“I remember the summer being really weird, you know we’re in April, May, June and you haven’t bowled a ball yet.
“April comes around, you start getting excited about the season, but you know we’re talking a midsummer’s day, hot summer and you’re just in the garden whereas on a normal Saturday you’d be playing cricket.
“So it was really strange and frustrating, obviously, I did feel like that was a real key year in my cricket development that I probably missed.”
Charlesworth, who was at school during the COVID pandemic, was 18, a key age as a young cricketer, and the oldest you can be to be in an academy. By missing what he described as a key year, his career could’ve ended up differently, however, Charlesworth was rewarded with a first team opportunity at Gloucestershire County Cricket Club.
“It’s frustrating whilst you’re trying to break through into the professional game, being withheld those opportunities was incredibly frustrating.
“Unfortunately, you’re either in or you’re not and most guys get the latter, and they get told that it’s not going to happen, which is horrible really because at 18 you’re still really young.
“For me, I just wanted this, I want to be able to play and want to be able to prove my case, and it did work out for me luckily.”
After going through the difficult COVID era, Charlesworth made his senior debut for the first team in 2023 against Leicestershire.
Despite playing for the second team, where they went unbeaten, Charlesworth had a difficult personal season.
“I got injured quite a lot this year, for the last two seasons I’ve had a stress fracture in my back, in the same place.
“So I’ve probably missed 70% of cricket in the last two seasons which is gutting really
“It happened last year and I missed the second half of the season and rehabbed it, and then it sort of came back again at the end of this season.
“It was an injury-affected season for me, that unfortunately, when I look back at the season, that is the thing that sticks out to me the most which is a shame.”
Many professional athletes play through injuries, however it takes a toll on the body, something that Charlesworth knows very well, having played through his injury.
“It’s absolute turmoil, because when you’re out, when you’re playing through pain, you enjoy it a lot less.
“When you’re playing through pain, you forget those things because it doesn’t become enjoyable, it becomes stress.
“You wake up the next morning and you think, I’m going to have to take painkillers this morning to get myself warm to be able to play.
“When you’re playing you don’t want to cool down for too long because then you’ll stiffen up and it’ll be sore again, and then it’s a complete different experience to playing without pain.”
Away from his difficult season, Charlesworth is looking forward to the upcoming Ashes on November 25th.
“I like listening to a lot of sports podcasts and I think everyone seems to say that at the moment, England have the best chance that we’ve had in 15 years, like the Australians probably the worst they’ve been for a little while.”
