By Sham Ali
(Celebrating 46th Anniversary):- It is never a good idea to wake up a sleeping Lion can be attributed to Cosmos performance last Sunday when they came up against Alliance/Renegades at Beach 32, Far Rockaway. Cosmos looked like the team determined to shake off the burden of a dismal performances in their last two matches. They did so convincingly with an almost perfect day in the field. Their performance with both bat and ball, in this match, should be a good boost for their confidence as they forge ahead.
The left-handed Gohan Gourdeen affected the early breakthrough in his first over with a searing in-swinger to dismantle the woodwork of R. Mohammed after Alliance/Renegades won the toss and elected to bat. He repeated the courtesy in his next over to remove R. Balkarran, after Antanio Rooplall grass a regulation catch on the deep extra-cover boundary off Sham Ali. Cosmos ceased the opportunity to tighten the screws in the early stages of the match with Ali in good control at the opposite end; a position where Cosmos had faltered in their two opening matches.
Former Cosmos captain, Ryan Ganesh, replaced Ali, and delivered and inspiring spell of medium pace to keep his team in the hunt as wicket kept falling at regular intervals. Ganesh looked like his ‘old self’ as he got the ball to nip back late off the seam to keep the opposition guessing, and in the process went through the gates of D. Persaud (24) and R. Persaud (7). Devindra Balgobin then held on to a good catch as the ball was swerving away from him at deep mid-off to give Ganesh his third wicket in an excellent spell of 3 for 22. Towgeshwar Thakoordeen, in combination with Ganesh picked up the key wicket of T. Gilbert. Thakoordeen proceeded to tease the outside edge on several occasions and eventually gave Daniel Chunilall a stumping chance as he delivered a miserly spell of 2 for 15. With the opposition was limping on 88 for 7 in the 20th over, Antanio Rooplall got into the ring with one wicket while Baveshwar Utam, in his debut with ball in hand, also got into the wickets column when Yogeshwar Ramgobin held on to a skier to leave the opposition on 100 runs all out in 25 overs.
Cosmos would fancy their chances of getting over the line in this match on a good batting wicket after their disappointment in the opening match at this same venue on a damp wicket. Ramgobin and Rooplall kept the scorecard ticking to 22 runs, before Ramgobin (11) was run out as a result of an extremely poor bit of running as he ambled down the wicket on a second run; his running between the wickets leaves a lot to be desired.
That was the only hiccup for Cosmos in this chase as Ghanam Tariq and Rooplall batted purposefully. They were excellent running between the wickets as they stitched together a solid 2nd wicket partnership of 78-runs. Rooplall got to his half-century just in time to tie the score before Tariq (39) cleared the mid-on boundary and into the basketball court for a huuuuge six to give Cosmos a convincing 9-wicket victory in 19 overs.
