Cosmos’ Faisal Taj hit 26 off 15 balls and picked up 3 for 23 against Villagers. Photo by Shem Rodney
By Sham Ali
(Celebrating 32nd Anniversary):- Cosmos completed two comfortable victories in their Twenty/20 double-header at Floyd Bennett and Gateway last Sunday. The first match was scheduled to begin at 10:30am at which time only the two umpires were at the ground and ready for the start. As for the two teams, well, breakfast was still on the stove for some while others were on a scramble to look for something, anything that has some color, to wear; a t-shirt, a sweat pants, anything and call it your club color. That seems to be the norm in most clubs after the first season of color clothes cricket that is now T20.
The match eventually got started at 11:30am and it took only 12 overs before Islandwide was bowled out for a paltry 28 runs after Cosmos captain, yours truly, won the toss and rather sportingly asked a depleted Islandwide team to bat. Ali, Dass, Mohan Kissoon and Whyte worked over the top order before Tegana Mckenzie skid through the Islandwide tail with 3 for 2 off 2 overs. Only M. Herbert got into double figures. Debutant Velma Mathurin, dressed in her Sunday ‘jump suit’ brought some fun to the day when she decided to put on the pads, no helmet, and walked to the wicket for Islandwide. She instructed the bowler where to bowl and how to bowl the ball. In the end, it took Cosmos just five overs, as Mohan Chatram and Cyril Choy knocked off the required runs.
Tegana Mckenzie took 3 wickets for 2 runs against Islandwide. Photo by Shiek Mohamed
Cosmos packed up and headed to Gateway for their second match against Villagers. The move to disrupt the premier 40-Overs competition at the halfway stage and plug in a T20 competition for three weeks can be many things but wise. There is little or no seriousness in T20 cricket at the local level, and it is inconceivable to think that a postmortem will revive the dead.
Not much would changed for Cosmos though, they have been playing some excellent cricket so far in the 40-Overs competition and got off to a good start in the T20 format. In this match-up Cosmos won the toss and elected to bat. D. Soodeen (37) and P. Dabare (18) took a liking to the opposition’s pace attack and got Cosmos off to a breezy start and the total moved 82 for 3 off 9 overs. Cosmos maintained their momentum and was capable of handling any purchase on the day, and did so in a measured way. David Mohamed, the former Trinidad and Tobago national player, held the Cosmos middle-order together with a gritty 33 runs, with key contributions coming from Faisal Taj, Rasheem James and Ralston Levy, when the Cosmos inning closed at 153 for 8 off the allotted 20 overs.
In defense of their total on the day, it appeared as though Cosmos could catch a meteorite before it crashed into earth without the help of a Priest or prophecy from a Messiah, and they did. Cosmos boys were competitive, refined and relentless in their colors. Mohan Chatram took a stinger at deep mid-wicket. Rasheem James was equal to the task at deep mid-on and Ralston Levy equaled both of them when he roped in one that was heading over the fence on the mid-wicket boundary as wickets kept falling at regular intervals.
Soodeen one of the most unlikely finds in this match was handed the ball and he delivered a crucial spell in the closing stages. It is another indication of the dept within the Cosmos team. Only the former West Indies fast bowler Jermaine Lawson, showed some resistance with the bat for the opposition. But it was Faisal Taj who led the way for Cosmos when he produced a methodical riposte with bat (26 runs off 15 balls) and then served a cocktail of deliveries with figures of 3 for 23 off 4 overs. He demonstrated in clear view of stifled conscience that his muzzled exclusion from the New York Region team that would subsequently deny him a chance to represent the country was not due to the lack of talent.
Taj seemed to enjoy the challenges as he controlled one end and rose to the occasion. Tegana Mckenzie had a brief episode in lack of concentration, but then recovered and held on to the catch of the match off Taj. He ran in a few yards from the mid-wicket boundary, experienced a brief GPS malfunction, changed direction, lounged forward and came up with a stunning catch only inches off the ground as Cosmos supporters erupted, 150 for 9. Taj, “Boom Boom Afridi” as the boys call him, then cleaned up the last man with a searing faster ball to give his team an excellent victory. He said rather jokingly after that it was a 135 kph and struck his “Afridi” pose, as Cosmos turned the volume to zero with a high class performance again.