Harmison: the new Hick

Day 1 - Close





Rarely have an England team put in as dismal a performance as today. In less than two sessions they played themselves out of the game and possibly the chance of regaining the Ashes.

It was a throwback to the worst days of the 90s, not just in the scorebook but also because a talented discard had returned. Steve Harmison’s comeback was imbued with the same unreasonable expectation and resigned inevitability that accompanied Graeme Hick’s periodical returns into Test cricket.

Both men are remarkably similar: towering, touted, gifted and ultimately too insecure for Test cricket. The English obsession with Hick through the 90s was symptomatic of their lack of world-class batsmen and the preoccupation with Harmison today is born out of the same problem with the bowlers. Burdened with the ‘great white' hopes of a nation, perhaps the pressure was too much for such fragile temperaments. It seemed the English selectors thought so as Harmison was left out all series.

But, like Hick, he got better with every Test he didn’t play. Thundering the shires, he was just too good to be ignored. And so, like that failed relationship, we gave it ‘one more go’ before, predictably, swearing never to do so again.

Goodbye, my love

It should have been a fanfare, a tearful, emotionally-charged mass media farewell to one of the greatest batsmen to grace the game. But then, that was never his way. The quiet man could never quite turn up the volume. And so it is that after 25 years dominating the English game, Graeme Ashley Hick has announced his retirement.

For decades, the six-and-half-foot giant plundered county attacks with a brutality that could never betray his fundamental gentleness. Instead it took the Test game - as it always does – to ruthlessly reveal his inner character.

He was and remains an unnervingly popular figure. Hick never commanded adoration as, say, Flintoff does now. Instead Hick drew obsessive fans. That he could never quite understand his own failings at the highest level made him all the more interesting. Perhaps in today’s era where masculinity is more ready to embrace humanity he would have faired better. The thought of Pietersen fussing, caressing and cajoling him through the early days of his Test career can only make you wonder what could have been. Now though is not the time to dissect his Test career (again). Instead this is a personal moment for Hick and his fans.

My most recent memory of Hick was a couple of years ago, when I got the chance to see him play at my club in a charity match*. Having practiced my lines and delivered them perfectly to everyone around me, I finally drew up the courage to walk up to my childhood God and tell him how much he meant to me. I tapped him on the shoulder… and absolutely panicked. My legs disappeared under me, I stuttered and stumbled and barely said a word.

The great man looked at me bemused, but surely he could see a hint of what I did – a faint reflection.

*In that charity game, Hick was faced with the prospect of a young girl bowling at him. As always, debilitated by his kindness he ended up lobbing a gentle catch to cover. And once again I’d seen the player I loved most fail.

Bell on Song

First Test
Day 1 Comment
It had to be now - this series, this game, this day. With the selectors axe dangling tantalisingly over his neck Ian Bell played the sort of innings we've been waiting for, for almost four years.

His talent has never been in doubt, on song his effortless elegance is matched by no one in the England side. Test cricket though, has always demanded more than talent. Pressure is what separates the talented from the successful. Graeme Hick and Mark Ramprakash time and again battered attacks outside the heat of the Test arena, yet when the situation demanded it their minds scrambled and with it their techniques.

Bell was in danger of joining this pantheon of wasted gifts. All his hundreds to date have been scored in comfortable circumstances, following on the good work of his team mates. Yesterday was different. After England's solid start, they had lost their openers and captain in a flash. With Morkel and Steyn having finally found rhythm and Pietersen floored England were staring down the barrel. For the first time in his career Bell read the situation and rose to it. He launched a counter attack that was nothing short of spectacular. It allowed Pietersen time to play himself in and set up England's day and series. Should he go on today and to make hundred it will be far and away be his best, and may prove, finally to be that elusive breakthrough innings.