By Sham Ali
(Celebrating 43rd Anniversary – Match #1205):- In this the second round of the New York National Cricket League abbreviated T20 mini series Cosmos took on Richmond Hill last Sunday at Baisley ground on 150th Street.
Richmond Hill won the toss and inserted Cosmos under cloudy conditions on a tricky soft-ball wicket. Of course, these days cricket for the ‘younger generation‘ is quick fix where bowling from one end is either convenient or only possible, and so it was in this match.
Cosmos on the other hand has been looking for some stability and consistency from their top order throughout the season and has experimented with a combination of line-ups, however, they just cannot find the consistency in the order as it has been sketchy for the most part.
Again in this match, the top order was looking on by the 3rd over after Devon McCarthy, Shane Singh, and Yudesh Shivpersaud fell cheaply to some injudicious shots which gave the opposition an early inroads into the middle-order.
A solid 55-run 4th wicket partnership between Surendra Ramcharitar (29) and Akash Rahim (22) led the recovery as they pushed the total to 78 runs by the 11th over, and gave the Cosmos inning some momentum.
Ramcharitar, in particular, began to stroke the ball fluently, and he appeared composed and comfortable. He drove with authority through extra-cover and followed up with nonchalant flick through mid-wicket region, and just as he was looking to accelerate his inning, he was undone by a slower ball, and he went for 29 (6-4’s) off 21 balls.
At that stage, the Cosmos inning was poised for a competitive total, but Cosmos batsmen kept repeating an airy-fairy chorus and the middle-order crumbled against a steady attack, as the inning petered out to 111 all out in 18.1 over.
Leon Mohabir was the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 13, L. Bisram 2 for 23, with Altaf Habibulla and K. Sewnarine took 1 for 21 and 4 respectively.
Richmond Hill in reply, made light work of the target after Shane Singh made some noise when he disturbed Rambharos’ woodwork in his 2nd over. Cosmos attack asked a few questions, but Trevor Henry and K. Sewnarine answered in the affirmative. They were watchful to anything on a good length and took full advantage of the loose deliveries.
Henry looked solid as he kept the score ticking over without taking too many risks. He picked up the occasional boundaries with a few powerful punches through the cover region to get to his 47-ball 50 (5-4’s, 1-6).
Sewnarine shifted gears in the middle overs and took the challenge to the Cosmos attack with a few crisp clips through the mid-wicket region as he raced to a solid 48 runs (5-4’s, 1-6) in a match winning 98-run partnership as Richmond Hill sealed a convincing 9-wicket victory in the 16th over.
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