Rahkeem Cornwall becomes unusual talking point in England's warm-up fixture

After a dismal outing in India, the English team has landed in the Caribbean islands. They are scheduled to play a short series against West Indies on the tour that expands close to a couple of weeks. On the day of their warm-up fixture on the tour, it was something unusual that grabbed the attention of all.

Young all-rounder Rahkeem Cornwall became the star talking point amidst everything else when England lined up to play West Indies Cricket Board President XI in the second practice match. Earlier in the first game, Rahkeem smashed 59 and had all eyeballs glued to him for his giant-like stature. Cornwall is a big burly cricketer who can make most players look midget in front of him.

It comes as a pretty unusual sight to see him in the team huddle where he stands a couple of ‘heads’ higher than the rest. The wicketkeeper often finds himself reaching his chest level, or shoulders in the best case, whenever they come together for a celebration. Talking about the player, Cornwall is a handy hard hitting batsman and an off break bowler.

He represents the Leeward Islands in the domestic competitions of the Caribbean Islands. In the T20 competition back home, he represents the Antigua Hawkbills. He has a First Class century to his name and has a 12-wicket haul in First Class career as well.

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The numbers surely do justify his calibre as a cricketer. Former West Indies pace bowler Andy Roberts has been backing Rahkeem Cornwall for quite some time now. As per the quotes in Dailystar.co.uk, Roberts noted that Rahkeem has been doing a fair job in domestic competitions. However, he had his reservations when talking about his future in the Test cricket.

“He has been ready to move higher for more than a year now, but for me to say he is ready for Test cricket – I don’t think we really know when anybody is ready because you have a number of players, especially here in the Leewards, who perform very well at regional level but fail to impress when they go a little bit higher,” remarked Andy Roberts on Cornwall.

The WICB are keen on developing him as a player and trying to come up with a programme to help the 24-year-old shed a few kilos. “We’re actually putting a programme in place for Rahkeem where we are actually going to have someone to manage him overall,” a former Test player quoted.

“We are looking at the various components of him playing cricket where we are looking at coaches, dieticians, and just getting everybody to come together to help this young player because he’s a special talent.”

Rahkeem himself admitted that if losing weight is the only concern for the board, then he is willing to do it. He looks pretty determined to make it big in the national side as well. “If losing weight is the issue then that is why I am on the programme with the West Indies Cricket Board. So I am putting in my best and putting in the work to lose the weight if that is the case; because it can’t be performance so I will do what I have to do to make the West Indies team,” quoted the all-rounder.