Charlie Dean and the challenge of learning fast

"I've always been kind of introverted, a bit quieter," says Charlie Dean, sitting in a meeting room at the ECB's performance centre in Loughborough and reflecting on an England career only 15 months long at this point, but far busier than that.

She has been in a World Cup final and, last summer, captained London Spirit in The Hundred after Heather Knight was injured on the eve of the tournament. In all there have been 52 international wickets and a general sense that they have found the real deal.

"On the pitch, I feel like I hit a switch and am almost a different person," she smiles. Not quite white-line fever but a release from the softly spoken 22-year-old who only recently graduated from Southampton University with a degree in sociology.

"I'm doing what I love and really enjoy it, so I become a little more out there. I definitely put myself out there more on the pitch than I do off it. But I guess finding that balance between everything on social media and behind closed doors is something that has been an interesting journey to figure out. I think I am still figuring out how I want to present myself."

Dean is newer to this than most; she only signed her first regional contract at the end of the 2021 season, by which time she was already playing for England. Only, eleven months later, she was in Gran Canaria, relieved to be without 4G and away from her phone.

It was the week after the weekend before, when Dean left her crease fractionally early against India in the final ODI of the summer and was run out by Deepti Sharma. Cue a fortnight of global headlines, in which people lost their minds and she was unwitting collateral.

^{Dean captained London Spirit in The Hundred last year (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)}

There have been other such runouts since and, even if there hadn't been, it's time to move on. So, the incident itself doesn't crop up during a half-hour conversation. Instead, Dean relives the aftermath: how she coped with being a major news item and what it was like to be an inherently private person, still learning the ropes of professional sport, sitting in her Spanish hotel room filing through the abusive messages on her Instagram account. Her only offence was having her bat the wrong side of a line.

"I think I'd be lying if I said that I didn't read the odd thing," she says. "I've turned off all of my notifications on Instagram, which has helped. I received quite a lot of DMs. The ones that you can spot were really lovely from people who had seen the incident and thought that I'd behaved respectfully, and they let me know that. I think those were the ones that I tried to cling onto. It was heart-warming to know that people do care, and it's about the person rather than just the cricket.

"But on the other side, I did have quite a few messages and shed a little tear. Some people see that as a weakness, but I think that's just strength in vulnerability and disappointment."

Mercifully, Dean doesn't have Twitter. Others could learn from her reasoning: "I've always thought it is much more about words, and I've never really had much to say. So, I've never really got involved in that."

But her friends sent screenshots to keep her in the loop with all corners of the furore, and her teammates – several of whom have their fingers closer to the social media pulse – reached out with messages to check in on her wellbeing.

"I guess it was almost trying to reframe it from the incident involving me," says Dean. "Had that happened to anyone, everyone would have been talking about it.

"But I can't say it wasn't tough to hear my name getting thrown about with influential people saying certain things. It's not something that you can predict or get used to."

^{Dean and Deepti Sharma were at the centre of the non-striker's-end runout at Lord's in the third ODI between England and India (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)}

Particularly as a young international women's cricketer at this point in time, where cut-through beyond the sport itself is still rare. There are things you can prepare for – being bopped over your head for six or missing a straight one – and other things that are just too far beyond the realms of probability to consider until you're at the epicentre of an international controversy.

Dean has attended a couple of workshops around how to deal with internet trolls. Learning to ignore them without ever clicking through is one technique, but you wouldn't be human if you weren't naturally drawn to the bile inside them. As she puts it: "Clicking on the profile and seeing what sad, sad humans they are, it can be sad that someone would create a profile just to say mean things about people. It's such a strange world to put yourself into."

Perversely, that experience ought to help in the long run. With the expansion of the women's game – both in opportunities and the finances available – will come more eyeballs and a different level of scrutiny. So, developing a thick skin is a worthwhile exercise.

In Dean's case, that manifested itself in returning to Lord's a matter of hours later for the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final. It had been anticipated that Maia Bouchier, who hadn't played for England the previous afternoon but was in the squad, would be the only representative from Heather Knight's side involved as Southern Vipers faced Northern Diamonds in the regional circuit's showpiece event.

