By Sham Ali
(Celebrating 44th Anniversary – (Match #1229):- Sohan Dass, the former Guyana National player, rolled back the years with a good all-round performance that was highlighted by a controlled spell of medium pace when he bagged a fifer for Cosmos against Amazon Jaguars at Beach-32 in Far Rockaway last Sunday.
The veteran Dass delivered a much-needed spell that sliced through the opposition top order under threatening clouds in a crucial match to keep Cosmos alive in a playoffs contention. Devindra Balgobin won the toss and elected to bat. Cosmos opening pair, Shane Singh and debutant Mikhail Bissoondial, got off to a flyer to 39 in 3 overs. Shane Singh wanted to score a thousand runs in one over holed out to the only man out of the circle on the mid-on boundary. Mikhael Bissoondial missed a full-toss. Alex Chunilall and Antanio Rooplall have some loose wiring somewhere, and within another two over, Devindra Balgobin joint the time-out bench when he swept a full-toss and missed.
The unpredictability of this line up allowed some complacency to step in against an inexperienced attack, and as a result, a few over-ambitious shots created an opening that allowed Jaguars to rip into the Cosmos top order. At 87 for 5, Cosmos found themselves in a spot-of-bother, however, the dependable Akash Rahim and Naresh Persaud showed that there is also depth in the batting order as they began to repair the self-inflicted wound committed by the top order earlier. They batted sensibly and with purpose, picking up the singles, and the occasional boundary as they stitched together a crucial 6th wicket partnership of 67 runs taking the score to 157 runs by the 18th over, and in the process brought a sense of calm to the inning. Persaud (20) became the victim of one of those lbw decisions when he was fully stretched across his off stump. Rahim and Dass added 17 to the total before Rahim (31) handed a full-toss to the man at short mid-wicket for catching practice, 171 for 7. At that stage, Amazon Jaguars had fought themselves back into the match by keeping the Cosmos batsmen quiet.
The two veterans, yours truly Sham Ali, and Sohan Dass (the former Guyana National top order batsman) applied the counter-punch in the closing overs with some old school techniques to schooled the Cosmos camp in the basics of batting. They featured in a crucial 41 runs 8th wicket partnership under some steady drizzle before the Cosmos inning closed on a reasonable 215 for 9 off their allotted 30 overs. V. Ramnandan with a controlled spell took 3 for 37, and S. Owal 2 for 19.
An excellent opening partnership between N. Mohamed and V. Ramnandan yielded 63 runs by the 10th over pushed Cosmos on the back foot, however, at the change; Dass affected the breakthrough when Bissoondial took an excellent catch down the legside to remove Ramnandan (18). Towgeshwar Thakoordeen got into the wickets column when Shane Singh track down a skier offered by Mohamed (41) when he ran from point to extra cover, put in the slide and held on to a brilliant catch inches off the ground, while yours truly stood anchored at extra cover and watch gleefully, thank goodness, Shane saved the day bro.
With the openers back in the pavilion, the Jaguars had lost their strength and the middle-order stuttered against a tidy spell from Dass and Thakoordeen under dark heavy clouds and the skies threatening to burst open. Alvin Gobin and Aditya Shukradeo made their way onto the field to get some much needed exposure and to showcase their agility on the field. Dass then went to battle with Jaguars, he disrupted the woodwork twice, Bissoondial took his second catch behind and then Dass held on to a dolly return catch that would make a baby smile. Thakoordeen scalped another before the skies burst opened with Jaguars in deep trouble on 108 for 8 in 25.1 overs and way behind the required run rate, and with no more play was possible Cosmos sealed a comfortable victory. S. Dass took 5 for 33, and T. Thakoordeen 2 for 18
Cosmos will have their family day, and will play All Nations next Sunday at Randalls Island.