Going Quietly

It was a pity - certainly for all those people who'd chosen to travel in search of the end of an era - to find Graeme Hick invalided out of his final game in first-class cricket with a recurrence of the elbow problem which has punctuated his last season.

Some photos on Cricinfo this morning showed that he was present on the familiar territory of his old home ground at Kidderminster, with nothing more ferocious to contend with than a queue largely composed of the type of slightly oddball middle-aged autograph hunter who proliferate at county grounds.

But it was perhaps fitting, with the benefit of hindsight, that his career came to an end at Worcester on 8th August, with a final century against Derbyshire under his belt.

He was saying in one of his recent interviews that he'd rather have gone out quietly.

It now looks as though he did.

A Worcester Institution

Graeme Hick plays forward during his 100th century for his county. Worcestershire v Northamptonshire, Worcester, June 2006.

The impending retirement of Graeme Hick is more significant to me than most, as, in the very dim and distant past (it must have been 1984), I latched on to Hick's name. He kept making huge scores for Worcestershire seconds and I thought he might turn out to be a useful player. From then on I kept an unusually close eye on his career, getting in touch with his parents about his early cricket and following his progress innings by innings.

Like someone who's genuinely mad I can still dash off the highlights of those years without going near a Wisden: 230 and 192 in successive innings for Zimbabwe in England in '85, the double centuries for Worcestershire in '86, a thousand before the end of May (including the 405) in '88, a largely unbroken upward curve all the way to the England debut in 1991. From there, of course, things were never quite the same, but, for me, there were always plenty of highlights, some of which I even managed to see in person. The most memorable of these was probably his hundredth century for Worcestershire in 2006; a freezing June day at Worcester, a moderate Northants attack and utter domination, with one stroke living especially keenly in the memory. I'm not sure of the bowler, but I'll take a punt on Ben Phillips. He dropped a fraction short and Hick, as he'd done a million times before, simply stood tall and hit the ball back past him for four with a stroke of rare dismissiveness and command.

This though, was the problem with Hick; at his best (say late eighties, at Worcester) he could achieve a level of dominance and intimidation which few batsmen from anywhere in the world have managed in the last thirty years, but it was all underwritten by a current of personal diffidence which undermined him fatally when it came to the pressure-cooker of Test cricket.

For all the coruscating innings there were technical weaknesses too; a certain stiffness of movement, often an inability to respond to the moving ball, especially at the highest level. I think it was John Bracewell who originally coined the term 'flat-track bully' to describe Hick and, in retrospect, he had something.

This said, I've always tended towards the view that if Hick had been able to play Test cricket when he was at his youngest and most fearless (between 1984 and 1990), he would have achieved much more. A lot of people have pointed to the time Atherton declared on him at Sydney, but, in truth, his early veneer of impregnability had gone by then; the likes of Ambrose, Waqar and Hughes had shown the way to see him off and he was always playing catch-up from then on. He did better in the one-day game, but his overall international statistics must always be regarded as disappointing for a player with his level of ability and potential.

At Worcester, though, he was an institution. Visits there will never quite be the same again.

If you get the chance to see him play between now and the end of the season, take it.

Playing On

A nice piece from The Guardian by the long-time Graeme Hick obsessive (hope you don't mind me terming it like that, Simon, it's meant in the nicest possible way) Simon Hattenstone.

And it's out of date already - Hick made his 136th century this afternoon.

Throwback

A day's Test cricket yesterday, in two very different parts of the world, which was, in many ways, a throwback to earlier times. On the one hand you had a previously unconsidered Kiwi seamer (no offence, Mr.O'Brien) making life difficult for England (with obvious assistance from his captain) after England's own insipid efforts in the field had matched the slackness of the Kiwis' running. England were also pasted all over the field by a young batsman of unmistakeable promise and class; it's hard to believe now that only a few months ago good New Zealand judges were wondering whether Ross Taylor was going to be any more than a one-day player.

On the other, in Kingston, you had everything going off: Shiv Chanderpaul gets knocked unconscious by a Brett Lee bouncer but gets up to record yet another century and then watches from the field as Edwards and Powell leave Australia rocking at a close score of 17 for 4.

So, just like old times. England struggling, West Indies fast bowlers creating mayhem and reverse swing the king. For all the brilliance of Taylor and Chanderpaul's heroics (how many batsmen have ever sold their wicket more dearly?), the highlight of the day for me was the delivery from Brett Lee which shattered Daren Powell's stumps as the West Indian innings declined.

At about 90 miles an hour it started to reverse in the last third of its flight before torpedoing Powell's middle and leg stumps. Far better players than Powell would have stood no chance at all, and for an instant I felt as though I was right back in the 1990s, with Waqar Younis persecuting a range of helpless England batsmen (Graeme Hick at Lord's, 1996, came to mind immediately).

Bloody magnificent.

