Lives in Cricket No 12 - Ric Charlesworth

captain – and his first opening partner, Wally Edwards, who would play twice for Australia against England in 1974. A younger contemporary was his later state opening partner, Graeme Wood, who would play 59 Tests for Australia, captain the state side and eventually become chief executive of the WACA from 2007. Ric played 61 matches for University, scoring 2,334 runs at an average of 37.65 with five centuries and a highest score of 128 not out. Acknowledged as an outstanding fieldsman, especially in the covers, in 1974/1975 he was a member of what, in 2009, was still University’s most recent premiership team; and he captained the club in his last two seasons, 1974/75 and 1975/76. But his biggest season, and the most important in securing his reputation and opening the door to first-class cricket, was his first, 1971/72, when he scored 547 runs at an average of 34.18, playing in all matches. Ric admits he didn’t ‘have much ambition in relation to cricket’ until he started to make big scores in grade matches in that first season. He regards his first century (101) as a turning-point, as it was against the Perth club and the hostile Ian King, who had been the first Aborigine to play for Queensland since Eddie Gilbert in 1936. King’s first appearance was in a one-day match against Western Australia in Brisbane in October 1969. Although he had played only eight first-class matches when he moved to Perth in 1970 – and played none thereafter – King was regarded as the fastest bowler to play for Queensland since Wes Hall in 1961/62 and 1962/63. The 1971/72 season may have revealed Ric’s potential for first-class cricket but before it could be put to the test there was a major but welcome interruption. Fielding for University against Scarborough one day in January 1972, he was puzzled to see Brian Glencross, captain of the national hockey team, appear on the boundary. During a drinks break Glencross told him he’d been selected for the Olympic team to compete in Munich in August and September. Unaware even that a team was being selected at that 24 1970-1976 University student.