would soon found themselves in some early trouble when yours truly, Sham Ali, inflicted a slight dent in the opposition’s top order when he trapped the left-handed Chris Patandin (1) with an in-swinger and then struck a double blow in his next over when he clipped the outside edge of the left-handed D. Persaud (1), with his first ball, and then got one that jagged back to removed the middle stump of the right-handed Marvan Persaud (25) to complete a tidy spell. The left-handed orthodox spin of Thakoordeen got into the wickets column when he knocked over the prized wicket of Chandrapaul Hemraj (24). Hemraj was beginning to get into his grove when he punched Thakoordeen crisply over mid-off for a maximum, but Thakoordeen kept asking questions and got his answer with one that drew Hemraj out, beaten in flight and zipped through the gates.
Cosmos kept pegging away though their bowling attack was a bit weakened. Sohan Dass managed to grab one wicket, but he was clearly off course and off everything else, while the ever reliable Junick Mingo was tidy and picked up a wicket in the process. At 77 for 6 in the 13th over, Cosmos had a good grip on the match, however, a crucial 46-run partnership between H. Absar (31) and R. Rasel (20) took the score to 126 in the 16 overs. Bavesh Utam, felt the cherry in his hand for the first time, and was expensive and in search for the matting on occasions, but he got his maiden wicket to break the partnership when S. Ali held a low stinger at short mid-wicket, but conceded 27 runs in his over.
Cosmos attack then lost its sting with the ball in the hands of Cosmos two part-time bowlers in A. Rooplall and A. Gobin. In the closing overs some sparks began to fly from the bat of T. Drakes, and Rooplall and Gobin contributed nicely on a placid wicket conceding 70 runs in just 21 balls. They bowled either too full or too short, and got creamed or as Donesh would remind them ‘you got a good massage‘ for a little humor. Drakes was belligerent as he cracked six huge maximums for his 19-ball 61 runs that propelled Majestic to a challenging 196 runs in their allotted 20 overs.
Cosmos in their reply did not offer any real challenge to the opposition total despite the occasional spark. Raj Sewanan and Devindra Balgobin took on the role of opening the batting in this match, and they provided a few sparks in a 24-run partnership. Sewanan looked quite comfortable before he got a healthy edge trying up the tempo, while Balgobin showed some aggression that included a spanking maximum over wide mid-on, but eventually holed out on the mid-off boundary.
Thakoordeen walked in in the seventh over at number three, instead of his opening role in the last match, and gave the impression like he belong up the batting order sending quiet signals to the Cosmos camp of his ability with the bat. He remained until the nineteenth for a delightful 37-ball 23 runs. Akash Rahim surface for this match but Thakoordeen overshadowed him. Mingo partnered the young Alvin Gobin and kept him in line in a brief clinic to solidify one of the Cosmos purposes of these games before the inning closed on 101 for 6 in the allotted 20 overs.
ALL ARE INVITED TO
COSMOS 45TH ANNIVERSARY PRESENTATION DINNER AND DANCE
November 9, 2024. at the elegant Liberty Palace Banquet Hall, 130-11 Liberty Ave, 11419.