Time's Arrow

Talking of Taunton, it occurred to me over the weekend that it's twenty years ago tomorrow that Graeme Hick made 405 not out there for Worcestershire, a monumental innings which remained the highest first-class score made in England during the twentieth century. In fact twenty years ago today he was just settling in, and he finished the first day unbeaten on 179.

My memories of the day it happened are crystal clear. At the time I was approaching the end of my three years at Warwick University, and, while I'd never, at that time, visited Taunton, I was obsessed with Graeme Hick and thought (didn't everyone?) that he was going to be the greatest batsman of his generation (in the world, never mind England). Having seen his overnight score I was trying to revise for my finals when I heard on the radio that he was ploughing on towards a score the like of which those of us born after the era of Bradman, Ponsford and Hanif Mohammed had never known.

I obviously can't remember exactly how many he had when I heard about it, but it was probably about 370, and I spent the next hour in a state of febrile excitement as I waited to hear whether he'd made it to 400.

At the time, of course, I didn't think I'd ever see anyone else do it, let alone make 500. But then, at that time, few people outside the West indies had heard of Brian Lara.

If you'd told me at the time that he'd still be playing for Worcestershire twenty years later I wouldn't have believed you. But then if you'd told me he'd finish his Test career with just six centuries and an average of 31, I wouldn't have believed that either.

Still Doing It

Something else made a bigger impression on me than the IPL, though.

I started this blog because I felt I had something to write after I saw Graeme Hick make his 129th first-class hundred for Worcestershire against Somerset at Taunton two years ago.

Two years on he's still doing it. Yesterday's 101 at Edgbaston was hundred number 135, and you wouldn't bet against there being more to come as the season goes on, 42nd birthday or no 42nd birthday.

One Year On, One Year In

It's exactly a year since I began writing this blog. After years of writing articles for magazines and journals I'd started to feel frustrated by the length of time it took for anything I'd written to appear in print and I felt that this format would give my work greater immediacy and the opportunity to write about whatever was in my head at the time, rather than what an editor wanted me to write about or what they were prepared to accept.

I'd spent some wonderful hours in the early part of last season watching Graeme Hick bat at Taunton and Worcester and wanted to write something about a cricketer whose career I'd been associated with since he was a youngster and who was nearly as old as me but was still performing with distinction. That piece, still one of the best things I've written, can be found here, and, a year on, Hick is still batting superbly; on Friday evening he made 110 from 49 balls in a Twenty20 game for Worcestershire against Northants.

It's been a crowded and intriguing year for world cricket. I've seen and commented upon the first forfeited Test match and all the controversy that went with it, Australia regaining the Ashes with dismissive excellence and then going on to dominate the World Cup in much the same way (although it's questionable how many people were still awake by the end to see them do it). I've also covered the shockingly sudden death of Bob Woolmer and the retirements of three of the greatest cricketers of this or any era, Brian Lara, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. It's been hard work at times, but I'm still enjoying it.

To my regular readers - you know who you are, even if I don't - thanks a lot for dropping by and coming back. And special thanks to Andrew Riley, Simon Orpen, Simon Hattenstone of The Guardian, Patrick Kidd of The Times, Mark Ray for the photos, Russell Degnan, Homer, and anyone else who's been kind enough to add me to their blogrolls.

The only thing that's disappointed me slightly is that thousands of people read the blog but few comment. I've gone through spells of getting reasonable numbers of comments (usually when I've written something about the Indian team) but things usually go dead again after a while. It's one of those spells at the moment.

So, if you're reading the blog and feel that you've got something to say, leave a comment. It's not difficult and I always reply.

At the last count this site had been visited by people from 62 countries, although a large proportion of those simply wanted to know about the different shades of green. To them, and the people whose searches for 'Guildford Swingers' on Google always lead them to my appreciation of Martin Bicknell, sorry I couldn't help you.

Interesting Times

It's often seemed as though the cricket world's been going mad these last two weeks and I've been away in Derbyshire visiting my family, so I haven't managed to post anything for a while. Now that things are returning to normal (England are losing a One-Day International as I write) it seems as though it's time to jot down a few thoughts.

I haven't got much to say about England's continued problems in limited-over cricket apart from stating what seems to be obvious, namely that if they'd been up against the current Pakistan attack - with Shoaib Akhtar, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and the massively impressive and skilful Mohammad Asif all firing - earlier in the summer, it seems highly unlikely that they would have won the Test series. In fact, in all probability they would have lost it and would be going to Australia having failed to win a series since the conclusion of the last Ashes contest. However, as the pros (and various other people, including me) always say, you can only beat what's put in front of you. This England did, but their uneasy and complacent performance at The Oval until they were let off the hook by Pakistan perhaps gave a clearer pointer to how tough things are likely to be in Australia than their comfortable wins at Old Trafford and Headingley.

