By Sham Ali
Cosmos turned in a dismal performance against Westbury last Sunday at Floyd Bennett Field. The matchup between the two champions turned out to be a one-sided affair after Westbury won the toss and invited Cosmos to bat on a pitch that had more devils than those that arose from among stars.
Vintage Sham Ali.
The Westbury opening bowlers exploited the conditions to their benefit as Westbury opening bowlers P. Smith, L. St. Louis, and C. Gayle got the ball in the right areas and on a nagging length to send Cosmos top order batsmen reeling on 72 for 5. A rear guard effort from Dixeth Palmer, Melroy Kingston and Sham Ali pushed cosmos along, however, wickets continue to fall a regular intervals and cosmos could only crawl to a meager 120 all out in the 30th over leaving the opposition anticipating of an early day at the park.
In reply, Westbury’s aggressive approached on this pitch is just what was needed to challenge the target. D. Ferguson stroked a forceful 25 runs while D. Thomas lived for a streaky 40 runs.
A few early wickets on this pitch could have given Cosmos a fighting chance despite such a small total, however that subsided after Melroy Kingston made a meal from D. Thomas lobbed edge to fly slip in Sham’s second over and then another skier from him off George Adams fell to the ground between L. Achaibar and M. Persaud indecision.
Kevin Darlington bowled a lively spell to scalped Ferguson with his first ball and then Achaibar flight and turn left Thomas stranded numb out of his crease and when B. Barkley offered a regulation chance at extra cover and P. Salmon chance at deep mid-off popped in and out to the ground Cosmos hopes disappeared again as their atrocious catching display continued.
The B. Mc Liesh led Westbury team got home quite comfortably. Cosmos will have to absorb this dismal one match error very quickly, like any championship team would, and prepared themselves for the battles in a long season ahead. Cosmos will play Liberty next at Floyd Bennett Field
COSMOS WILL BE IN HARTFORD FOR THEIR ANNULA MEMORIAL WEEKEND TOUR.