Hick needs to shake off the inferiority image as a Test batsman

Port Elizabeth - In recent years England's selectors have made a number of strange choices for inclusion in their Test side, some appear self-indulgent others border more on efforts to gaze into the murky depths of a crystal ball. Then, on the day the squad is to be cut, mostly it seems by drawing the short straw, one name which stands out is that of Graeme Hick. He is the only batsman to have scored more than 100 centuries in a first-class career who is still playing yet is considered not good enough to be among the current top six batsmen in a Test side. Well, that was the way England's current captain, Nasser Hussain, views the big man from Worcestershire.

Last summer it took David Graveney two Tests against New Zealand before he felt the recall of Hick was an important enough step. But, after an innings of 12 in the third Test against the Kiwis at Old Trafford, the decision to axe Hick for the game at The Oval arose as Hussain returned and Mark Ramprakash retained, nobodies such as Ronnie Irani and Eddie Giddens drafted in.

Not that Hick had a bad World Cup; and his Test average is far better than that of say Chris Adams, the middle-order man from Sussex who may be useful in the limited-overs slogs but cast him in a Test role and he approaches the game as if he is in a hurry to catch the last bus out of Hove. He may be a nice guy, too, but a Test average of 14.17 is not quite the sort of figures to place on his CV.

At least Hick is better than Darren Maddy who looked woefully out of his depth in Durban where he was the replacement for Michael Vaughan. Maddy's Test debut earned him 14 and five and an invitation to tour South Africa. One for the future.

It could be that Hick, who scored his first century at any level as a six-year-old in a schools match in Zimbabwe, has disappointed the selectors: five centuries in 94 Test innings was not quite the consistency they had sought. His average of 34.14 is well below that of his first-class one where it is an impressive 55.26 with 105 centuries next to his name.

In 1990 when he was reeling off runs faster than most calculators could add up his records England's desperate selectors could not wait to select him. They had long given up trying to discover an uncelebrated aunt or uncle who had lived in some remote Scottish village in a bid to shorten his qualification time. That little trip into family tree territory was hit on by some TCCB official when, at the age of 22 after he had scored that 405 not out for Worcestershire against Somerset at Taunton.

There was a discovery to a vague reference of some great-grandfather said to have been born at sea was claimed to have once resided in Merseyside. Even that bit of mythology was not nearly enough to flout the qualification regulations. There were also some consternation and trepidation when the dreaded South African connection was discovered: playing in the then Rhodesia side at the 1977 Perm Week in the capital of the apartheid state, Pretoria. Such was the paranoia within the ranks of the TCCB.

Yet, 30 840 runs after making his first-class debut and all those centuries later the paranoia remains; this time among the selectors if not the current captain. The theory about not being so great against the short ball sticks. Then again, England captain Douglas Jardine devised the Bodyline plan in 1932 to curb Don Bradman because he also had a problem against the quick short stuff. It worked: his average that series was in the 50s. These days anyone getting such an average is regarded as a special batsman.

Take away Hussain, Atherton and Alec Stewart and the rest of the England batting would battle to fit into the Zimbabwe Test side. In the short game it is different: the slogs have their way of upsetting form, predictions and just about any other spread bet you want to take.

Yet Hussain talks about "gut feeling" when he supported his six top-batsmen at Newlands on Wednesday when defending the continued selection of the Sussex captain, Adams.

"No, I do not regret any selections," he said. "You make your selections, pick your choices. As England captain you stick by them. You make sure that when you have selected that player you give him every opportunity to succeed. That is what we have done with Chris Adams (103 in seven Test innings."

There may be a similarity here to the continual failure of Bill Edrich on the 1938/39 MCC tour of South Africa. Walter Hammond believed in his tough little Middlesex batsman and in the timeless Test rewarded him with an innings of 219 in the second innings of the Kingsmead game.

Unfortunately Adams, as nice as he is, does not have the ability of Edrich, few England batsmen do. Whether he is capable of a big score is another matter. He does have a top score of 239 and 28 centuries. But his average of 38.41 is well below Hick's.

Hussain pulled no punches with the British media, either. Questions were about Ramprakash not playing and if he was staying or going. He was to have left last night. "You can all go around in circles, boys, and say ?pick him' or ?pick him' and when he doesn't do well you can say ?well . . . pick someone else'. It doesn't quite work that way. "

"You have to go with your gut feeling . . . That is what I am trying to do with everyone I have picked," said Hussain, not the sort to hoist the white flag. It then came down to a question of availability. In the case of Andy Flintoff there would be another look at the fitness of the players. "As for the batting we will be sticking to the Test players," was Hussain's comment as he did his best to carry on with dignity after losing the Test series to South Africa.

Did that mean then there was still a place for Hick in the Test side at Centurion? Not at all. Not unless he scores big in East London. If Hussain's comments are a guide Flintoff will be replaced by Gavin Hamilton, axed after one Test on a Wanderers snakepit. There is also the chance of Mark Ealham being considered should he show enough initiative in East London. Hussain, though, has tried to adopt a more pragmatic approach. You cannot blame him either. England, on their last South Africa tour were dominated by the supremo image of Ray Illingworth who made a sorry mess of the job, blaming others, with Devon Malcolm feeling the Yorkshireman's wrath at Newlands by pointing the finger and telling him how he had failed.

This particular England captain is a man whose perspective is one of reality and displays it as well with an articulate grasp of the needs of the team. He is not someone who broods about failure. There is much more to the game than that, even when commenting on what was his appalling second innings dismissal at Newlands on Wednesday.

"It was really more of a feeling disbelief," he said. "I can't comment on umpiring decisions but when you hit the ball and start running and are given out . . . it is a bemused little thing."

"The low point obviously comes for losing the game (fourth Test). I am not sitting here feeling low because I got 16 . . . I'm sitting here being low because we lost the Test series."

"In two games (Port Elizabeth and Durban) we had shown some character and some fight, and certainly after one bad game I will not be saying these same players have not got character and haven't got fight."

"I think the character and fight has to come through for the next game. It is as simple as that. It is not what happens to you which counts but how you react to what happens. And people (in the team) now have to react."

"If England are to progress and we are to get an improvement in the upward curve which Duncan (Fletcher) and I hoping will happen, we need to do what the Australian, Pakistan and Indians do and that is allow the youngsters to come in and do well."

"If we want to progress that is the way we have to go," Hussain said, outlining the philosophy. "Players coming in with Adam Gilchrist scoring a century in his first Test, Ricky Ponting and Michael Slater, Rahul Dravid: we have to do that. It is as simple as that."

Hick may not fit in with this recipe for the future; he could, given his experience, have a developing hand in it if allowed. Perhaps he needs a new start as well. St George's Park could provide the answer.