Or maybe England just weren’t that good.

Unfortunately England were on a streak of losing seven successive tests and were 2-0 down in the Ashes, so changes were needed. Lots of changes. Including getting rid of the batsman who was making runs.

Which probably means I still haven’t forgiven the selectors! Still, at least when the squads were named it felt like there was always going to be something interesting to discuss…

I wouldn’t have said “Flat Track Bully”. He had the game, maybe not the mentality. Illingworth apparently telling him he was soft. I don’t think England cricket in the 90s was any place for talented enigmas . Hence why Nass did much better and Ronnie Irani would get selected

Good comment about Bell, I reckon if Hick has played a decade later as has the support Bell, despite finishing returns did he would have done far better. A

I still remember his 400 at Taunton

I too was heavily invested in Hick although I my “emotional stop loss” trigger was probably at a higher price, given my antiquity and the wisdom that inevitably flows therefrom. 😉

Hick’s biggest problem, as I perceived it, was a cultural mismatch with big cities and big heaving crowds. He was a small town boy who felt at home in Worcester; a rural, village-like city. The big time made him instinctively nervous and we all know what excessive nerves and tension can do to talent.

In a more modern era, perhaps more cerebral coaching and management would have helped him to solve that problem and the related ones. But perhaps he would have vanished into “one level below” obscurity even as a youngster, as T20 and the like exposes young players to those aspects of the game earlier now, in domestic and franchise competitions.

I think we should entertain the possibility that he is a very good coach. I think it is a shame that he has not been involved in the England set up, but instead has worked for “The Dark Side” these last few years.

Moeen Ali seemed to crop up in everybody’s XI a few articles back. Surely His Maj wouldn’t disappoint us all like that? Surely? That’s not his style at all.

Yeah. He just wasn’t good enough for whatever reason. Hussain did better than him with seemingly less ability. He never captured my imagination. Though he was awesome at county level and England selection back then was absurd. But he did play 65 tests and averaged 31.

If we’re talking stylish Worcestershire batsmen/offie bowlers that people get emotionally attached to, he’s no Moeen Ali in my book…
Averages 28 with the bat but 160 more wickets. And is just cooler in every way.

Maybe he’s coming later in the team. He’d be in my XI!!