Cricket education continues for Charlesworth
9 September 2018
Teenager Ben Charlesworth has again been released by his school - St Edward's in Oxford - to play in a fourth Championship match for Gloucestershire against Glamorgan in Cardiff starting on Monday (10.30am).
The 17 year old made 77 not out and took three wickets in the draw with Middlesex, and head coach Richard Dawson is pleased that his return to the autumn term, which started last week, can be delayed further.
"Ben's first two games weren't the easiest for him but he showed real maturity last week" Dawson said. "As silly as it sounds, he just loves batting. He found it difficult to score on the first evening but he didn't give his wicket away and then the following morning he showed he can play different roles with some excellent shots, including the one which took him to his fifty where he used his feet against Dawid Malan."
The squad is unchanged from the draw with Middlesex, with George Drissell again offering a spinning option if it is thought the pitch will turn.
Squad :
Dent (c), Hammond, Bracey, Howell, Roderick, J.Taylor, Higgins, Charlesworth, Miles, Payne, M.Taylor, Drissell.
Glamorgan currently sit at the bottom of the Division 2 table after a defeat by 169 runs at Derby which extended their sequence of consecutive losses to five. Their head coach Robert Croft has said the club will continue to blood young players in the quest for sustainable prosperity in the long term, and that's a view that resinates with Richard Dawson too.
"Glamorgan have some talented lads who have moved up from their second XI but like all young players they make mistakes" he added. "From our point of view I've seen a lot of improvement in the last month from lads like Miles Hammond and James Bracey and the potential of someone like Ben Charlesworth who can all take the club forward. These are lads who have bounced back from the defeat at Warwickshire to beat Leicestershire and then scrap hard against a good Middlesex side and put them under pressure."
"People may question the declaration but we didn't want to hand the game to them on a plate, especially as there was very little seam movement compared to the Leicestershire game. Since the start of the Cheltenham Festival, with the exception of the Warwickshire match, we've played consistently well and if we can do that again in Cardiff we can hopefully dictate how things go."
Coverage:
You can follow the match via the live scorecard available on the website, or via Twitter @Gloscricket.
Ball by ball commentary is also available on the BBC Sport website.
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