Graeme Hick Retires Amid Turbulent Times

Graeme Hick made his County Championship debut for Worcestershire during the last game of the 1984 season and made 82 not out whilst batting at number nine. His cricketing season would normally consist of an early match against one of the Oxbridge Universities, followed by a 55-overs competition.

The County Championship consisted of one division with 24 three-day matches. In addition, there was a knockout 60-overs tournament that included the Minor counties and a one-division 40-overs Sunday League.

I have never understood why critics claim that cricket is conservative. As Hick retires, none of the above remains in place.

Cricket is more likely to present a traditional image because of its fascination with a mythical spirit of the game. Whilst Hick brought his own controversies, notably that regarding nationality, an examination of recent events highlights that conceptions of how the game should be played are still being negotiated.

Discourse is set in an environment dominated by the unprecedented injection of capital. Recently Cricket Australia agreed to move a Test match to accommodate a 20-overs Champions League.

A kitty of £3 million will tempt most administrators and can even persuade Michael Hussey to represent Chennai against his state-side Western Australia. The three-Test series will now be crammed into a three-week period.

One of the world’s best umpires, Darrell Hair, will not be invited to the Indian jamboree. This is principally because he has only been offered two Tests since his return to the elite panel of umpires in March and has so retired. A stubborn man, he was vilified for enforcing the rule book and is an example of how the umpire, once the upholder of the laws, is becoming marginalised.

I wonder what Hair makes of Marcus Trescothick’s revelations that he used mints to sweeten his saliva in order to add shine to a ball, supposedly assisting late reverse swing.

The Australian tabloids found a reason why their boys were beaten in the 2005 Ashes—England cheated. The English press meanwhile treated the revelation as something bowlers have always tried to do, be it with suncream, lip-balm, or brylcream.

The laws of the game favour batters, and so bowlers are forced to devise new ways to remain competitive.  Michael Atherton admitted to The Times that in his day chewing gum was the favoured additive.

This is all very well, but how does the addition of sugary spittle differ from picking the seam or digging fingernails into one side of the ball to roughen it up? I wonder what the response of the English press would have been if it had been Shoaib Akhtar or any of his Pakistani colleagues who had confessed to ball-tampering?

Then hypocrisy has remained a constant during Hick’s career.

I haven’t seen, for example, any Australian newspaper condemn their previous coach, John Buchanan’s revelations that he instructed bowlers to position themselves in their follow through to force batters to run around them. Law 42.5 states that it is unfair to attempt to distract or obstruct the batter.

Maybe it’s because they are too concerned about their star all-rounder Andrew Symonds who has been dropped from the current one-day series against Bangladesh because he preferred fishing to team meetings.

Condemned as arrogant and boorish, it has been pointed out by those sensitive to mental fatigue that Symonds may be struggling with the unforgiving work-rate. There is also his sudden prominence in the side following retirements, his controversial series against India, and the expectations of being the highest paid player in the world game. 

Hick mastered the basics of cricket orthodoxy on the burnt outfields of Zimbabwe playing what was practically an all-white sport. His education continued in England’s domestic format, which has been reputed for being too soft.

This attitude is being challenged by many of the 40 South Africans who have played this summer as Kolpak players.

An un-named player told the South African Mail and Guardian that he learned a lot more in England: “We had four or five international guys in the team and we discussed techniques and tactics, how to win games and how to behave as professionals. At the [South African] franchise last season the conversation was pretty much based around who had the girlfriend with the biggest tits.”

So maybe the County Championship stands up as a domestic league and is not the mundane mediocre entity critics would have us believe. It is certainly poorer for the loss of Graeme Hick, though after 24 years at the highest level, he will be one of those to pass on tactics and advice.

I will be amazed if he does not continue in a coaching role, where alongside his views on perfecting orthodoxy we can tease from him some of his thoughts about how the sport has changed.