By Sham Ali
(Celebrating 47th Anniversary – 20260531 Match# 1348): – Vian Gooniah delivered an inspired all-round performance for Cosmos when he stroked a controlled half-century and the followed up with a fifer that virtually buried Melbourne when the two teams met at Baisley Pond last Sunday.
Captain Devindra Balgobin is on a roll coming up on the right side of the coin-toss on every occasion so far. Without hesitation he elected to bat under brilliant sunshine with temperatures hovering in the low seventies and an outfield that is badly in need a manicure. Cosmos‘s performance with the bat this season has been somewhat of a revelation from the previous seasons where they searched desperately for some stability in their batting order. However, they presevered through some testing times and have managed to find that missing link which that bodes well for general moral of this young team that is still in the learning process, and is ably led by Devindra Balgobin.
The opening pair of Vitindra Koomar and Yogeshwar Ramgobin stayed the course as they got off to flying start with an excellent opening partnership of 94 runs in just nine overs. On this day, it was ‘Virat K’ Ramgobin on a ‘high’ and in vintage mood as he raced to his half-century in only 31 balls, while Koomar was more subdued at the other playing an anchor role. Ramgobin cleared the mid-on boundary on either side of the wicket, and on one occasion, a total rarity by his standards, he ran four runs to deep mid-wicket, and the signal for water came immediately. Ramgobin never seemed to operate on a full tank, and was low on fuel when he heaved across the line to a full delivery and lost his stumps. He went for an aggressive 62 runs off 35 balls (6-4’s, 4-6’s). Koomar then took control of the inning before he played across to a full delivery and went for a solid 35 runs via lbw in a 39 runs partnership with Ghanam Tariq, 127 for 2 in the 15th over.
Gooniah joined Tariq and they proceeded to stitch together a defining partnership in the middle overs. That partnership would fused the inning together as it gained momentum from the opening stand, and ultimately set the stage for a charge in the closing overs. In this match, Tariq continues to pile on the runs with yet another half-century while Gooniah was motoring along rather purposefully. When Tariq miscued a pull and went for 63, the scorecard had ticked over the 200 mark in a 3rd wicket partnership of 70 runs in just 51 balls.
At that stage, the Cosmos inning was poised for a burst in the last five overs with opposition appeared flat-footed. Cosmos capitalize on the opportunity while Baveshwar Utam was also well poised high up in the tree absorbing the show from a birds-eye view. Gooniah wasted no time as he shifted gears and took control of the inning with a blistering drive through extra-cover and followed up with a dismissive maximum over mid-wicket. Young Govin Persaud got into the dance with two boundaries over mid-on while Utam was shaking his feet in acknowledgement. This pair ran well between the wickets and the partnership flourished to an unbeaten 56 runs in just 27 balls with Gooniah getting a composed 37-ball 68 (5-4’s, 1-6) and Persaud getting 21, before the Cosmos inning closed on an imposing 273 for 4 in their allotted 30 overs.
Cosmos bowling attack in their defense kept this opposition on the back-foot throughout the second inning. Things got increasingly more difficult for Melbourne when Vian Gooniah took the ball after the opening spell and produced a clinical spell of right-arm leg-spin bowling. Gooniah proceeded to spin a web around the Melbourne middle-order batting line-up that left them asphyxiated as the runs dried up.
Ryan Ganesh removed M. Perkan (17), and Alvin Gobin then removed Z. Yusuf with a good out-swinger. Towgeshwar Thakoordeen then drew the veteran Cyril Choy out of his crease with a well flighted delivery and Vitendra Koomar, with some excellent glove-work, picked the bails. Thereafter it was a procession as Vian Gooniah took center stage. He appeared more adept at exploiting the conditions of this pitch than his counterparts as he delivered a thorough interrogation of their skills against spin, and any hope of this opposition showing some fight disappeared faster than frog in trench moss.
He had S. Shazad at sea before he heaved to mid-on, and Alvin Gobin ran in, lunged forward and held on to an excellent catch. Ahmad Dodson then took another at mid-off and Koomar brilliant glove-work in this match accounted for another two wickets. Gooniah then got one to spin appreciably with the batsman playing down the wrong line and his stumps rattled. Gooniah bagged his fifer with figures of 5 for 12 off 6 overs to complete a match-winning all-round performance as Cosmos zip-up this match with a huge 153 runs victory.
8:30am – Cosmos Youths will play Punjab on Sunday
2pm – Cosmos will play Staten Island on Sunday at Walker Park, Staten Island.