Rahkeem Cornwall rescued his Leeward Island Hurricanes side in a match that was badly affected by rain today at the 3W’s Oval in Barbados to extinguish any hopes Team USA had of making the Semi-Finals of this year’s Cricket West Indies Super50.
The USA gave a debut to Aaron Jones, who was just this morning named in the USA Squad for the ICC World Cricket League Division 3 challenge in Oman. Deciding to bat first, the local side were immediately in trouble as Nosthush Kenjige took the new ball for the first time in the tournament and his left-arm spin claimed both openers in a hugely impressive spell of 2 for 28.
Timil Patel also bowled a spell full of control and variation, including 3 maidens to get through his 10 overs straight through with 1 for 25, but it was Kyle Phillip’s 3 wicket burst that tore the heart out of the Leewards Islands middle-order and threatened to swing the game decisively towards the USA as the Hurricanes were reduced to 97 for 6.
USA knew whilst Rahkeem Cornwall was there though that a game was still on and for the second time in a year, he single-handedly took the game away from the Americans with his second century against Team USA within 12 months. Cornwall struck 10 sixes in a savage assault on the bowlers as he dominated a hundred run partnership with Orlando Peters en route to his final innings of 125 not out from just 93 balls.
Two rain interruptions, one very lengthy halted the innings at points and also reduced the match to 49 overs a side where the Leewards finished with 248 for 7 just one over shy of the allocated 50. With dark clouds all around it always looked likely there would be more stoppages throughout the USA chase.
Rahkeem Cornwall’s stunning 125 not out was the difference between the teams, as ultimately rain had the final say in Barbados today…?️☂️#TeamUSA?? were adjudged behind on Duckworth Lewis Method and lost by 47 runs, after several rain interruptions put an end to the game. pic.twitter.com/kgbqwXdTRO
— USA Cricket (@usacricket) October 18, 2018
After the early loss of Monank Patel, Steven Taylor and captain Jaskaran Malhotra built a nice partnership but two further lengthy rain delays after the loss of Taylor for 23 meant there was an adjusted target for Team USA who all of a sudden needed nearly 7 an over in their chase.
Aaron Jones made 12 on debut and Malhotra fell for 40 but USA went for the win promoting Elmore Hutchinson up the order to try and chase the game but when he holed out for 3, USA had lost 3 wickets for 5 runs and the game was up.
Play continued throughout drizzle for periods and Jan Nisar Khan showed off his array of fine shots with 21 off 18 balls but a final heavy shower finally put pay to the game with the USA 47 runs behind on the Duckworth Lewis Method.
Just two games remain for USA now in Group B of the Super50 and all eyes will surely turn to WCL3 preparation and fine tuning ahead of next month’s crucial tournament, USA play Combined Campuses and Colleges next before finishing the tournament against Group B leaders Jamaica, check out the schedule in full here.
You can watch back on the match in full, which was live streamed by Cricket West Indies below.
