After successfully completing the CPL tournament, Antigua’s Rahkeem Cornwall is representing Atlanta Fire in the ongoing Atlanta Open Twenty20 League. In that, he shows a fresh all-around performance and mentioned that he is still open to representing the West Indies team.
Cornwall created history by scoring a double century in T20 cricket last Wednesday against Square Drive. Atlanta Fire won the toss and elected to bat first and Cornwall opened the innings with Steven Taylor. The duo put on 101 for the first wicket before Taylor was dismissed in the seventh over for 53 off 18 balls.
Later, Cornwall joined Sami Aslam in an unbeaten 225-run stand for the second wicket to take the team to a mammoth score of 326 runs. Aslam scored 53* off 29 balls, but Rahim’s exceptional innings stole his show. Cornwall scored 205* off 77 balls. During his brisk innings, he hit 22 sixes and 17 fours at a strike rate of 266.23.
He mentioned that he has not contacted the selection committee officials, but he said that he is ready to play at any moment if he gets an opportunity to play for the West Indies.
“Um no, I haven’t spoken to any of the selectors or anybody in terms of West Indies, but I am still interested in playing for the West Indies, and once given the opportunity, I will be ready.”
Despite achieving the incredible milestone, Cornwall’s landmark double century will not go down in the history books as the US-based Atlanta Open is not an officially recognized T20 tournament. He talked more about his double ton on Wednesday.
“It was a good innings scoring 205. We started off a bit slow, trying to pick up the pace of the wicket and then get into my stride. Once the ball was in my area, I made sure to capitalize and put it away.”
Chasing a huge score, Square Drive managed to score only 154/8 in the allotted time. Justin Dill’s stunning four-wicket haul saw him take 4/14 from his quota of four overs and post an impressive economy of 3.50. Yashwant Balaji top-scored for his team with 38 (22). Meanwhile, Cornwall was named man of the match for obvious reasons.
Rahkeem Cornwall currently, only has international caps for the West Indies in Test matches. The big man, who has played nine Test matches has scored 238 runs and 34 wickets.
However, he also has a good record in domestic T20 matches with his off-breaks and power-hitting. He has scored 1146 runs and has got a strike rate of almost 150 runs and has also managed to take 31 wickets to his name.
Who’s going to be his personal fielder? There is more to cricket than just standing up and trying to hit the ball.