West Indies opening batsman Johnson Charles explains that while he missed two training sessions, he did make himself available for the St. Lucia National Team.

Charles was responding to statements made on Tuesday on popular radio show “The Banter” on Vybe Radio. On this episode, when asked why Charles was not selected, national team Assistant Coach Donald Dave Albert indicated that Charles did not show up for training or trial matches.

In an exclusive conversation with St. Lucia Sports Online, Charles purports that he was in communication with the national assistant coach. “I could not attend two training sessions and one trial match because of the time,” Charles explained. “I had a conversation with the training staff at the Mindoo Phillip Park about that.” I have been in battle with Windwards which includes some of these same guys in St. Lucia cricket, because when you stand for what’s right people in authority don’t like it and don’t like you,” Charles contends. After being named in the initial 17 man squad, Charles was not named in the final 13 scheduled to participate in the 2019 Windward Islands Goodwill Tournament.

Johnson Charles played a pivotal role in the West Indies team that won the 2012 and 2016 cricket World Cups. Charles scored a memorable half century that ensured victory for West Indies and a spot in the 2016 World Cup Final. Shortly after this, a stand at the Daren Sammy Cricket Grounds was named in his honour: however, after his last stint with the West Indies team, Charles was dropped and then inexplicably dropped from the Windward Island Squad. Since then, Charles was among the top run scorers for Jamaica in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), and has enjoyed success at the recently completed Bangladesh Premier League and Pakistan Super League. 

Johnson Charles will be the guest on popular sports show 758 Sports Talk which is scheduled for 8:30 pm on Monday night on DBS television.

Johnson Charles Scores in Bangladesh: 55 , 12 , 37

Johnson Charles Scores in Pakistan: 0 , 57 , 53 , 45 , 12 , 41*