Why the silence around Rahkeem Cornwall is eerie?
Why the silence around Rahkeem Cornwall is eerie?
The last that Rahkeem Cornwall played for the West Indies was back in November of 2021.
The burly off spinner went wicketless in the first inning of the first Test at Galle but made up with the bat by scoring 39 runs off his team’s 230.
Next up, he’d come to bowl in the second innings and grabbed two vital wickets in that contest, which eventually didn’t go the West Indies’ way.
But on his part, the man acknowledged as an all rounder in first class and international cricket did his job. He picked wickets. He accumulated useful runs. 49 of them in entirety.
Truth be told, there were others in his side, including Hope, Blackwood and Bonner that failed to get going with the bat.
Yet, since that time in Sangakkara and Mahela-land, one hasn’t seen Rakheem Cornwall wear the West Indian burgundy again.
It’s an absence that is strange, sudden even.
If, hypothetically speaking, it is to become an absence that won’t ever be overturned, then it will come to hurt definitely.
Moreover, it oozes a sense of bias and perhaps indecision pointing an urgent need for vital answers that are desperately sought but have thus far, gone unaccounted for.
It’s as if, the West Indies cricket board has completely forgotten that there’s a mighty talent at their disposal in the form of Cornwall that warrants to be taken seriously.
And if not, then there’s a sense of indecision surrounding the giant Antiguan for which one needs an explanation, which by the time of its arrival, may still not placate the sufferer.
Rahkeem Cornwall has, well and truly speaking, given his hundred percent as and when a chance has been afforded to him to represent West Indies at the Test level.
And this isn’t to trick the reader into a cesspool of sentimental thinking; the numbers say their own tale.
From 9 Tests so far, the average cricketer with a positive mindset has collected 34 wickets.
The soon-to-begin Zimbabwe series may have been that perfect platform to go past wicket number forty with his first real milestone thus appearing in even closer sight.
But despite not picking some injury or reporting to the board of some sort of unavailability, Cornwall‘s non selection poses questions at the board, if not potshots.
But who’s going to answer them?
If weight is a problem, which could well be the case then, it ought to be said that none, whether a Hetmyer or Odean Smith sport muscular abs.
And should bulky cricketers be only thought about in terms of their kilos and not for the magnitude of their talent, then how Ravi Rampaul was, for instance, picked for the T20 World Cup 2022, is something that’s beyond explanation.
He doesn’t resemble a Jean Claude Van Damme. Nor is Chris Gayle Rambo-like athletic.
But a commonality binds all these mightily talented blokes. They’re powerful.
Their talent has great appeal and attracts eyeballs from around the globe.
Purely from the standpoint of his presence and sheer love for the game, Rahkeem Cornwall has made people stand and take notice of his talent.
The ability to clear the fence with ease has endeared him to a global fan base the sport is lucky to have.
He’s bright, unassuming and spares you the bullshit of being a talkative cricketer who’s low on emotional content and big on lip service.
Cornwall is pure passion. He’s a what-you-see-is-what-you-get sorta cricketer. Isn’t that nice?
And ever since he became part of the Windies plans for national representation, he’s worked on his fitness and diet.
It showed in the 2019 Afghanistan Tests that took place in India.
Cornwall embodies cricket and the few things that are right about West Indies.
Him being given a chance, did at least, point to a matter of huge positive. And it’s that despite many wrongs the West Indies would soon like to right, playing a man whose heart beats for the game, was a huge thing in itself.
Alas, that joy was taken away and all too suddenly.
To this date one doesn’t know what might Cornwall, still 29, be doing in the future. Sure he’s played the CPL. He earned fans. And with it, some money.
Sure others will take him in franchise leagues anywhere in the world. But a question remains.
Does Rahkeem Cornwall of Antigua not belong to the highest echelons for his West Indies?
Why the silence around Rahkeem Cornwall is eerie?