Meanwhile, on the domestic scene, two tales from the last few days stand out. One, Graeme Hick (you may remember that I follow his career quite closely) scored two centuries for Worcestershire against Essex, and two, a pair of leg-spinners, Yorkshire's Mark Lawson (6-88) and Adil Rashid (4-96), bowled out Middlesex at Headingley.

The first time that's happened for a while, surely, but hopefully not the last.

Hick Stays

The best news of the week for some of us - like me and The Guardian's long-term Hick devotee Simon Hattenstone, who wrote this, was the decision by Graeme Hick to sign a one-year extension to his current Worcestershire contract and stay at New Road until, in all probability, the end of his career. Derbyshire were interested in signing him and some rumours were being circulated that he might have been interested in leaving Worcester, but I could never imagine it happening. Some players stay with counties so long, and achieve so much, that they become virtually synonymous with that county. Hick is one of those, and something about English cricket just wouldn't be right if he played for anyone else.

Some of my reasons for thinking that are here.

Hick in Pictures

Some images from Taunton and Worcester.

Hick

Graeme Hick is again making the news in English cricket for the right reasons. In the early part of the current county season he was struggling to make runs, and, after a moderate season in 2005, many were beginning to wonder if he was about to call time on his first prodigious, then enigmatic, and ultimately prodigiously enigmatic, career.

In recent weeks, though, he's managed to claw himself back to some sort of form, making Championship centuries against Somerset at Taunton and Northants at Worcester.

I was fortunate enough to see both innings and the contrasts between the two were instructive. In the first, on a classic Taunton shirtfront, he initially played with studied circumspection, his hesitancy reflecting his lack of form and confidence. This was an ageing player trying hard to rage against the dying of the light but unsure about whether he still had the technical and emotional resources to do so. However, as the innings built, he became much more fluent, pulling his erstwhile England colleague Andy Caddick for two huge sixes late on the first day, and, on the second, going on to make 182 and share in a record Worcestershire fourth wicket partnership of 330 with Ben Smith, who made 203.

A fortnight later, back on the familiar territory of New Road, he came to the wicket on a cold, breezy day to join the rock-solid and run-hungry Australian left-hander Phil Jaques with Worcestershire 139-3. This time Hick looked more positive and confident from the start, and, once he was past fifty (with Jaques steaming ahead at the other end on the way to a brilliant 202), he unfurled a few shots which reminded everyone on the ground of what he used to be and what he could have become. The best of these was an on-drive off the back foot off one of the Northants seamers which ran to the Diglis End boundary boards like a shot from a gun. As the crowd applauded it was trite and obvious but irresistible to think of how many times he had played such shots in the past, especially in his brilliant youth, and to wonder how long he would continue to do so. Hick finished the first day on 93 not out, going on to reach his 100th century for the county early on the second day before taking his score to 139.

He's older and a bit slower now, bats at five, but the intrinsic qualities which once made him the world's greatest batsman-in-waiting are still there: a sound defence coupled with brutal and dismissive attacking shots all round the wicket. Also, although Hick's years of struggle in international cricket and the passage of time have removed the aura of invulnerability which he once commanded, you can't escape the feeling that, even to the likes of Monty Panesar, who was a Luton toddler when he started making centuries at New Road, he can still be pretty scary from 22 yards away.

Hick and I go back a long way. I first became aware of his name in 1984, when he came to Worcester on a scholarship and made a series of huge scores for the second eleven. Feeling that something quite special might be going on I got in touch with Worcestershire and the club he was then attached to, Kidderminster, with the intention of writing something about him. By a roundabout route I eventually came into contact with his parents, who proudly supplied me with pages of statistics relating to his early school and club cricket in Zimbabwe. The article I had conceived was published in late 1986, by which time he had stamped his mark indelibly on the collective consciousness of the county game. I first saw him play at Worcester in 1988, the season in which he made his epic 405 not out at Taunton (I was revising for my university finals but didn't get a lot of work done that afternoon) on the way to a thousand runs by the end of May, eventually qualified to play for England in 1991, and the rest, sadly, is history.

A difficult start against the West Indies was followed by an intermittently successful but frequently uneasy international career, with Hick all too often giving off the air of a man distracted by his inability to live up to other people's expectations of him. While his technique and especially his somewhat fragile temperament were ultimately exposed at the highest level I believe that it would be wrong to think that he was never as good as he was cracked up to be.

The Hick of the late eighties was a magnificent beast, one of the most dominant batsmen English county cricket has seen in the post-war period. It is this player, not the diffident figure blasted out of the crease by a succession of the world's best pace bowlers of the early nineties, that I like to remember. The best thing about the two recent innings was that, for a period in each, you could almost believe you were back in the time before it all fell away.

Interviewed on TMS by Jonathan Agnew last weekend Hick was unusually forthcoming and interesting. At the moment I think that it is unlikely that he will retire at the end of this season and it should be possible to see him around the country again in 2007.

Take the opportunity while you can.