Photo Credit: Cricket West Indies
West Indies batsman Johnson Charles has made one of the biggest jumps in the history of the ICC Players rankings, following his sensational century against South Africa. The experienced right-hander scored 118 off 46 balls on Sunday in the memorable second T20 International at Super Sports Park.
This knock was the fastest century by a West Indian off 39 balls, bettering the old mark by legend Chris Gayle. This memorable display of power-hitting saw him catapult up a whopping 92 places in the ICC Men’s T20I rankings and he is now at 17th spot – making him the highest ranked West Indian batsman. Two other West Indies batsmen Brandon King (19th) and Nicholas Pooran (20th) also moved up and into the Top 20.
In the bowling Alzarri Joseph also moved up following his match-winning 5-40 in the final match on Tuesday night at the Wanderers in Johannesburg which sealed the series. The rapidly improving fast bowler moved up 18 spots and is now at 33rd. The highest ranked West Indian bowler is left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein in 21st position.
Charles was named Player of the Series and has reaped success since side last year following a six-year period outside of the international stage.
“I think being out of the T20 side for six years, it’s definitely allowed me to do some soul searching and see where I’ve been going wrong. I’ve changed my game in that I’ve basically gone back to the basics. I made sure I had the basics on the down,” said Charles
“Just coming back it’s worked for me and going forward I’m just going to have to make sure that I keep the basics going. I think if I continue doing that I’ll continue having great innings.”
Name of Author: Cricket West Indies
Cricket West Indies (CWI) governs cricket across the West Indies, a confederation of Caribbean countries. Originally established as the West Indies Cricket Board of Control in the 1920s, it became the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) in 1996 and was rebranded as Cricket West Indies in May 2017 as part of a restructuring effort.
