By Sham Ali
(Celebrating 46th Anniversary): – Cosmos did it again! Just as they did in the opening match last season where they blew a commanding position, they repeated the results again, only this time they appeared wholly unprepared against this opponent that played second fiddle to them in the last three encounters. This may be a match dangling in their rearview mirror as the season heats up.
The day ended as it started for Cosmos, very cold, after Captain Devindra Balgobin lost the toss and was inserted to bat first on a damp wicket. Despite the conditions being somewhat challenging Cosmos top order batsmen were quite witless against an ‘ordinary’ bowling attack. Daniel Chunilall (1) poked at a legside wide for a leading edge. Antanio Rooplall (3) got his pad in the way of a straight ball. Yogeshwar Ramgobin (29) may need to invest in an oxygen tank and some roller skates as he was panting for breath and in cruise control by the second over. He eventually went airy-fairy to mid-off, while Ghanam Tariq (15), after looking quite solid, and played an ambitious drive that flew to deep point. With the top order back in the pavilion warming the benches, they left their team in a precarious position at 54 for 4 in the 12th over.
Devindra Balgobin adapted well in his new role as captain and proceeded to stitch together a mature inning as he partnered with Akash Rahim to repair the damage. They constructed a crucial 5th wicket partnership of 89-runs taking the score to 143 in the 26th over. Balgobin looked threatening as he moved to 45 runs in 44 balls, while Rahim, looked as though he was driving a 1960 Datsun stick-shift with a kookaburra sticker on the bumper, with serous transmission problems and was stuck in first gear throughout his inning. He was clearly out of touch. In an attempt to up the tempo and improve on the run-rate, Balgobin (45) swiped again, for the umpteenth time since last season, at a full-toss and missed.
The veteran Sohan Dass, former Guyana National Player, showed this young group how to stroke the ball, that is, if they were watching, in a brief cameo when he went nonchalantly over the mid-wicket boundary and followed up with a blistering drive through mid-off. Alex Chunilall then added some sparks to the inning as he went over mid-wicket, extra-cover and backward-square in a 7-balls 15 runs, before the Cosmos inning closed on a competitive 180 for 6 in their allotted 30 overs.
Bowling for Stallions, M. Mohammed took 2 for 35, and K. Buddy 2 for 42.
Cosmos, in their defense of a competitive total, kept finding ways of keeping this opposition in the game when Alvin Gobin spilled D. Puran off G. Gourdeen at point in the first over, Gourdeen then knocked over K. Das in his next over, but that was the only whiff that Cosmos had for the next twelve overs. The pair of Puran and M. Mohammed batted brilliantly as they blazed their way to an excellent partnership of 92 runs in just 11 overs putting their team in a commanding position. Both batsmen appeared as though they were batting on a very different wicket than Cosmos. They took full advantage of anything on offer either too short or full as the Cosmos bowling attack was quite wayward; an advanced GPS would have had technical issues directing this bowling attack. It lacked any modicum of line and length, but not width; actually, there were plenty of width, some that even found a spot off the matting at times.
Despise leaking too many runs in the first half, and having their backs against the wall, the balance of the match shifted when somewhat when Towgeshwar Thakoordeen severed the partnership by picking up both wickets; Ramgobin took a stinger at extra-cover to dismiss Puran (50) and Chunilall held on to a good catch offered by Mohammed (55) at deep mid-off after he had spilled a straight forward one in the previous over on the opposite end.
With the score on 143 for 4 and another 37 runs required, and not much batting left to come, Cosmos had an opportunity for a fight-back. Thakoordeen picked up another two wickets. But Cosmos bowling leaves a lot to be desired. With ball in hand, Balgobin and Dass tested the soil on the matting edge in high wind. That coupled with a few unusual blunders in the field at a critical stage of the match; an easy dropped catch and a missed run out with the score on 166 for 7, gave Stallions the green light on their way to a good victory when their inning closed on 181 for 7 in the 27 overs.
Bowling for Cosmos, T. Thakoordeen took 4 for 38, G. Gourdeen 1 for 27.
Cosmos will play Imperial next Sunday.