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'Greatest sight': Cricket world loses it over 140kg man mountain

Rahkeem Cornwall, pictured here batting for West Indies against England.
Rahkeem Cornwall has become a cult hero in the cricket world. Image: Getty

The sight of 140kg West Indian cricketer Rahkeem Cornwall batting against England in the third Test at Old Trafford has sent the cricket world into meltdown.

Cornwall went viral on Saturday when he took a blinder of a catch at first slip in England’s first innings.

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The 140kg man mountain was also spotted wearing two hats while fielding, immediately becoming many fans’ new favourite player.

But the sight of him wielding the willow on Sunday made even more fans fall in love.

Rahkeem Cornwall, pictured here in action for West Indies against England in the third Test.
Rahkeem Cornwall in action for West Indies against England. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images for ECB)

At one stage the 198cm Cornwall was batting with diminutive teammate Shane Dowrich, completely dwarfing his batting partner when they came together at the crease.

Cornwall was the talk of the cricket world - albeit briefly as he was dismissed for just 10.

Commentating for BBC, former England captain Michael Vaughan said: “If Rahkeem Cornwall gets a century I‘ll break the COVID rules and go shake his hand on the pitch … naked.”

And Vaughan wasn’t alone.

Stuart Broad stars as West Indies struggle

Stuart Broad enjoyed the latest in a long line of memorable days in England whites, moving his side into a commanding position at Old Trafford with combined figures of 6-22 on the third day to take his career tally to 499.

Rory Burns also played his part, stretching the home team's lead to 398 with a knock of 90 in the second innings as Joe Root declared in time for Broad to leave the Windies in trouble at 2-10.

A bad weather forecast looks likely to delay the victory push on Monday but Broad requires only one ball to become the seventh bowler in history to reach a magnificent milestone and the fourth seamer after teammate James Anderson, Glenn McGrath and Courtney Walsh.

Burns routinely occupies a catching position at gully and will be on red alert when the 34-year-old resumes the hunt.

“It's a pretty ridiculous achievement to get to 500. Hopefully we can keep grabbing them for him,” said Burns.

“I'll be standing at gully and hopefully I'm going to catch it if he gets a nick. It's a nice place to be when his tail is up and he's bowling like this. You feel every ball is going to come to you. We'll be standing there waiting to catch it.”

Burns' primary role in the side is to weigh in with runs and he has done exactly that in this third Test, following up his day-one knock of 57 by going close to a third England hundred.

With Root keen to get the Windies back in before stumps, he was in a race against time at the end and fell attempting to hurry to the three figures.

“It was nice to play some different shots, usually I reserve a few of them for Twenty20 practice,” he said.

“It felt good to open up a little bit. I think Joe was going to give me another over to try and get there but unfortunately I missed out trying to hit the fence. It was good to set up the team in a good position though, that was the most important thing.”

Burns and Dom Sibley had earlier put on 114 for the first wicket, the first century at home between England openers since Sir Alastair Cook and Alex Hales in 2016.

The pair appear to have made the troublesome top-order slot their own and are arguably the most settled pairing since Cook and another knight, Sir Andrew Strauss, last played together.

West Indies head coach Phil Simmons knows his side face an uphill task to save the game and retain the Wisden Trophy and has called on his remaining batsmen to stand up and be counted.

“We haven't had any centuries in the series so I'm always going to be putting pressure on them to get one,” he said.

“The wicket still looks good, there are two days left to bat and someone needs to get themselves a big hundred. There is plenty of time in the game so we need to be more determined to get big scores.”

with AAP