How to bat at New York ft. Aaron Johnson | ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, 2024

It was the first match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Americas Region final. 

Canada vs Bermuda. 

Aaron Johnson played six deliveries in that game, scored a solitary run, and his team got bundled out for 95. Bermuda won that game by 86 runs. 

Changes were needed, and Johnson, at the top of the order, was asked to lead the batting innings with aggression. It was a wake-up call for the big man from Jamaica, but not how you expected it. 

“More than the loss against Bermuda, it was disappointing for me that the team felt as though I wasn’t aggressive enough,” Johnson told Cricket.com in an exclusive chat. 

“After that, I decided I’m going to be as aggressive as I can be. If you win or lose, it’s what it is, but if your teammates believe that you were a bit shy, it’s hard to live with that.”

Canada’s next game in the tournament was against the Cayman Islands. Johnson showed what it means to be aggressive in that game, scoring 47 off just 19 deliveries. The Canadians scored 194 and won by 108 runs. 

“I think, based on the first game [Bermuda] and the loss we suffered, I had a very clear idea of what my teammates wanted from me. It was for me to trust my abilities and what I think was my best and have no reservations.”

Trusting his ability and then having the confidence to bounce back once he was shown a mirror crudely by his team — if you need two things that make Aaron Johnson unique, it’s those two. 

After all, not every day you have a cricketer who did odd jobs in a new country and played club cricket to get himself ready to play international cricket. Not every day you have a batter from an associate nation who scores a half-century alone on a ground where the average first innings score is 108/9. 

Not every day you have Aaron Johnson playing his first-ever game against Pakistan and thrashing Shaheen Afridi with ease. 

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Johnson is a proper big unit. When he holds his bat tightly in his hands and plays on the offside, you can see the well-defined muscles in his forearm popping out. The feet remain stationary, just like you imagine a burly Caribbean batter’s feet to be. And then you notice the quick hand-eye coordination — the glue that holds this massive man’s batting together. 

At the same time, another thing also becomes crystal clear about his batting — the way he sets up with a high back lift, he’ll always be susceptible to the delivery from a high-speed pacer that jags back into his stumps. 

Astonishingly, or just because of lack of prep, Pakistan hardly ever tried that to Johnson. 

The first two deliveries that Shaheen bowled to Johnson were juicy, low, full tosses. The big man used his wrists to flick one on the leg side and then drove the other down the ground for a four. What started then continued against all Pakistani bowlers. 

When Naseem Shah came in the next over, he was disdainfully swatted away when he pitched on a hard length and swung away from the off stump. Johnson just stood tall and played through the line. Power and class echoed in New York with the sound made by Johnson’s bat. 

When Haris Rauf joined the attack right after the powerplay, Johnson smashed his second ball for a six over deep point after blocking the first one. He made his presence felt. 

Meanwhile, Pakistani bowlers kept chipping with wickets at the other end as every Canadian batter other than Johnson struggled to put the bat on ball. Mohammad Amir was especially hard to get away with. However, Johnson, playing such quality pace for the first time, not only tried to bat deep but also attack when given the opportunity. 

That’s when his power came on the front, as Pakistani bowlers, learning from their mistakes in the powerplay, started to use their cutters and back-of-length deliveries. Still, how Johnson managed to rock back and use his brute force to hit sixes down the ground was spectacular on a track like New York. 

And you know what? Johnson did that to both Shaheen and Imad Wasim, who both presented different issues to the batter through the movement they got from the pitch. 

In the end, it was Naseem’s delivery of the above-mentioned length that jagged back in, stayed just a bit low, and obliterated his stumps. 

Only if they had tried that before! But who knows, the way Johnson batted today, he might have managed to do better than he did on the day’s last delivery. 

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“I watch IPL, I watch India games, I watch Pakistan games, I watch highlights. These are guys when you see them perform, you feel so good, not only as a cricketer but also as a fan. So, to be playing on the same field with them, it’s an honour.

But at the same time, we are competing. I need to show how good I am against them no matter who it is – it could be the Bumrahs, the Kohlis, or Shaheen Shah [Afridi]- these are cricketers, they are all human beings. If they can be that good, I can be as good. So, I will give it my best.”

If they can be that good, maybe I can be as good as well

Belief. 

This is what Aaron Johnson showed in New York as his team was pulverised by seven wickets by a much better ranked opposition. This is what Aaron Johnson had when he left Jamaica and worked in the construction sector in Canada while trying to make it as an international cricketer. 

And belief it was, that helped him play the best innings on an abomination of a pitch in one of Earth’s biggest metropolises.