But Dean was a surprise name on the teamsheets, and she bowled the eighth over of the match to announce her arrival. Vipers lost, but on a personal note, it was a sign of the inner steel that others mention when talking about the off-spinner. "I was quite proud of myself for getting back up and going again," she says. "I think that was probably best for me as well. I could lay a line in the sand and move forward."

Did it sully the Lord's experience? "No matter what happened in the games, it's a special place to play. We're extremely grateful to be able to play there, and hopefully we can be involved there more."

^{Dean returned to Lord's the day after her controversy to represent Southern Vipers in the Heyhoe Flint Trophy final (Paul Harding/Getty Images)}

Indeed, it was home during The Hundred, where Dean was an unlikely captain, picked to replace Knight ahead of Beth Mooney. Understandably nervous at the start despite some leadership history at age-group level, she had grown into it by the end. "It was definitely character-building," she laughs, "but it's definitely something I feel more equipped to handle. Hopefully, the girls had a good time too."

After Lord's, she picked up 18 wickets in seven games as England toured the Caribbean in December, in the process just about solidifying her place in the T20I side. She had been left out in the shortest format during the summer – a turn of events that she admits "was pretty disappointing for me" – as England went with a spin pairing of Sophie Ecclestone and Sarah Glenn instead.

But whenever Dean has had an opportunity in England colours, she has quickly made herself indispensable: it was her four-wicket performance against India in a must-win World Cup clash last March that turned England's campaign.

So, she harbours a growing confidence as England prepare for their first major tournament under Jon Lewis. "The more games I play," she says, "the more I have to rely on my backlog of experiences."

Having Ecclestone alongside her is a blessing in that regard; there is only a year between them, but the left-armer is 10 away from 200 England wickets and palpably the best in the world at what she does.

"I think Soph is just Soph," says Dean – an eloquent way of insisting there could never be rivalry between them. Instead, Ecclestone's presence has given Dean – and Glenn and Mady Villiers before her – the buffer of having another young spinner to fall back on. No doubt, Ecclestone has benefited, too, from having Dean at the other end.

"She's a world-class bowler," says Dean. "I've picked her brains a bit, and she's been really lovely with me. It definitely takes the pressure off. I don't think I'm at that stage where I could compete with her. She's such a key figure in our team; no matter what team you're putting out, she's going to be in it. I'd like to think that I do my different role well.

"I guess, something I want is to be the best off-spinner for England."

^{Dean was part of the England side beaten in the World Cup final by Australia (Hannah Peters/Getty Images)}

In a way, she has been plotting for that goal since her mid-teens. There was a remarkable foresight to Dean's England career; in conjunction with Charlotte Edwards and England Academy head coach John Stanworth, they discussed focusing on her off-spin while Laura Marsh was still playing but closing in on her retirement. Dean was mainly a batter back then but recognised that the fastest route to this point was with the ball.

"It's been quite a quick rise," she smiles. "It has been really exciting, and it's something I dreamed of since I was a kid. To say I'm actually doing it is something to be proud of.

"I guess I almost feel twice as old now. We've had a fair few challenges, and that's something that has pushed me. But I'm really grateful, and I definitely feel more equipped to deal with different challenges, whether that be on the pitch or off it."

Apart from everything else, it's worth remembering the environment into which Dean was parachuted; life was limited to bubbles, and – as England Women director of cricket Jonathan Finch told The Cricketer in November – officials were wary of dropping youngsters into what was effectively a social experiment. But Dean was too impressive to ignore, even if that notion doesn't sit comfortably with her character.

She survived the toxicity of New Zealand's restrictions by working on her degree and investing in a guitar to play in her room, and she became a self-confessed "coffee snob" when walks outside were permitted. That three-month trip – for a winless Ashes series into a brutal World Cup – was her first abroad with the senior team, as tough a baptism of fire as you might be likely to endure.

In her own words: "It was definitely a deep-end kind of thing."

Nothing has been served up on a plate, though, in the year-and-a-half of Charlie Dean's international career. But she has come through it all with flying colours.

Beneath the introverted exterior of England's young off-spinner is a thick-skinned competitor beginning to understand what she wants to be.

Related Topics

• The agent game: As the women's franchise circuit grows, player representation will soon be the norm
• Jon Lewis: "The landscape of women's cricket is going to change in the next two months"