Lives in Cricket No 12 - Ric Charlesworth

Shield-clinching nine-wicket defeat of New South Wales. When Wood joined him as an opener against MCC in early March, in a warm-up match before the Centenary Test in Melbourne, Ric followed his first innings 18 with 69, while Wood was making 37 and one. Charlesworth’s state record underlined the gap between standards in an excellent WACA club competition and the first-class game. In a season when he averaged 78.85 in first grade for West Perth – while Richards managed a mere 64.14 for Midland Guildford – Ric’s 27.18 from seventeen innings for the state side put him well below seven of his team-mates (Serjeant, Hughes, Langer, Marsh, Brayshaw, Laird and Malone), all of whom had played ten or more innings in the 1976/77 season. This record, combined with his reputation for dour batting, might make him seem an unlikely choice for one-day cricket, despite his reputation for brilliant fielding in the covers. A Charlesworth duck in a one-day Gillette Cup quarter-final against South Australia in Adelaide on 4 December wasn’t a strong recommendation for selection for the semi-final the following week in Perth, against Queensland. But selected he was for a match in which his contribution was both vital and largely overlooked in an unlikely West Australian victory. 1976-1981 35 Charlesworth hooking Mike Selvey, perhaps none too characteristically, for WA v MCC at Perth in March 1977. Behind the wicket (l to r) are Tony Greig, Mike Brearley and Alan Knott. The batsman backing up is Graeme Wood.