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Graeme Hick international career
- Thread starter slippy888
- Start date
Socerer 01
International Captain
wasn’t he ineligible at 1st because he previously played for Zimbabwe?
fredfertang
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Hick was badly managed
Because test cricket is a completely different game to county cricket, and it's always been an issue in developing proper test players. County cricket has hardly any fast bowlers, it's mainly 70mph swing and seam bowlers dominating greentops. Hick was great at playing those, but struggled on the flat test pitches where the bowlers were 15mph faster.
While there was and is a large gap between county and test cricket, in the late 80s and early 90s there were still a number of high quality overseas fast bowlers in the championship.
There were, but rarely an attack filled with test level bowlers, he's just one of a long list that dominated at county level and failed at test level, he probably was the most hyped one though.
Dunno how much you could attribute Australia's sledging to his failures, but he couldn't handle that either.
More big disappointment than embarrassment. He had a period when he showed a little bit of his potential in tests and his ODI record was good for the era.
True although there were players of the generation after who didn't face many such fast bowlers, averaged a lot less in CC but comparatively thrived in tests. Perhaps because they got called up earlier in their careers they hadn't adapted their games to bash up county plodders while at the detriment of being able to cope with test bowlers.
Off the top of my head his record against Australia wasn’t notably worse than that against all comers.
He always came across though as an introverted character and perhaps the weight of expectation built up over his long qualifying period when England were frequently at a low ebb proved a burden to him.
a massive zebra
International Captain
A lot of nonsense spouted in this thread, with people incorrectly assuming the current dynamics of county cricket applied 30 years ago. Today, county cricket is indeed dominated by 70mph swing bowlers. 30 years ago, this simply wasn't true. Many of the world's leading fast bowlers such as Wasim, Waqar, Ambrose and Walsh regularly played full seasons of county cricket and topped the wicket taking and average stats in the county championship. Yet Hick still dominated county cricket of the late 80s and early 90s, with world class fast bowlers in many of the county teams.
I disagree with those who claim Graeme Hick was technically unsound, weak against pace and a mere minnow basher. In my opinion, Hick was the Colin Blythe of the 1990s - his failings at Test level were simply the result of an inability to handle the pressure and intensity of Test cricket.
Considering his shy, timid personality, Hick was not helped by a seven year qualifying period in which he was lauded as the best batsman in the world. Upon arrival in the England team, Hick was probably over anxious to justify such plaudits, a factor which undoubtedly contributed to his calamitous baptism against the world's finest bowling lineup. Understandably for such a sensitive individual, this inauspicious start to his career at the highest level caused a crushing confidence blow from which he arguably never really recovered.
The vast majority of Hick's career was played under selection policies that bear no resemblance to the more consistent and faithful approach adopted by modern England teams. At the time, the England selectors showed zero faith in non established Test players, regularly dropped players after just one failure, and regularly got through anything up to 25 players over a 5 match Test series. Hick was always aware that his next innings could be his last, being dropped a dozen or so times over the course of his career.
For those who claim Hick was weak against pace, or technically unsound, witness his magnificent, faultless 172 against Ambrose, Patterson, Walsh and Bishop in 1988; or his mauling of Warne at the peak of his powers during a dominant 187 in 1993; both low pressure matches for Worcestershire at a time when touring games were still treated with respect.
Hick couldn't play fast bowling, huh? Anyone suggesting this held true over his entire career doesn't have a clue what they're on about. Hick cured this problem in 1994 and scored runs against high-class seam-bowlers aplenty from then on. Witness his extended period of success during his only regular run in the side – between the start of 1993 and the conclusion of the ‘95/96 South Africa tour, a period in which he played Australia, West Indies, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa – Hick averaged 45.
Hick had the natural ability and technical skills to succeed at any level of the game, but not the mental toughness to cope in high profile matches where he knew his position in the side could be terminated by trigger happy selectors after one single failure.
I disagree with those who claim Graeme Hick was technically unsound, weak against pace and a mere minnow basher. In my opinion, Hick was the Colin Blythe of the 1990s - his failings at Test level were simply the result of an inability to handle the pressure and intensity of Test cricket.
Considering his shy, timid personality, Hick was not helped by a seven year qualifying period in which he was lauded as the best batsman in the world. Upon arrival in the England team, Hick was probably over anxious to justify such plaudits, a factor which undoubtedly contributed to his calamitous baptism against the world's finest bowling lineup. Understandably for such a sensitive individual, this inauspicious start to his career at the highest level caused a crushing confidence blow from which he arguably never really recovered.
The vast majority of Hick's career was played under selection policies that bear no resemblance to the more consistent and faithful approach adopted by modern England teams. At the time, the England selectors showed zero faith in non established Test players, regularly dropped players after just one failure, and regularly got through anything up to 25 players over a 5 match Test series. Hick was always aware that his next innings could be his last, being dropped a dozen or so times over the course of his career.
For those who claim Hick was weak against pace, or technically unsound, witness his magnificent, faultless 172 against Ambrose, Patterson, Walsh and Bishop in 1988; or his mauling of Warne at the peak of his powers during a dominant 187 in 1993; both low pressure matches for Worcestershire at a time when touring games were still treated with respect.
Hick couldn't play fast bowling, huh? Anyone suggesting this held true over his entire career doesn't have a clue what they're on about. Hick cured this problem in 1994 and scored runs against high-class seam-bowlers aplenty from then on. Witness his extended period of success during his only regular run in the side – between the start of 1993 and the conclusion of the ‘95/96 South Africa tour, a period in which he played Australia, West Indies, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa – Hick averaged 45.
Hick had the natural ability and technical skills to succeed at any level of the game, but not the mental toughness to cope in high profile matches where he knew his position in the side could be terminated by trigger happy selectors after one single failure.
Last edited:
TheJediBrah
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^president of the Graeme Hick apologist club up here
a massive zebra
International Captain
This is the correct answer.
Fuller Pilch
Hall of Fame Member
Should've played for Zimbabwe or qualified for NZ (played a few years for Northern Districts). Would've ended up with a much better record.
ashley bach
Cricketer Of The Year
Reasonable ODI batsman but hugely disappointing in the test arena given his dominating first class record.
Coronis
International Coach
This isn’t a thread about Bevan.
Looked at the list of bowlers who dismissed him the most in Test cricket, this is definitely borne out. Ambrose Walsh Younis Donald and at very low averages
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
Wouldn't pay attention to the averages, Cricinfo records it in an absolutely useless way.
Bowlers most dismissed by is still useful though.