Extract from

CHAPTER 24

GRAEME HICK

With Atherton and Ray Illingworth in charge of England at that time, there was hardly any sympathy or touchy-feely sentiments directed towards Hick. They both came from a tough, Northern school where you had to develop your own carapace of flintiness to survive international cricket. Illingworth, in particular, gave the impression that he felt Hick was a wimp. An incident just before the Old Trafford Test of 1995 delineated the differences between them. Illingworth told Hick he was dropped. He took it badly and left the ground in tears. That seemed to sum up the enigma that was Hick in the eyes of the taciturn Illingworth, who proceeded to criticise him in the press for being soft. Hick was angered by that. ‘I called him up and asked why he said that and he told me he’d been misquoted. I’m not embarrassed at being in tears – what did he expect me to say? That it was fine by me to be dropped, and I’m off down the pub? I’m an emotional guy and sometimes I can’t hold it in, but what’s wrong with that? I cared about my England place, I didn’t like being dropped. But it happened so often. I never played an entire Test series at home. I eventually preferred playing Test series away from home, it seemed a more relaxed environment for me.’

Such emotion appears at odds with Hick’s reserved, disciplined public image, yet he was deeply affected by his England failures. ‘I’ve sat in the dressing-room in tears, really disappointed at getting out. Being a quiet person, I’d bottle it all up then it would come out and I’d have to seek out a corner. Sometimes when I got home, I’d talk it over with Jackie and let it out. Many of the press didn’t know me, because I’m a reserved guy, and then they would just second-judge me. When I’d failed, they’d just climb in without knowing anything about how I felt about my cricket.’

Angus Fraser feels that Hick should have been handled more sympathetically by Atherton and Illingworth. ‘They felt he should be able to cope with it all, but they never grasped Graeme’s sensitivity. He never really knew he was so gifted, which was amazing, given the scores he clocked up. He wasn’t ruthless enough in the big, ugly world of international cricket, he just wanted to do the job with the minimum of fuss. But he cared alright; I’ve seen him put the towel over his head and shed tears when he’d got out. He reacted with more passion and feeling than several English-born players in the various teams I was in. Graeme had great pride in performance and playing for England .’

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