As the Women's Ashes Test at Trent Bridge draws ever nearer, trentbridge.co.uk catches up with a rising star in the Three Lions' ranks.

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Eighteen months ago, if you’d have told Charlie Dean she’d have an England cap across all three formats, she wouldn’t have believed you.

Go further back, as she followed her father Steve around during his Minor Counties Cricket Championship days with Staffordshire, even a career in the sport seemed unattainable.

However, the women’s game has enjoyed a stratospheric rise since Dean first picked up a cricket bat, and the 21-year-old can now proudly call herself a fully-fledged international.

“Whirlwind is a phrase I use quite a lot to summarise my career,” said Dean.

“Initially I would just follow my dad around everywhere and always be near a cricket pitch.

“We moved down to Hampshire and I joined the colts section at Havant Cricket Club. At around seven I played my first game for the U9s.

“When I started I didn’t think being professional was possible, I was just playing for fun and enjoying myself.

“Then contracts started to come in, first for the England side and then domestically, and that made me take notice and think that I could get there some day.

“Now, any girl that starts out at the age I did has something to strive for from the very start.”

More recently, the introduction of The Hundred has allowed previously domestic-only cricketers, as Dean was, to test their skills against the best in the world and sharpen their game for the international stage.

During the inaugural edition of the tournament, she did just that, with her performances for London Spirit earning her a call-up to the national side’s One-Day International squad to face New Zealand.

Aged just 20, the off-spinner was thrust into the England team and immediately made her mark, taking ten wickets at 19.20 across five games.

“The first year of The Hundred was massive for me personally and for the women’s game,” said Dean.

“The crowds we played in front of were a shock to the system to start with but helped me prepare for stepping onto the international stage.

“My debut in the New Zealand series was quite unexpected. I had a decent campaign for London Spirit and the Vipers but I didn’t expect to be playing.

“I thought I would be running the drinks so to play, and to contribute with the ball, was really special.

“Off the back of that series, I thought maybe I had got lucky on my first appearances on the international stage.

“But over the past year, I’ve grown into the challenge and I’m starting to believe it is somewhere I belong.”

Her ascendancy to international honours and her continued presence with the Three Lions is anything but a fluke.

Since her debut in 2021, she has played 21 One-Day Internationals, taking 38 wickets at an average of a shade under 20.

In fact, of the bowlers in the women’s 50-over game to have sent down over 1,000 deliveries, none have taken their wickets at a better strike rate than the off-spinner.

With the bat in hand, Dean hit 24*, 37 and 47 against India in three ODIs this summer, falling just short of a maiden half-century when she was controversially run out at the non-strikers’ end at Lord’s. 

Casting her eyes forward, having completed the set of debuts with IT20 and Test caps versus Australia early this year, Dean has sights on a special June date with the Southern Stars at Trent Bridge.

“Playing in the Ashes last year was a dream come true and something that every cricketer wants to be able to say they have done,” said Dean.

“This summer we’ve got the chance to be part of history with the first five-day Test in England, and to have it at such a distinctive ground is hopefully a sign of things to come.”

Currently in the Caribbean with the ODI and IT20 squads, Dean is ending a breakneck 12 months exactly how she started; in the wickets.

Figures of 4-35 and 2-9 have helped England to back-to-back victories in 50-over cricket, and her return to the fray in the shortest format comes off the back of missing out during the summer’s home internationals.

Aged just 21, and with the women’s game continuing to go from strength to strength, the cricketing world is Dean’s oyster.

However, for the Burton-on-Trent born twirler, there’s one key trait she values more than anything else.

“I want to contribute and pick up wickets obviously but personally, it’s about enjoying my cricket,” she said.

“If I’m still around, performing and have a smile on my face, that’s what success looks like to me.”

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England at Trent Bridge

Trent Bridge will host three international matches in 2023, with the sole Test Match of the Women’s Ashes taking place at Nottinghamshire’s historic home, before England’s men face New Zealand and Ireland in IT20 and ODI contests respectively. 

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