Johnson still keen on playing international cricket

By Avenash Ramzan

After getting a brief taste of international cricket back in 2008, young middle-order batsman, Leon Johnson, is still keen on playing at the highest level again.
The 25-year-old left-hander, who made a scintillating 89 in Georgetown Cricket Club’s 18-run win over hosts Demerara Cricket Club in the Georgetown Cricket Association’s Queensway-sponsored 50-over final on Sunday, made the revelation during an exclusive interview with this publication on Tuesday.
“Yes, the desire and passion to play international cricket is still there, it has never left me since I first played youth cricket for Guyana in 2002. I’m happy with my overall cricket at the moment; the three 50-over games that I played in the last two weeks were my first bit of action in a while. I injured my knee in June playing against India; my knee isn’t 100% as yet, but my club means a lot to me and I desperately wanted to play,” Johnson, who also bowls leg-spin, said.
The former West Indies Under-19 skipper and current West Indies ‘A’ team player made his One-Day International debut against Bermuda in August 2008, and played two other 50-over games against hosts Canada, hitting a career-best 51 in his second match.
During that knock, Johnson added 128 for the third wicket with Jamaican Xavier Marshall, who smashed a record 12 sixes in a blistering 118-ball 157.
Four years later, with the West Indies team on a high after winning the World T20 in Sri Lanka, there is stiff competition for a place in the middle-order, a situation Johnson is well aware of.
The crafty young batsman, who has appeared in 34 First-Class matches, scoring 10 half-centuries with a highest score of 94, knows what is expected of him in order to regain his place on the West Indies team.
“There is definitely stiff competition in the West Indies middle-order at the moment, with the likes of Marlon Samuels, the Bravos, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Assad Fudadin and Ramnaresh Sarwan, but the only thing that could get me in the mix is centuries and consistent performance,” he said candidly.
“I would be the first to put my hand up and say I have under-achieved in First-Class cricket so far- 31 games for Guyana without a hundred, but that hasn’t deterred me. I’ve been playing ‘A’ team cricket for the past 12 months, so I know that I’m in the thoughts of the selectors, so it’s just a matter of me putting big scores on the tins.”
Johnson said the game has certainly changed since he last played at the highest level, adding that players need to make the necessary adjustments to remain relevant.
“The game has definitely changed over the last four years and I think that’s mainly because of the T20 format; there are even new regulations in the 50-over games. As a player you need to adapt and have several dimensions to your game. It took me a while to work T20 out, but I think it all comes down to knowing your game and playing according to the situation,” he explained.
Identified as a special talent since his days at the youth level, Johnson made his First-Class debut for Guyana in 2004 at the tender age of 16. He played two matches that season, but then had to wait four years for his next opportunities, in the meantime captaining West Indies at the Under-19 World Cup in 2005.
When he returned to the Guyana line-up in 2007-08, Johnson had a solid Carib Beer Series and scored 427 runs at 42.70 per innings, a consistent effort considering that he did not make a century during the campaign.
The promising signs were enough for the West Indies selectors to choose him for the ODI tri-series in Canada later that year. Since then he has been a regular member of the Guyana team.