Graeme Hick

[sloandog]

He was/is a top bloke. Very very quiet and understated, he was big friends with both Penny’s at school.
At school he always played up, so had to mind his P’s and Q’s and then played against men before his time when there was some serious seniority and that probably laid the base for him being just a quiet, nice guy. Obviously he was supremely driven and hated to fail and was known to burst the odd bat in rage.
He’s a giant of a man as well. At least 6ft 3 or 4 and strong as an ox. When you shook his hand it was always an eye opener, he is a beast. He would make Hamilton look very small if they stood next to each other.
I remember his abilities very well at school and we were often on the receiving end of his batting, not all the time though, he’s only human, and made mistakes, the good guys just make less I am in a good position to make comparisons of players at schoolboy level and as youngsters Curran, Muyeye, and Welch were absolutely thereabouts and probably more intimidating because they have more flair and they made the hundreds to prove that. Latterly Byrom has definitely caught and passed them all. I know a few guys who’d defend Hick’s abilities at school but they’re the same guys who think Bradman was the best ever
We have the batsmen that are on the radar in a massive cricket country like England and yet these absolute cockroaches here can’t see it. They are closer to splitting the atom than understanding what it takes to make a good batter and to hang onto him, and it’s not really relevant because they don’t actually care. I used to love watching these boys bat. There used to be so many WTF moments when these boys were in full flow. In my view they were a level up from Schardendorf, Myers, Madhevere and Bawa, also decent players but the difference is in the number of hundreds. I’d hazard a guess that when the first three left school they had close on 80 hundreds between them, the last 4, as good as they are, I don’t think have a dozen.
I can’t comment just yet on how Muyeye’s and Welch’s careers will unfold, it’s early days for them, but I can tell you with absolute certainty about Eddie, he’s going to play for England and he’s going to become a global superstar.
I had a beer with Nick Welch over Xmas and was asking him who was the best batter he’d played with/against in Two’s. Bear in mind most of the international guys play Two’s at some point and he’s seen nearly all of them. He said emphatically and without hesitation that Ed Byrom was head and shoulders better ability-wise than anyone he’d seen, he said you couldn’t rush him, he just seemed to know what was coming before the bowler did, he said he’s just mesmerizingly good.

That’s fantastic insight.
Are Welch and Byron friends, considering they’re around the sameish age?
I’d have loved to have seen some of the schoolboy cricket in the 80’s in Zimbabwe. Honestly it sounds tough. Hick said on the recent documentary I watched that the standard in the 80’s (I assume he means club standard?) was at times tougher than the standard of county cricket he experienced when he first arrived.

[andrewn9]

Very interesting info.

Regarding the English county system, I do believe that promotion and relegation was a very necessary development that had to happen. Back in the 80s/90s, there was just one big division of 18 teams playing each other. From about the halfway point of the season, you had 3 or 4 teams with a realistic chance of winning the title and then about 14 teams who would have no real hope of winning the title and would have about 2 and a half months of just going through the motions, no pressure, til the end of the season. This was clearly no way to prepare people for the rigours of test cricket. Zimdoggy's probably right that 10 teams would be ideal but as I understand it, the counties had voting rights at the ecb and weren't gonna vote themselves out of existence! I think getting them to agree to promotion/relegation was hard enough! As to why top players don't move when their team is relegated, I think the ecb were keen to avoid a transfer system similar to football so I reckon the county contracts actually mean you're tied to that club for the duration stated and can't just waltz off. In football the players can be worth tens of millions and can dig their heels in and demand a move. In county cricket I guess not!

Finally, the promotion/relegation system is very common in British sport, eg. Football, Rugby Union. I guess in Australia it's closer to the American sports which are like a closed shop. It's funny that America, the home of capitalism has sports built more on left-wing principles eg. No promotion/relegation, salary caps, access to player drafts for weaker teams first, etc. Funny that! I know in England some Premier League clubs were bought by various rich Americans, who decided they'd like to get rid of relegation, and they were told to dream on!

[Googly]

Our club cricket was renowned for being incredibly competitive and tough, brutal at times.
These cockroaches dismantled something they didn’t even understand and with the benefit of hindsight they still don’t understand it

NW is younger than EB, I think there’s mutual respect and I’m certain they’ve never had a cross word, but they’re poles apart as characters.

Ok here’s another one- there was a player from Kadoma and went to Jameson called JJ Weatherall, born 1964 I believe. I played against these guys so you can choose to believe or not, but JJ was better than Hick at school. He also played Midlands fly half, was a scratch golfer, and a brilliant squash and tennis player. I believe Worcestershire were very keen on him but he opted to go to Rhodes University instead. I happen to know the story- he was deeply in love with his girlfriend and followed her there instead of pursuing a pro cricket career. She had cooled off a bit and he couldn’t accept that. She was a Cadiz, you can google her brother , Ray, he’s a billionaire investment banker based in Cape Town. Some years ago there was a Jameson reunion at the school and by then it had become a broken hole, which is what happens when you take something that means nothing to you, anyway he sent a team to give it a makeover to return it to its former glory (costing many hundreds of thousands) for the reunion. I drove through there out of curiosity a couple of years ago and it was fucked all over again, the war memorial vandalized (not the liberation war but the First and Second WW, just defaced because they can) windows broken, not a blade of grass etc etc , pretty much the same as every other gov school with the exception of PE who get support from a nucleus of Old Boys (both black and white).
Anyway I think JJ played for Eastern Province in the Currie Cup. He never really put a value on his wicket, he was a dasher, but he was absolutely unbelievable. He was also a fantastic keeper, and I mean fantastic, and was an opening bowler of note. We were all jealous of him because Duncan Fernley used to send him two beautiful bats a year, from the age of 8 until he stopped playing. It was just too easy for him and he never applied himself and the booze and the women were a bigger attraction than serious cricket. He had an older brother that was probably just as good and I think he may have played county cricket for a bit, but I stand to be corrected. Also of interest was their family won our national lottery, which in those days was about $50k which could buy you at least 5 top of the range houses.

