Lives in Cricket No 12 - Ric Charlesworth

Chapter Three 1976-1981 By 1976 Ric Charlesworth was no longer preoccupied with exams. Even though involved with Olympic hockey in the Australian winter that year he began work in the hospital system that would continue until 1979, when it became clear the only way he could simultaneously be a doctor and an elite sportsman was to work as a locum in general practice. This was an experience that would vastly extend his awareness of the socio-economic inequalities that belied Perth’s claims as a laid-back egalitarian paradise. But before those insights became further factors in his eventual commitment to a political career, opportunities in cricket were also beckoning. Graduation saw him return to the West Perth club for what turned out to be his best ever season in first grade, when he would even out-perform legendary South African, Barry Richards, playing for the Midland-Guildford club. 19 He had evidently done enough the previous summer to be picked for Western Australia for the eastern states tour in the first half of the 1976/77 cricket season. His second innings 34 not out, while opening partner Bruce Laird made 66 in a nine-wicket victory over South Australia, probably confirmed to many his reputation for conservative batting. Similarly, in the next Shield match, against Queensland in Brisbane, the first innings had reached 89 when Ric was out for 26, before Laird went on to make 171. Scores of four and 32 against New South Wales and 28 and 26 against Victoria were in the same useful but modest category. Nought and thirteen against the touring Pakistanis just before Christmas, then 13 against South Australia and 28 and 4 against Victoria in January were less than modest, though no serious disadvantage to a team well on the way to recapturing the Shield. They were scores, however, that didn’t bode well for Ric’s future selection chances at a time when nineteen-year-old Graeme Wood was waiting in the wings. Fortunately for Ric, in February at the WACA ground he made 54 in an innings victory against Queensland and 67 in a 34 19 WACA, Year Book , 1976/77.