The Enigma Machine (Graeme Hick)

Name: davidbuttery

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Product:	Graeme Hick
Date:	12/07/02 (434 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Astounding ability, Superb catcher, Plays for Worcs...

Disadvantages: Terribly treated by England..., ...but is partly to blame himself

Let me declare an interest here right at the start. I am a Worcestershire supporter, and therefore, like every other Worcestershire fan am utterly convinced that Graeme Hick is the greatest batsman the world has ever seen! All right, so maybe not - there's this short Indian bloke - Sachin something...? But I do genuinely believe that Hick has had a very raw deal over the years, and that this poor, and in some cases downright shoddy, treatment, has had a significant impact on his form.

I don't think that even Hick's meanest detractors would deny that he is a player of exceptional natural talent. Not in the Bradman class (who is, after all?), but certainly a rare gem, and one which needs to be polished to perfection rather than being scuffed around in the dirt. Unfortunately, the England selectors' lack of confidence in Hick has led to a similar lack of confidence from the player himself, and it is this that has been his stumbling block through the years.

Let's look at how he got started over here. Originally brought over from Zimbabwe in 1984, rather ironically he was preferred to a couple of other prospects because of his bowling ability! However, it quickly became apparent that here was something quite out of the ordinary. This was confirmed by Hick's becoming the youngest ever scorer of 2000 runs in a season, in 1986. In 1988, he scored his mammoth 405* at Taunton, and joined the handful of players who have scored 1000 runs before the end of May, and everyone took note. Here was a player clearly heading - so we thought - for the big time. But the overly restrictive residency qualifications in force at the time meant that Hick could not play for England until he had lived here for ten years. This period was reduced to seven especially for Hick, but that still meant that he would have to wait until 1991. This delay allowed the pressure to build up relentlessly, especially after he equalled Glenn Turner's Worcestershire
record of ten hundreds in a season in 1990. This was a season, one must admit, that was an unparalleled paradise for batsmen, with one memorable match seeing Surrey score 707-9 declared but still not achieve a first-innings lead, as Lancashire proceeded to rack up 863!.

And so it was that by the time Hick walked out for his first Test innings, against West Indies (who were still fearsome foes a decade ago), the expectation had grown to fever pitch and beyond. He was even the cover subject for the Radio Times (which never seems to be a good idea for those pictured). All England knew that here was the saviour they had so long desired, the man to take over from the declining Ian Botham as the nation's brightest star. Oops. Hick was out for six in the first innings, never having looked remotely comfortable, but this could easily be put down to debutant's nerves and the vicious pace attack. But the poor innings continued, and the media scrutiny increased, until eventually Hick was dropped.

Graeme Hick is a good man, but he can be very shy and somewhat introspective, and he simply could not cope with the weight of expectation suddenly placed upon him - and more particularly the equally heavy burden of criticism when he failed to perform well. That's not to say that he can't manage responsibility - he has done well as Worcestershire's captain in the last two years - but he needs to feel comfortable in his surroundings, something he finds a lot easier in Worcester than in, say, a packed MCG.

1992's series against Pakistan was little better, with a lone half-century a faint glimmer in the gloom of mediocrity, but the tour to India and Sri Lanka was a revelation - in a dismal winter for England generally, Hick topped the batting, bowling and fielding figures, and scored a wonderful 178 against India, though ultimately in a losing cause. But it was a false dawn, and his light has continued to flicker uncertainly ever since.
A hundred here, a defiant innings there, but never has he been able to sustain it throughout a full Test series.

Many of Hick's critics say that he cannot play short-pitched bowling. This is just plain wrong. How many people now remember his magnificent 141 in South Africa (1994) against Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock at full pelt? If it had not rained for four days thereafter, Hick's innings might have been granted the recognition it properly deserved. Then there is the famous occasion in 1988, when he was closing on the 1000 runs before June. He looked certain to make it with time to spare, but a string of poor scores meant that he had only one match left to score over 150 runs - and that was against the West Indians. Hick hit 172, and made history.

In any case, there is a lot more to cricket than playing fast bowling. Hick is an excellent player of spin, and remains so despite some hiccups in Pakistan. He coped with Shane Warne's appearance much better than many more established names (Robin Smith, for example). His shot placement is usually excellent, and he can hit with awesome power (I vividly remember a one-handed six over the longest boundary at The Oval). He is a brilliant slip fielder, with more first-class catches (over 500) than any other current player. He is, as I mentioned above, a more than capable county captain. And, though regrettably he doesn't nurture this skill, he is a more than capable off-spinner. Ronnie Irani recently became the second Englishman to score 50 and take five wickets in a one-day international. The first was G A Hick.

The problem with Hick, then, is not one of ability but of mentality - he is just not confident enough in his own capabilities to back himself when the crowd is hostile, and that nervousness is so often his downfall. What the selectors, coaching staff etc should have done was to inspire more confidence in him, by giving him the security of a place in the side for an en
tire series, as Ian Botham (who knows Hick well from their championship-winning years at New Road) repeatedly pointed out. But again and again this has not happened, and all his continual ins and outs can hardly have done anything but weaken his confidence yet further. There were some outwardly positive signs under Duncan Fletcher, but something obviously went wrong somewhere, as Hick, when recently asked who had been his best coach, replied: "that's the problem. There aren't any" - a very sharp comment from so mild a man. With extreme reluctance, I have to concede that too much damage has been done in Hick's own mind for him now ever to be a regular on the Test stage - perhaps even to play Tests again at all. It's a sad thought.

If only he had been able to represent England earlier - say in 1988, when he was sweeping all before him - I think we would have seen a far more self-assured Graeme Hick. As Peter Roebuck (who fielded during his 405*) wrote in an essay in Wisden a couple of years ago, "had he played for England then, he might have risen to the heights". As it is, all we can hope for are the shadowy outlines of what might have been...

Hick probably still harbours faint hopes of a World Cup squad place - after all, he has proven his ability in the competition, with some excellent performances in the 1992 tournament. But he probably also knows, in his heart of hearts, that he will be watching the games on television. For a man with such reserves of talent to be cast out on the barren wastelands of "former England batsman" status is a terrible indictment of the way English cricket has been managed in the last decade.

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