Hick's last county season cut short by injury

Graeme Hick's 25-year career in English cricket looks to be over after Worcestershire said he was "unlikely to be fit" for its last two matches.

The 42-year-old Hick announced this month that he would retire at the end of his 24th county season at Worcestershire.

"Whilst Hick did play last Sunday ... his elbow has reacted to the comeback and may cause him to miss both games," Worcestershire said on its Web site on Tuesday.

The former England international amassed 41,112 first-class runs with 136 centuries — one of only 25 players to score 100 first-class hundreds — in a career that began when selected to play for Zimbabwe at the 1983 World Cup. But Hick will always be remembered for failing to transfer his county cricket dominance to the Test arena with England.

Hick told the Guardian newspaper that perhaps he was not ruthless enough to succeed at Test level.

"I came from a country where we had no professional sport and so I had a naive philosophy," Hick said in Tuesday's edition. "I saw it as a game that should be enjoyed. I never had that cutthroat edge. Maybe that's why I sometimes fell short."

Hick's crueler critics described him as a "flat-track bully," implying he could make big scores only on easy wickets.

Hick played 65 matches for England, scoring six hundreds in 3,383 runs for an average of 31 in a nine-year test career that ended in 2001. He had more success in ODIs, averaging a respectable 37 in 120 matches and helping to take England to the 1992 World Cup final.

But after Hick had become the youngest player to reach 2,000 first-class runs in a season at age 20 in 1986 — and followed that up two years later with the then highest first-class score of 405 — his future status as a Test great looked guaranteed.

He made his Test debut in 1991 but never settled following a poor start. Having been selected and dropped 10 times, Hick retired from Test cricket at age 34 after being replaced by Michael Vaughan in the 2001 series at Sri Lanka.

In his 11 county championship matches this season, he has continued to perform well, averaging just under 46.

England batsman Ian Bell said recently that Hicks' legacy was already assured.

"He is a great of the game and has set fantastic standards over such a long time," Bell said. "And for me to have been able to watch him close up out in the middle, made me admire his ability even more. He will be held as one of the best to have played the game.

"His whole career has been remarkable and to play for 25 years at the highest level is outstanding."