By Sham Ali
(Celebrating 46th Anniversary): – Cosmos was doing well with a run of six consecutive victories on the trot, but that ended when they came up against Dave West Indian at Randalls Island last Sunday. Cosmos appeared to be a little ‘flat-footed’ in this match under the heat and humidity, and their bowling attack that fire in the previous matches did not offer much spark on this day, compounded by the team being shorthanded at the start of the inning.
The opposition batsman garners some advantage, and they made full use of the opportunity as they raced to 102 in the powerplay overs after yours truly had removed S. Singh with the score on 38. It was hunting season thereafter with N. Iyana doing the bulk of the scoring. He bludgeoned his way to a quick-fire 84 runs in just 33 balls before Devindra Balgobin picked off stinging catch at extra-cover off Ryan Ganesh. That was a much-needed breakthrough and in the same over Towgeshwar Thakoordeen spilled a simple catch at short third-man offered by V. Mangla (21) as Cosmos attempt to claw themselves back into the match went begging.
They let another two chances slipped through their fingers that were offered by R. Patel and D. Chatterpaul early in their inning and paid dearly. Patel (60) and Chatterpaul (43) then combined for a good 87-runs partnership to get the score to 187 for 3 in the 18th over. Cosmos bowling attacks were ineffective in exploiting the conditions of spongy wicket and they were left to rue the earlier opportunities letting the match slowly slipped away. The opposition batsmen took their chances and kept the run rate fluctuating between eight and nine per over. Cosmos toyed gamely in the field, before the opposition inning ended on an imposing 267 for 9 in their allotted 30 overs. A. Gobin took 2 for 43, A. Rooplall 2 for 44, and D. Balgobin 2 for 3.
Cosmos in their reply got off to a fortuitous start when both of their openers fell without troubling the score via caught and bowled as the ball popped up off a good length. Cosmos inning in the last four matches weighed heavily on the exploits of the hard-hitting Ghanam Tariq with three consecutive half-centuries. He offered some respite to the inning with another commanding half-century but was left with a heavy burden to carry as the lone fighter after wickets kept falling at regular intervals. Akash Rahim was run out in a terrible mix-up. Devindra Balgobin played a headless swipe. Sohan Dass popped up to the bowler as this opposition was more adept at exploiting the conditions of this pitch. Towgeshwar Thakoordeen and Mukesh Sookram added some respectability to the inning with a 40-runs partnership with Thakoordeen (27) sending some ‘loud’ signals to the batting order before the Cosmos inning ended on a paltry 123 for 8 in their allotted 30 overs. D. Chatterpaul took 3 for 12.
July 26 – Cosmos Masters will play Crusaders at Vancortland Park.
July 27 at 8am – Cosmos Youths will play.
July 27 at 1:30 pm – Cosmos A will play Whim Boyz at Beach 32.