[Googly]

They bought a beautiful holiday home in the Falls with a portion of the cash, this was many years ago, bear in mind. The newly appointed Commanding Officer of the Local constabulary decided he fancied it and basically just moved in and they could never get him out.
I must actually get hold of him and see if he’s still got the Title Deeds, we’re all praying for the day when we can present Title Deeds to a meaningful court of law that hasn’t been bought with a coke and a bun.

[Googly]

One of the big differences in school cricket between the 80’s and now was the bowling. Every second school had a decent quick. There was a cricketing culture and the lads wanted to bowl fast and in Brandes’ day 81-83 he definitely was nowhere near the quickest. There were some really good batters as well, but apart from Hick, Curtis and Weatherall I don’t recall anyone standout. We’ve had a lot more in recent years when our cricket has been at its lowest ebb, but from boys that have put in the effort with a view to a pro career.

[Googly]

This jogged my memory- when JJ was 14/15/16 I’m fairly certain his father used to drive him up on weekends to Universals or Sunrise and he used to play men’s club cricket and the Indians actually paid him well for his services. I’m fairly sure it was actually illegal in those days, but that never stopped them trying to get an edge.
In those days that would have put a target on JJ’s head when he was still a schoolboy, and a white one playing in an Indian club. And he was a ginger I’ll find out more now that I’ve remembered the story. Anyway it just shows that he was basically a batting prodigy and I can attest to that.

[zimfan1]

I have to ask, did NW rule out Zimbabwe completely? I understand that Leicestershire are/were interested.

[Googly]

Ya was talking to his pops- apparently they’ve agreed in principle it appears, but he has to have citizenship. He’s eligible and has made the application but that’s at least a 4 month process and already Covid has created a hiccup because no one is processing the documents. It’s also helped in that the start of the cricket has also been delayed though.
Leicestershire are the bottom of the pile financially and I’m wondering what’s in store when they finally get to play? Maybe they will reconsider? They don’t have any England players and I don’t think they have anyone in the hundred and that means they could decide not to sign anyone this season as they don’t need a big squad.
According to what I’ve been told if there’s not much of the season left he wants to pull out of university and play summer cricket either here, SA, NZ or Aus. There’s a good chance that the English lockdown could be extended and the tentative and provisional date of 28th May stated by ECB may be optimistic. I know his family will push hard for him to consider here as he’s basically been away for 5 years, left as a boy and now a young man, it’s been incredibly tough on them.
It would be interesting if ZC would put him in a franchise, or perhaps Brent would be interested in a White Power Ranger? I’m fairly sure if he can’t get a firm spot he will go to Aus as he has family there. You’d think Byrom may be having the same dilemma, although he’s cemented a spot in Perth for as long as he wants it. If I were ZC (if I had a dollar for every time I said that!) I’d offer Byrom, Welch and Muyeye contracts they couldn’t refuse, without even watching them net, just on their stats, unfortunately cockroaches don’t understand cricket they’re still waiting for Tafadzwa Lara to emerge from Mazarabani Centre of Excellence with a hand carved Mopani bat. Ain’t gonna happen. We found one really good kid and South Africa has to coach him for us
They are completely without use- useless!

[cricket_22001]

Just referring back to the English system & Hick, I wonder how much consideration was given to financial guarantee.
Looking at his performances for Queensland, I saw he played against Martin McCague of WA. At that time, McCague was trundling along, not doing to bad but was offered a county contract because of his Irish heritage. He ended up playing against the Aussies in '93.
But when he left Oz, I recall he stated something like, as long as he stayed fit, he'd be a millionaire by the end of 10 years on the county circuit even if he didn't play for England. This was as opposed to playing Sheffield Shield & I'm sure in the early 90s they earned about $30K/season (about the average yearly wage but for 6-8 months playing). Then cricketers had to find a job for the other 4-6 months they weren't employed.
I ponder this as Hick was offered the opportunity to play international cricket for NZ earlier than when he played for England. I'm not passing judgement because he had to make a business decision as much as a lifestyle choice.

[Googly]

It has to always be about the money. You’ve got ten years if you’re lucky and you need to capitalize. It’s a sleight of hand when people accuse someone of lack of patriotism when it’s those people in charge unwilling or unable to offer what the next person is able to. I accept that in some instances it’s just impossible to match offers and that in other cases a player is unreasonable and mercenary.
I like to keep pointing out that administrators should never ever get what the players are getting. We’ve got the world’s best willing to do it for free and yet ours take 90% of the entire cake.