Johnson Charles Still Has Loads On Offer For His West Indies!

No drama this. No theatrics or shenanigans either. But the truth really is that one of the most bewildering or startling sights in the career of Johnson Charles came last year in October.

The date was October 5, 2022 and the West Indies were in Australia to play a white-ball series that featured, as it turned out, some interesting T20 internationals.

These games were, fundamentally speaking, the prelude to what would eventually be the Caribbean squad for the T20 World cup, which would in a few days’ time also take place in Australia.

While up to that point, one had grown accustomed to seeing the likes of Kyle Mayers donning the burgundy West Indian colours in white-ball cricket, the sight of a certain Johnson Charles back in coloured clothing was refreshing and surprising in equal measure.

And there it came, much too sudden on the fifth of October as padded up and ready to go, Charles walked out to the middle of the Carrara Oval in Gold Coast.

While surely the returns with the bat were anything but pure gold, the right-hander departing for a low key 3 (bowled by Hazlewood), it was interesting to see a former world cup winning member of the once famous Windies side back in the ranks.

The next game of that T20I series took place on March 7. Only this time, it wasn’t just that the game was held on a different venue, the returns from the bat too were quite different, perhaps in stark contrast to opening duo.

At the famous Brisbane Cricket ground, Johnson Charles was back to doing what he’d done so often for the West Indies; he was power hitting a famous troika of Aussie pacers- Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins.

He’d compile 29 useful runs lasting for five overs in the middle. And though his team failed to chase down what should’ve ideally been a game in their bag, the St. Lucian proved that being picked again and having had the backing of the selectors wasn’t something to regret on the part of the West Indies.

A few weeks from that point, one saw Johnson Charles continue as the opener for the Windies. And while the tournament proved to be a sour experience and an exercise in mayhem, since nothing quite went the Caribbean side’s way, the experienced top order man was doing his job alright.

The returns with the bat featured powerful lusty blows, such as those seen at the Bellerive Oval, where thanks to a fluent 45 that came of just 36 deliveries, the West Indies were able to notch up a vital 153 runs on the board.

In the end, the bowlers did well enough to restrict the Zimbabweans to a paltry 122 and as it turned out, Johnson Charles had top scored, proving to be the vital cog in the Windies armoury.

Truth be told, in a World Cup tournament where little went the West Indies’ way, Johnson Charles engaging in some white ball bashing up top the order provided respite from a dismal and really ordinary outing.

Fast forward to March 26, 2023. The venue was the much-loved Centurion. And the West Indies contested in a T20 international against the Proteas with the series on the line.

Though what transpired on that breezy SuperSport Park outing was something that even the biggies back in the Caribbean, whether Sir Lloyd, Sir Viv, Lara and even Gayle wouldn’t have predicted.

Never before in playing T20I cricket for a decade and a half had the West Indies touched a team total of 250. Though what was heartening was that Johnson Charles formed the central highlight in an exhibition of vicious, damaging, morale-destroying power hitting that took the Protea bowlers to the cleaners and put the fans to the edge of their seats.

The West Indies posted a mammoth 258 off 20 overs. Though implicit in what turned out to be a slugfest for the bowlers was Johnson Charles’ 118 very extraordinary runs that came from, not more, but just 46 deliveries.

In so doing, one of St. Lucia’s brightest exports to the whirlwind world of West Indies cricket was Johnson Charles’ record breaking feat; he’d bring up his century, a first for him, off just 39 deliveries.

That magnificent very top-of-the-drawer effort also saw Charles smash the world record of none other than Chris Gayle for the fastest century ever by a West Indies lad.

Moreover, Charles’ effort was reminiscent of the peak commentary line often delivered by commentator world over: when he hits, it stays hit.

Of the 22 sixes that his West Indies team smoked, Charles hit 11 on his own. Quick to latch onto anything bowled short or in the slot, he was dismissive, he left the pacers and spinners, quite simply, disgruntled.

Importantly, in the opening T20I in that series, also played in the same ground, Johnson Charle did look in the mood; his 28 vital runs came off just 14 odd deliveries.

But he’d go onto ensure that he’d bat on for a while on this occasion and for the time he did so, it could be argued, the hosts had very little chance of dominating his Windies.

What Charles, clearly the most exciting West Indies cricketer at this time, has done at 34 is that he’s prolonged a career that, until a few years back, wasn’t really going anywhere.

Interestingly, he was again responsible for some damage back in the day when his vital half century allowed the Windies to come good and bat deep in the stiff ask India had for them in the high octane semifinals of the 2016 T20 World Cup.

But that effort did go unnoticed or if not, then quite unsung. Not on this occasion though; the cricket world is raving about the magnificent three figure mark that the big hitting Windies batter has impressed one and all with.

Johnson Charles’ success proves that for as long as there is desire and the willingness to contribute, then even a lot can be achieved at 34, an age where most plan for their retirements nowadays.