Rakheem Cornwall

I thought the big man deserved his own thread. He is an extraordinarily talented cricketer, a top quality off spinner who beats batsman on both the inside and outside edge and an excellent middle/lower order hitter.

He has 224 wickets from less that 50 matches at a brilliant average of 24 in FC cricket. He also has a century and 9 50's. In List A cricket it's even more stark as he has 4 centuries and concedes only 3.5 runs per over with the ball. He has performed brilliantly in both the Caribbean, Sri Lanka and India with the A team and has done well in a number of Presidents XI matches, so he's definitely not a Nikita Miller/Veerasammy Permaul case of bullying poor batsmen.

However, he's fat. He's very fat. See picture below. He has actually lost quite lot of weight believe it or not. Given that he clearly should be in the team in pure cricket terms and that he bowls more overs than almost any other spinner, it would appear his cricket fitness is fine. However, I'm not sure his score on the bleep/yo yo test will be the best.

Would you still pick him in the side if you were a West Indies selector?

Yep, I'd absolutely pick him. Bishoo has been poor recently (cue him ripping us apart in the upcoming tests) so you can't even use "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" as a reason to keep him out. Keep pushing him to lose more weight by all means, but if he's match fit it's his time imo.

Only potential issue is that CWI often has financial problems, so the likely increase in food costs could well become a problem.

Beamer said:

Would you still pick him in the side if you were a West Indies selector?

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Yes, yes, yes. I'd pick any spinner over those who bowled for West Indies in India and Bangladesh.

Bijed said:

Yep, I'd absolutely pick him. Bishoo has been poor recently (cue him ripping us apart in the upcoming tests) so you can't even use "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" as a reason to keep him out. Keep pushing him to lose more weight by all means, but if he's match fit it's his time imo.

Only potential issue is that CWI often has financial problems, so the likely increase in food costs could well become a problem.

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My thoughts precisely. Bishoo has been really disappointing for a while now and we are a poor side anyway and thus have nothing to lose. Cornwall at 9 would considerably strengthen our batting lineup also.

In Tests, yeah. If Fatteh could carve out a great career, he can probably do it too. As long as he can send down 30 overs a day, which he obviously can, why not.

vcs said:

In Tests, yeah. If Fatteh could carve out a great career, he can probably do it too. As long as he can send down 30 overs a day, which he obviously can, why not.

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Agreed. He's cricket fit and regularly bowls 30 overs per day.

Great Thread Beamer!

I love this dude.

For comparative purposes, he's slimmer than Shaq.

The man can bowl all day. He sent down 39 overs in the second innings of the last match..ripping through a complacent (and tired) Jaguars team.

Rahkeem in the WI test team makes it much better

'cricket fit' is a wonderful euphemism and I'm pleased to follow a sport in which we can accommodate it.

I do ask myself whether he would be the same player without the bulk. I suppose there is no logical reason why if he was three stone lighter he shouldn't be just as a good a cricketer, but I can't help wondering.

Have also been trying, without success, to think of someone who was a talented chunker, and then lost all the weight - any offers?

fredfertang said:

I do ask myself whether he would be the same player without the bulk. I suppose there is no logical reason why if he was three stone lighter he shouldn't be just as a good a cricketer, but I can't help wondering.

Have also been trying, without success, to think of someone who was a talented chunker, and then lost all the weight - any offers?

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Jesse Ryder's weight went up and down. Not sure if it changed enough to qualify though.

On bowling and batting alone, it seems like a no-brainer; especially since, as people have mentioned, Bishoo hasn't really performed for the Windies in a while.

What's his fielding like generally? I can't imagine he is too mobile, but is it to an extent that you'd say that he is a detriment?

Inzimam was a decent slip fielder.

BSM said:

On bowling and batting alone, it seems like a no-brainer; especially since, as people have mentioned, Bishoo hasn't really performed for the Windies in a while.

What's his fielding like generally? I can't imagine he is too mobile, but is it to an extent that you'd say that he is a detriment?

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He is decent at slip and short mdwicket. He isn't a fast runner though, you couldn't put him in the outfield. So yes he is limited as a fielder.

You can probably hide him at slip. I mean, to the extent that a 6 foot 6 inch 140 kg bloke can be hidden.

Plus the added advantage that edges that would normally fly between the keeper and first slip will just bounce off him for an easy rebound catch instead

fredfertang said:

I do ask myself whether he would be the same player without the bulk. I suppose there is no logical reason why if he was three stone lighter he shouldn't be just as a good a cricketer, but I can't help wondering.

Have also been trying, without success, to think of someone who was a talented chunker, and then lost all the weight - any offers?

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If you took pre and post retirement Shane Warne as representative you would come to the conclusion that playing less cricket makes you lose weight.

We also know that in apparently his case, attempts to lose weight actually get you banned from playing cricket.

Having watched Panesar field, I don't buy the argument that a decent spinner has to be anything more than 'not a complete liability' in the field.

Bijed said:

Plus the added advantage that edges that would normally fly between the keeper and first slip will just bounce off him for an easy rebound catch instead

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I saw Dwayne Leverock in this post.

He should just lose some more weight really

If he wasn't the size of Cornwall in England he'd be in the side already.