In his last season of county cricket, Worcestershire stalwart and former England batsman Graeme Hick looks back on the highs and lows of an eventful career, in an interview with the Guardian's Donald McRae.
Recalling his first season, when he alternated between playing for Worcestershire Seconds and for Kidderminster in the Birmingham League, Hick says that as a wide-eyed 17-year-old he didn't know a soul in England.
"I remember how daunted I was getting from Heathrow to Worcester on my own. I got the train and I was met at the railway station by the club secretary. He dropped me off at the hotel near the cathedral and I spent the whole weekend on my own. It was early April and bitterly cold and all I did that weekend was walk into town, get a burger, walk back to my room, watch TV, and then walk down into town to get another burger in the evening."
Hick cites missing out on a Test century against West Indies in 1994 by four runs, but being reassured by England coach Keith Fletcher that if he could score runs against that attack he could score runs anywhere. He credits that as one of the times he was managed well by England, but also acknowledges his own failings.
I was gutted because those four runs would have meant a lot. It's all speculation but maybe completing those two centuries might have taken away some pressure. I came from a country [Zimbabwe] where we had no professional sport and so I had a naive philosophy. I saw it as a game that should be enjoyed. I never had that cut-throat edge. Maybe that's why I sometimes fell short.
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