The 2024 ICC T20 World Cup will bowl off on Saturday, June 1 with an encounter between tournament co-hosts the United States and their cross-border archrivals Canada.
One of the players the entire cricketing world will be closely watching during what promises to be an exciting clash will be Canada’s Jamaica-born opening batter, Aaron Johnson.
Born March 16, 1991, in Spanish Town, St Catherine, Jamaica, Aaron Orlando Johnson, affectionately known to his Canadian teammates as ‘AJ’, now plays his domestic cricket in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Johnson plays for the province’s Centurions Cricket Club, a long distance removed from the Spanish Town, St Catherine High School where as a right-handed batter and right-arm off-spin bowler he received his cricketing grounding.
Having announced himself as a belligerent opening batter during the 2022 Canadian National Senior Men’s Championship, Johnson was drafted into the Canadian ODI squad for a one-off 50-over series against Nepal in July, 2022.
Later that year in November, he was also included in the Canadian squad for its Desert Cup T20I series involving Bahrain, hosts Oman and Saudi Arabia.
Johnson impressed with scores of 51, 84, 109*, 0, 1, 89 and 68 during that championship, which ran from November 14-21.
His aggregate for the tournament was an outstanding 402 runs at the extraordinary average of 67.00, simply staggering in terms of T20I norms.
Not surprisingly, his performances deservedly earned Johnson Player-of-the-Tournament honors.
What was even more impressive was that his participation in the 2022 Desert Cup was his very first overseas tour in Canadian colors.
He made his Canadian international debut during the friendly match series against Nepal that was played in Toronto earlier that summer, but the Desert Cup was his first-ever participation in a full tournament outside of Canada.
With Navi Dhaliwal, the Canadian team’s usual captain and opening batsman having made himself unavailable for the Oman Tour, it was left to Johnson to shoulder the responsibility of getting Canada’s innings off to a flying start, which he did in a manner few might have imagined possible!
When at the crease and firing at his very best, Johnson evokes memories of one of the West Indies’ most successful opening batsmen, Gordon Cuthbert Greenidge.
Very many of Johnson’s shots are indeed reminiscent of those Greenidge himself played during his illustrious career as an opening batsman for the West Indies, Barbados, and England’s Hampshire County.
One of Greenidge’s trademark shots, for which he became internationally famous, was a one-leg pull to the midwicket boundary for four, oftentimes even six. Johnson now plays that exact shot to the somewhat greater effect of often resulting in a six over the midwicket or backward square boundary. Furthermore, he does so with absolute disdain, not even bothering to look to check on the eventual result of the shot; such is his supreme confidence in both its timing and placement.
During the Desert Cup, Johnson also hammered an astounding 26 sixes and 43 fours, which also included his participation in the last two of the three ODI matches Canada played against Oman.
With his consistency and devastating belligerence, Johnson has added a new dimension to Canada’s batting and importantly so at the very start of the innings.
In Oman, Johnson had three different opening partners in Srimantha Wijeyeratne, Matthew Spoors, and Pargat Singh, who were all tried at various times. It didn’t seem to have an effect on Johnson as to who his opening batting partner was at the other end. He just went about his business, scoring runs with admirable consistency and at a rate that was at times breathtaking.
During the forthcoming 2024 ICC T20 World Cup, the Canadians will play their preliminary round matches in the US-based Group A against T20 powerhouses India and Pakistan, as well as the pesky Ireland and hosts USA.
As such Johnson and his Canadian teammates will, therefore, be facing opponents several levels higher than those encountered during the 2022 Desert Cup.
For Johnson, encounters against renowned seamers such as India’s Jasprit Bumrah, Pakistan’s Shaheen Afridi and USA’s Ali Khan, will present opportunities for him to further establish his international reputation.
Should he be successful, a Caribbean Premier League draft pick could well be in the works.
There is, therefore, a lot at stake for the soon to be 34-year-old Johnson, whose off-field mild manner demeanor is in total contrast to his batting.
Johnson has always admired India’s now retired Murali Vijay as his favorite opening batter, while also being admittedly entertained by his fellow Jamaican countryman, the Universe Boss, Chris Gayle, and will be eager to impress both at the T20 World Cup.
Whether he can and will remains to be seen.
Regardless of the relatively inferior opposition, 589 runs at an overly impressive average of 58.90, inclusive of two centuries and four half centuries, while being scored at a staggering 172.2 strike rate are definitely statistics worth noting.
About The Writer: Guyana-born, Barbados-based Tony McWatt publishes monthly Issues of Wickets as an online magazine for cricket in Canada and the Caribbean. He is the son of the late former Guyana and West Indies wicket-keeper batsman Clifford “Babyboy” McWatt.
