An all-rounder, Cornwall’s batting has become increasingly specialized in T20 cricket, but his approach is simple. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, the Big Man stated that he is sticking to his game plan.
“I think I just stick to my game plan and once the ball is in my area, I tend to make sure I capitalise and put it away.”
Commenting further, he mentioned that his shot is a natural shot and he is a 360° player.
“Not really – I haven’t done any range-hitting and I think that [six-hitting] is natural. I think I’m strong enough down the ground or any area – [I’m] a 360[-degree] player. So, I just have to focus on shot selection and wait till the ball is in my area to put it away.”
T20 is a very short format and many players don’t have consistent success. Cornwall is also a player who has embraced failure and learned to stay true to his role as a Hitter.
“As a player, once you back yourself, failure is going to come and there’s no doubt at it. It’s just how you bounce back from that failure. Yes, I may hit 11 sixes one day, but on another day, I may get holed out off the first one. So you have to just back yourself as a player and trust your skills and go for what you believe in.”
Cornwall suffered an ankle injury midway through CPL 2022, but he didn’t let it disrupt his rhythm with bat and ball. Royals are a little too big to pair a thrifty finger spinner with a more aggressive wrist spinner. Hayden and Cornwall grew up together, and communication between the two is very high. He said about this,
“The communication has been very good [with the wristspinners]. Me and Hayden grew up [together] from childhood and we always share information between us on how the pitch is playing, what sort of length you need to bowl. And [I am] just getting to know Mujeeb. The conversations are going good with him too, and just trying to pick his brain to see what I can take from his game into my game.”
Last CPL Season (2022), Cornwall finally decided to take his carrom ball out with a variation in the first qualifier against the Guyana Amazon Warriors, and it worked very well.
“I’ve been working on it [carrom ball] for a long period of time at the nets but didn’t really have the confidence [earlier] to bowl in the match itself. I gave it a try this time around and it worked out well for me.”
In the 10th season of the CPL, Cornwall has done their job quite well with the bat and the bowl. He emphasized his all-round playing style.
“Yeah, this year I’ve really shown what I can do with the ball and over the years I’ve been performing with the bat. So, I’m happy that my bowling is coming along this year and getting the opportunity to bowl. I grabbed it with both hands.”
In 66 T20s thus far, Cornwall has scored 1146 runs at an average of 20.46 and a strike rate of 147.49 with five half-centuries to his name. Cornwall has played nine Tests for the West Indies but is yet to don the national jersey in T20Is.