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By Neto Baptiste
Captain of the Antigua and Barbuda senior men’s cricket team, Rahkeem Cornwall, has defended his decision-making during the recently concluded Leeward Islands T20 Cricket Festival, amidst public criticism he failed to effectively utilize his bowlers in Sunday’s final loss to Anguilla.
Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show, Cornwall said he would not have changed his approach if given the opportunity to do so.
“I wouldn’t say I would do anything differently; it’s a case where Anguilla got off to a flier and got probably about 70 or 80 from six overs. When I bowled the seventh over, I bowled one over for two runs, so my option was to turn to my other experienced spinner which was Hayden and [he] went for like 15 or 16 so the pressure came back on us now and it was still very early in the game before 10 overs. So I couldn’t bowl my four overs before 10 so I had to try and split up my four overs with Kofi and then go back to my seamers. I hear a lot of people shouting that Micah did not bowl and the situation didn’t really call for Micah at that time,” he said.
The Antigua and Barbuda Master Blasters were beaten by 21 runs in Sunday’s final at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium as Anguilla finished the tournament unbeaten to claim the inaugural title.
Cornwall, who also plays for the Leeward Islands, said it was just not Antigua and Barbuda’s day while he explained his decision to bat lower down the order.
“When 10 overs were left, we wanted 109 from 60 balls and we lost back to back wickets with myself and Nino which, we were trying to push the game and let Tyrone Williams bat through. But it just didn’t happen on that day and we end up short. After Karima left, I think we needed somebody to bat in the middle and I felt that coming back down in the middle to help us finish the game and have a little bit more stability in the middle and that was the decision behind of it,” the player said.
It was the second time that Antigua and Barbuda were beaten by Anguilla after losing by 11 runs to their rivals in the preliminary round.
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