IT WOULD BE DAFT TO BELITTLE CRAFTY CORNWALL
There is a reason the main entrance to supermarkets brings the customer into the fresh fruit and vegetable aisle. It’s a psychological trick. This shop is fresh and full of goodness, it says. It is healthy, it is positive, it is good for you. You would be wise to spend your money here.
And we fall for it, every time. We know that over the back there are toilet rolls and refuse sacks, but we don’t make those unpleasant associations. We love the way our supermarket looks, the emotions it triggers. What is put directly in front of us, shapes our view of the experience.
Maybe facing rahkeem Cornwall works like that, too. Lulls the batsman into a false sense of security. ‘Look at this lot, 22 stone,’ he thinks. ‘They can’t field. They can’t run. here we go, let’s have a quick single.’ except the rest of the West Indies team are not like rahkeem Cornwall. Nobody in cricket is like rahkeem Cornwall. That is what is special about him.
So when Joe root took that illadvised single it was not Cornwall who was fielding, but the lithe, athletic roston Chase, who scored a direct hit with his throw, clipping a bail with england’s captain stranded.
It was a daft run at a daft time, a random decision. Then again, Cornwall is a random presence on the cricket field, so interesting things often happen around him.
It is not true to say men of his physique do not exist in modern sport. There are some different shapes in rugby, baseball’s biggest hitters carry timber and, a year ago, word of Cornwall’s existence at 6ft 5in and weighing 22st had reached the NFL franchise San Francisco 49ers.
There is room in gridiron for huge men who look as if they could stop a speeding truck just by standing there, and the 49ers had recruited a novice with Cornwall’s build in the previous campaign. And maybe he could have enjoyed a very lucrative career as a defensive lineman in the NFL.
But he’s from the Leeward
Islands. The Liberta Sports Club in Antigua, who play in the recreation Ground in St John’s. he likes cricket. It’s in his family, in his blood. And around the time the 49ers were preparing their play, the West Indies Cricket Board relented on their previous stance about Cornwall; that he was too big to play his sport at the highest level. That his skill with the ball did not outweigh his limitations as a fielder, or his running between the wickets. They decided he was good enough.
And he hasn’t let them down. Three wickets against India on his debut in Kingston; 10 wickets in Lucknow against Afghanistan. This was his first experience in english conditions yesterday, and he bowled admirably without getting a breakthrough.
Fielded admirably, too. In the slips for obvious reasons, where his handling is impressive, bringing the important wicket of rory Burns off the bowling of Chase, a lovely right- handed take. he looked to be juggling at first but the replays showed he had it under control all along. It just looked a little untidy, as a big man can. The collar of his shirt was much the same.
To write or talk about Cornwall in the context of his size brings accusations of fat- shaming. Yet this isn’t about shame. Cornwall is plainly his own man and more power to him for that. But he is also quite obviously an outlier in a sport that increasingly finds little room for those who do not conform to the modern standards of professional athleticism.
Colin Cowdrey might not get a game today. Jack Simmons, a legend at Old Trafford, would be told to slim or else. Samit Patel missed out on a place at the 2011 World Cup because of fitness issues and Freddie Flintoff was warned in his career too.
This is an age when england depart for Australia with a recipe book, full of precise instructions on what is to be prepared for them during matches, and woe betide an unpermitted carb. One imagines Cornwall would not be entertained for a central contract by the eCB, even if he was turning it square all summer.
he doesn’t turn it square, by the way. But he does turn it. enough to cause england a few problems with the old ball late in the day and enough to extract a little from the pitch against Burns just 70 minutes into the game. Cornwall was on after 13 overs, revealing a stride best explained as energy-saving. It was observed that he was not likely to incur the wrath of the umpires for running on the danger area. To be fair, he wasn’t going to be running on any area, really. running is not what Cornwall does best.
his delivery is achieved after no more than three steps, at least two of which are probably unnecessary, and there is little momentum in the follow-through. As for moving between wickets at the end of the over, Cornwall is not one of those who gambols eagerly to his place, clapping encouragement and bouncing in stride with the wicketkeeper. his is the movement of a man nearing the end of his shift in a lost property office, asked to have one last look out the back, when he knows what is sought is almost certainly not out the back. When he goes behind those shelves, you know he’s probably not even looking. Let’s just say whatever was in that missing briefcase, you can probably write off.
he has a lovely action, though. Very smooth; and he got through 21 overs, the most of any bowler, for a reasonably tight 71 runs against the best of england’s batting.
No doubt a full house, well lubricated, would have had their fun with him after tea, but there deserves to be much admiration, too.
It is not easy for man of Cornwall’s size to forge a career in professional sport. Many would dismiss him with a look, or make presumptions about his ability and usefulness. he has overcome all this to be trusted to represent the Caribbean in the deciding Test of a series against england. It’s a big honour. he’s a big man.