“Jimbo” Set For Hurricanes Return Ahead Of Jaguars Clash

Antiguan and Windies A all-rounder, Rahkeem “Jimbo” Cornwall, is set for a return to action this week when the Leeward Islands Hurricanes hosts defending Regional 4 Day champions, Guyana Jaguars, here at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground. Cornwall was omitted from the sub-regional squad ahead of their opening match against Barbados Pride owing to illness according to a Leeward Islands Cricket Board (LICB) release last week. Coach and former player, Winston Benjamin, said Cornwall willreplace another key player in the squad.
“The change was a forced change because Sheldon Cottrell had to go off to Bangladesh with the West Indies team and that is not a change we can do anything about. We would want to wish Sheldon all the best in Bangladesh and hope that he stays fit so that when he gets back he’d be fit and ready, but most likely, Jimbo will be coming in for Sheldon,” he said. “We have five fast bowlers in the team so we need a quality spinner. We had a few spinners in Barbados but I think with Jimbo in the team it would boost both the bowling and batting aspects of it,” he added. Hurricanes enjoyed a 34- run victory over Pride on Sunday after restricting the Barbados team to 135 after setting a target of 170.
Antiguan and Windies pacer, AlzarriJoseph, bagged three wickets for 16 runs in the second innings to finish the match with a sevenwicket haul. Off-spinner Terrance Warde finished with three for 33. Benjamin credited his bowlers with fully executing the game plan. “As I mentioned before, the discipline, he was well disciplined. We assessed the situation, looked at the condition and we had a plan and trust me, it was well executed by all the bowlers and even more so Alzarri for coming back from injury and bowled 40-odd overs in that game really let the cat out amongst the pigeons,” the former West Indies fast bowler said.
“Terrance Warde really came up big for us because he got some crucial wickets at some vital times and he too was really disciplined and all in all it was an excellent team effort,” he added. Leading the standings after just one round, Hurricanes will face Jaguars in what is expected to be a crucial first round match. The coach is hoping the players will stay grounded and focused on the task at hand.
“I think that we are aware of the quality of the Guyana team and we’re not taking anything for granted. We [the team] will have a discussion so as to refocus these guys as to the requirements as to what is needed and what we need to do against this team here. We have to show the public that we are an emerging team and we are looking to build on what we had last year and hopefully the relevant authorities would see it fit to have a discussion with us in going forward,” he said. The teams arrived in Antigua on Monday in preparation for the second round match scheduled to start on Thursday.