Charlesworth delighted to sign new deal with ‘great club’ Glos
GLOUCESTERSHIRE’S Ben Charlesworth has signed a one-year contract extension with the club.
The new deal will see the exciting 22-year-old remain at Gloucestershire until at least the end of the 2024 season. Having been introduced to the Shire’s first-team set up aged 17, Charlesworth has been a regular performer in first-class and List A cricket for Gloucestershire.
A left-hand-bat, Charlesworth made his first appearance of the 2023 season against Derbyshire last week and made a career-best firstclass score of 87 at the Incora County Ground. That impressively patient score, which came off 211 balls, was the former England Under-19s player’s seventh halfcentury in Gloucestershire colours.
Speaking of his pride at signing an extension at Gloucestershire, Charlesworth said: “I’m really pleased to be able to continue representing this great club. I hope I can contribute toward success for the team in the coming years, and I fully believe we can achieve great things with the playing group we have”.
Charlesworth, whose younger brother Luke also plays for Gloucestershire, made his firstteam debut for Gloucestershire in 2018 having been given time off from his A Level studies by St Edwards School in Oxford. During that season he scored two half-centuries from nine innings, including an unbeaten 77 in the Championship game against Middlesex.
In the years that have followed, Charlesworth has gone on to make 34 appearances in first-class and List A cricket, and in the latter format he averages 50.11 and boasts a strike rate of more than 80. A career-best 99 not out came in Gloucestershire’s win against
Hampshire in Bristol in 2021. In 2022, a year which was interrupted by a lengthy foot injury for Charlesworth, he returned to play an important role at the top of the order in Gloucestershire’s final three Championship fixtures. Opening with Marcus Harris in the West Country derby at Taunton, Charlesworth hit half-centuries in both innings before hopes of a
famous Gloucestershire win were curtailed by rain.
Steve Snell, performance director at Gloucestershire, added: “I’m really pleased Ben has agreed to extend his contract with Gloucestershire. He has been with us for a number of years and has shown undoubted promise with the bat and ball. Ben has had some terrible luck with injuries, and we have been cautious with him so far this season to ensure he’s fully fit and ready to return to first-team cricket.
“I definitely think Ben has an exciting future in the game and it was brilliant to see him score a very well compiled 87 versus Derbyshire. I’m sure Ben will continue to go from strength to strength and provide a backbone for Gloucestershire’s batting in years to come.”