Sport
1 March, 2023
Queensland Cricket's stats-wiz from Jondaryan
Jondaryan-raised Charles Evans had no idea when he started his Engineering degree in Brisbane that he would end up working with Queensland’s professional cricket teams.
You wouldn't know it, but a young lad from Jondaryan has been working as an assistant coach to Queensland's professional cricket teams since 2018.
Not normally one to embrace the spotlight, Charles Evans agreed to speak to the Oakey Champion with a view to encouraging the youth of the Central Downs that unique career pathways are possible.
Having grown up in the Oakey district playing cricket with Bowenvile, Charles was instilled with a love of sport says he understood at an early the value it played in rural communities.
"Whether you live on a farm or a property, sport's one of the things that brings people together," he said.
Charles' career journey began when he first moved to Brisbane to study a Engineering at the University of Queensland.
"I needed a casual job, so I looked at AusKick and MiloIn2Cricket," he said.
"They needed some volunteers and that was enough for me get involved.
"I did that until my thesis year, when I then got some engineering placements at Toowoomba and Aubigny."
When Charles finished university in 2016 with a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, he found his volunteer cricket work had been noticed.
Having completed his thesis on the galvanic corrosion of stainless steel and bronze composite ship rudders, he discovered he would not be entering a career at an engineering firm when he was offered a job that correlated with his lifelong passion at Queensland Cricket
"In 2016, was encouraged to apply for the role of a Market Development Officer for the Moreton Region.
"This covered after-school care, community or local clubs and primarily involved upskilling volunteers so that they were able to run their own grassroots cricket programs.
"I worked in that position for a little while, but when the previous performance Analayst at QC got offered the role at the National Cricket Centre, there was a job vacancy."
"I was fortunate enough to get an interview and I've been working there since the summer of 2018-19."
"We've now got a second person involved with the performance analysis department."
As a Performance Analyst, Charles' role basically involves aligning all the different data systems, video, statistics to help cricketers in the Bulls, Heat (WBBL and BBL) and Fire perform at their best.
"It involves entering in data, editing video, and sometimes presenting that to people," he said.
"There is a crossover with the Pathways Manager, which stays connected to the Under 19s."
"There's also a little bit of an overlap with Premier Cricket."
Besides his work with Queensland, Charles was also employed by Cricket Australia to scout opposition teams and pitch conditions at the 2019 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.
Despite the 'cool' aspect of getting to work with professional cricketers, Charles admits it's a role where you have to be 'switched on' for much of the year.
"That off season is getting smaller, and you have cricket in the dry season in Darwin now also, " he said.
"In the off season, it's all about doing as much of the building of the systems and projects as possible."
Reflecting on his journey, he notes that his career choice surprises some people in his university cohort in taking a role that earnt him less money.
"There was definitely a bit of pushback (from my peers)," Charles said.
"Some people thought it might be a backward step.
"Something I wanted to say about this role is that there's not really a clear pathway."
"If you came to sport with a goal of getting a career in sport, I think you're going to find it pretty hard."
Charles encourages people in the Jondaryan district to think outside the square when looking at future career pathways.
"I think there's a lot of value to people just getting involved in volunteering," he said.
