By Sham Ali
(Celebrating 46th Anniversary) :- Cosmos jumped to the top of the points table after they registered a convincing six-wicket victory over Dave West Indian team at Marine Park #3 last Sunday morning.
These fixtures have become a challenge for teams playing on a field that has no shelter leaving the teams to squat in the sun for the entire duration of the match; nonetheless, an excellent cricket field. Dave West Indian won the toss and elected to bat posted a good total courtesy of an excellent inning from the former US national player, Akeem Dodson who rode his luck late in the inning for an excellent 48-ball 70 runs to take his team to a respectable 151 all out in the allotted 20 overs.
Cosmos got off to a shaky start in their reply losing both openers in the powerplay overs. However, with the score on 29 for 2, the inform, L. Bisram and T. Persaud anchored down as they began to repair the inning and, in the process, put on a clinical batting display as they chiseled away at the opposition target. Bisram paced his inning to near perfection and chose his attack rather timely. He was in full command of the arc between extra-cover and mid-wicket and unleashed a few telling blows that included four fours and five sixes as Cosmos kept pounding away at this opposition.
Persaud was more measured picking the singles and converting the occasional tows that kept the scorecard ticking along. In the process, they frustrated an overloaded opposition team and an attack that appeared quite pedestrian against this pair. A desperate move to claim the game the next day was extremely poor and amounts to a wasted effort.
Despite Dave WI arriving late to the park and Cosmos didn’t bother to claim the toss and overs as per the rules, but these are the methods resorted to when heavy reinforcement didn’t get the desired results.
Bisram and Persaud kept their composure and resorted to the basics as they stitched together the 143rd century partnership for Cosmos. That partnership buried this opposition and put Cosmos in a commanding position before Bisram (69) holed out on the mid-wicket boundary. With Cosmos still needed 23 runs off 16 balls. Persaud (36) then shifted gears and took control of the inning as the match went into the final over with six runs needed. Dodson found the mid-wicket boundary with a dismissive pull to push Cosmos over the line and sealed an emphatic 6-wicket victory.
Nov. 8 – Cosmos 46th Annual Presentation, Dinner & Dance at Liberty Palace Banquet Hall.
