One of a fading breed
The jazz musician and cricket lover Benny Green once wrote that he knew he was heading for middle age the day Denis Compton, one of the greatest players of the mid-20th century, retired
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
The jazz musician and cricket lover Benny Green once wrote that he knew he was heading for middle age the day Denis Compton, one of the greatest players of the mid-20th century, retired. The same sense of mortality will tickle thirty-something cricket fans with the retirement of Graeme Hick, who announced this week that this season would be his last, says Huw Richards in the International Herald Tribune.
The international failure and overseas origins have clouded the underlying truth, which is that Hick was a throwback, one of a perhaps dying breed. He has given 25 years of unstinting, exemplary service to a single club, Worcestershire, playing on long after international ambitions had departed, for the sheer enjoyment of the game and because he is still an asset - averaging 46 runs per innings this season. It will not be only Worcestershire fans who wish him well in retirement.
Mathew Varghese is sub-editor (stats) at Cricinfo