Johnson Charles

Johnson Charles is a strong hitter of the cricket ball from the Caribbean. He was part of the West Indies’ two-time title-winning squad from the 2012 and 2016 editions of World T20. Charles is a power-hitting opener and an occasional wicket-keeper who hails from the Windward Islands. 

Born in St. Lucia, Charles made his first-class debut for the Windward Islands in the 2009 season, before making his List A and T20 debuts in 2008. He didn’t take too long to graduate to the international arena. He toured with the West Indies side to play two T20Is matches in England in 2011. The following year, he made his ODI debut against a touring Australian side. 

Despite struggling briskly at the world stage, the hard-hitter was named in the 15-men West Indies squad for the 2012 World T20, held in Sri Lanka. The St. Lucia-born played all the matches for West Indies where he was highly inconsistent but scored an important 84 against England at Pallekele. Four years later, Charles again played a T20 WC, he was yet again inconsistent but scored a crucial 52 off 36 balls against the hosts India, which laid West Indies’ road to the final at Kolkata. 

In between those two World Cups, Charles stayed in-and-out of the national team, and then after. However, his claim to fame came in 2013, when he scored two consecutive ODI hundreds. The former came against a quality Australian attack at the MCG, and the next one was against a weaker side in Zimbabwe. 

The inconsistent-yet-impactful opener has been sidelined from the selections since 2016. However, like various other West Indies players, Charles has become a T20 agent. The hard-hitter provides his services in the franchise leagues such as Caribbean Premier League, Pakistan Super League and Bangladesh Premier League. 

(As of June 2021)