Charles returns home to welcome party after CPL triumph with St. Lucia Kings
St Lucia's batting star Johnson Charles returned home to a hero's welcome party on Saturday, as the island celebrates the milestone accomplishment of its franchise St Lucia Kings in copping a maiden Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title.
Charles was met by Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre and other government and cricket officials at the George FL Charles Airport, but a previously planned motorcade will be held at another time.
As for the rest of the celebratory plans, Sports Minister Kenson Casimir explained that a Welcome Committee will be organizing the celebrations.
“There's been a lot of discussion and we did have a flyer circulated in terms of celebration for Johnson Charles but we really felt that we needed to ensure that we do this properly, that we have proper sit-down with stakeholders and a proper date scheduled because we definitely don't want to cheapen who Johnson Charles is to St Lucia,” Casimir shared.
The original plan involved a concert at the Derek Walcott Square at 2:30 pm, similar to the concert held for Julien Alfred on September 27th.
However, Casimir revealed that this event and other activities will be pushed back to coincide with the arrival of English cricketers to the island.
“We've decided that we are going to schedule the celebration concert and some of the other activities for Johnson Charles to be in tandem with the tour of England to the West Indies. We are aware that England will be touring the West Indies in November and so the organising committee will sit and opine and ensure that we have the proper setup,” he explained.
Casimir says the Ministry of Sports owes a debt of gratitude to Charles, who currently holds the highest run rate in CPL history.
“His performance he is currently the CPL’s leading run scorer which means he is St Lucia's best ever cricketer at the Caribbean Premier League and we want to have something that you know shows our appreciation to him," the Minister ended.