Charlie Dean: 'We could do a lot for women's cricket this year'

Allrounder on recovery from back injury, and on England's hopes of a redemption arc at the T20 World Cup

Matt Roller

Published: Apr 8, 2026, 3:10 PM (15 hrs ago)

Charlie Dean hopes to play a full part in England's international summer despite a back stress injury which she has been managing since December.

Dean experienced some stiffness in her lower back late last year and learned after a scan that she had a stress response in one vertebra, an injury that is more commonly associated with fast bowlers than offspinners. She sat out the final two T20s of England's recent inter-squad tour to South Africa, but hopes that the early diagnosis will ensure that she is fully fit this summer.

"I had a stress response in my L3 [vertebra]," Dean told ESPNcricinfo in Taunton on her return from Pretoria. "It was mainly just a bit of stiffness, and then I went for a routine scan over Christmas. It was more surprising that there was anything there… I've been really well looked after. We caught it early, so I should be available for the season."

She is set to miss Somerset's season opener against Yorkshire on Saturday with England monitoring her workload ahead of a busy summer, but hopes to play some early-season county fixtures thereafter: "Everything's gone quite smoothly. I should be fine to go - maybe a few rests here and there just to manage everything, but it should be all good."

It comes as a relief not only for Dean herself, but for England too ahead of a tantalising opportunity in June: a T20 World Cup on home soil. They crashed out of the 2024 edition at the group stage after a sloppy defeat to West Indies in Dubai, but Dean is England's leading T20I wicket-taker in the 18 months since and has quietly become a senior player.

She is conscious, too, of the potential for a home World Cup to have a transformative effect for not just a team, but an entire system. When England last hosted a women's ICC event, back in 2017, Dean was a cricket-mad teenager who convinced her dad to take her to several games, including England's dramatic win over India in the final at Lord's.

"I went to see a couple of games in Bristol with my dad because we just loved it," she recalled. "We watched Australia-South Africa - not even just England games - just because of the event that it was. I took a lot from the win in 2017: the whole of Lord's was full [of fans] watching women's cricket, and I probably didn't realise before then that was what it could be.

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"It felt like quite a pivotal moment for my career, at least. The KSL [Kia Super League] had just kicked off, and there were starting to be more regional professional teams. It felt like it was the start of visualising something that could have happened but looking back, I would have never thought that I'd be where I am… To be able to potentially be that for other girls would be huge."

It will not be straightforward for the T20 World Cup to cut through to casual sports fans in the UK, with the men's football World Cup in the United States set to dominate its window. But early ticket sales have been strong, and Dean hopes that England can capture the same interest as the Lionesses (football) and Red Roses (rugby union) in recent years.

"It feels huge for us," she said. "We want to put on a really good show and we want people to come and watch women's cricket… Watching the football and the rugby last year, trying to see if we can make a similar event of it will be fantastic. You go into World Cups and you want to win, but even more so for it being a home World Cup.

"It feels like we could do a lot for women's sport and women's cricket in this country this year. There's a bit of pressure on that, but we're trying to twist that and view it as an exciting opportunity to have eyes on us, to be criticised, and for people to be watching and wanting to come. I think the girls are really up for the challenge of that.

"Going into a World Cup, you normally feel a bit nervous and you just want to do well because you want to do well. But we want to do well because we want to grow the game, and keep putting ourselves out there. It feels like the story could be such a great redemption arc, so we are really trying to lean in and push for that."

It could even come under Dean's leadership. Nat Sciver-Brunt took over from Heather Knight as England's captain last year, but Dean has been her vice-captain since last year's 50-over World Cup in India (in which England were heavily beaten by South Africa in the semi-finals). She has not yet led England in a full international, but will do so this summer if Sciver-Brunt is unavailable at any stage.

Dean cast doubt on her own leadership credentials a year ago, before Knight's successor was confirmed, but she has captaincy experience at age-group level and has led London Spirit in two seasons of the Hundred. While naturally introverted, she believes that she has grown in confidence and stature as a leader with more responsibility.

"I'm a bit of a cricket nuffy, and I love the tactical elements of the game," she said. "The area of growth is almost the confidence and the ability to feel like I can speak and have an impact, which is something that I'm starting to develop.

"We operate as a leadership group - Sophia Dunkley and Tammy Beaumont have been involved as well - so it feels like we're trying to support Nat as best as possible… It's so much easier to be a vice-captain [than a captain], because you can just suggest things. You're not actually the one making the decisions."

And what if Sciver-Brunt goes down on the morning of a World Cup match in June? "The more I captain, the more comfortable I feel doing it," Dean said. "I feel like I'd be ready to step up if needed. But hopefully Nat's all good."

Matt Roller is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98

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