The hard-hitting right-hander has been called into the team as a replacement for Thorn Parkes, who injured his ankle during the drawn match against Auckland in Dunedin last week.
That has not been the only distraction ahead of today’s Plunket Shield fixture against Canterbury at Molyneux Park in Alexandra.
Volts coach Dion Ebrahim announced his resignation earlier this week. He will finish up at the end of the campaign.
He has declined to say why he is leaving with a year still remaining on his contract, and the Otago Cricket Association has refused to be interviewed about the matter.
Those sorts of announcements are usually held back until the end of the season and followed by a round of back-slapping. Not this time.
How much impact that has had on the team’s preparation is unclear. But the Volts (27 points) are in a dire struggle to avoid the wooden spoon. And they have not had any recent success at Molyneux Park.
They have played six games at the venue since it returned to the first-class schedule in 2017-18 and they have lost four and drawn two.
Johnson is somewhat of a limited-overs specialist. He has played 36 T20 games for Otago since making his debut for the province as a 17-year-old in 2018.
He has also clocked 20 list A games for the Volts but has only played one first-class match and that was earlier this season.
The 24-year-old battled hard for 35 in his debut innings and was undone for 17 in his second dig.
Canterbury (44 points) have just the one win from five games and could lose touch with competition leaders Wellington (64 points) if they stumble against the Volts.
They have named three former Volts players in their lineup — Angus McKenzie, Michael Rae and Michael Rippon.
They are missing Henry Nicholls, who is on Black Caps duty. But openers Chad Bowes and Rhys Mariu stroked centuries in the five-wicket loss to Wellington in Rangiora last week, and Zak Foulkes has been in good form with the ball.
Otago will lean on captain Dean Foxcroft, who emerged from a form slump to blast 174 in his last outing. And seamer Jacob Duffy has 23 poles at an average of 21.83 this season and arguably belongs in the Black Caps test lineup in Christchurch today.
Plunket Shield
Alexandra, 10.30pm
Otago: Jacob Cumming, Jamal Todd, Dale Phillips, Dean Foxcroft (captain), Llew Johnson, Luke Georgeson, Max Chu, Ben Lockrose, Travis Muller, Jacob Duffy, Jarrod McKay, Jake Gibson.
Canterbury: Chad Bowes, Rhys Mariu, Matt Boyle, Cole McConchie (captain), Leo Carter, Mitch Hay, Zak Foulkes, Ish Sodhi, Angus McKenzie, Sean Davey, Michael Rae, Michael Rippon.
