By Sham Ali
(Celebrating 45th Anniversary – Match #1267 / 20240714):- The heat wave continues as another sweltering day in a baked New York City with the temperature and humidity hovering in the upper nineties and is expected to cross the one hundred mark; Cosmos got a nice tan against Whim Boyz at Ferry Point Park last Sunday after Whim won the toss and elected to bat.
The opportunity to make an early inroad into the opposition top order went begging twice in the opening over from Ryan Ganesh when Alex Chunilall grassed a regulation head-high catch at mid-off and in the same over Antonio Rooplall followed suit at mid-on to give K. Dhanraj two simple chances and the license to attack, and he did. The Whim opening batsmen, Azeemuddin Khan and Dhanraj then tore into the Cosmos attack that lacked consistency that was either too short or too full.
The left-handed Dhanraj was in an aggressive mood while Khan was quite selective with his shots and in the process constructed an inning of purpose. He relished through extra-cover on anything that was overpitched, and pulled with authority through the mid-wicket region. A sweetly timed flick off paceman J. Mingo over square-leg was perhaps the shot of the match. Cosmos looked burnt as they toiled desperately for a breakthrough as Khan and Dhanraj stitched together a breezy opening partnership of 98 runs in just 9 overs.
A change in the attack brought some calm to the inning when H. Carrington got the breakthrough to remove Dhanraj for 32-ball 56 runs (3-4’s, 6-6’s). Cosmos fought themselves back into the match with a good spell from Carrington as another four wickets fell by the twentieth over. Khan brought up his half-century but had to retire from heat exhaustion. He returned later and added some vital runs to the inning in the last few overs before he went for a solid 82 runs as the inning closed on 222 for 9 in the allotted 30 overs. H. Carrington took 3 for 23, T. Thakoordeen 2 for 49, J. Mingo 2 for 40.
Cosmos, in their reply, got off to a good start by the end of the powerplay overs at 66 for 1 in 8 overs, but then the inning fell apart after. It all began with a bit of school boy running between the wicket that resulted in a run out. Another three wickets fell within the next two overs without any additions to the total courtesy of some hapless batting and the Cosmos inning slumped from a commanding position of 66 for 1 to a dejected 66 for 5 in 10 overs.
Thereafter, any chance of a counterattack for the middle-order rest squarely on the shoulders of Daniel Chunilall, but once he fell trying to up the rate, hope had disappeared as Cosmos was left climbing a mountain in crutches, and the inning petered out to a tame 116 all out in 19.5 overs as Whim Boyz sealed a convincing 106 runs victory. J. Pharous took 3 for 22, and H. Sattur got 2 for 13.
