Not-so-average Joe

As the years go by, my respect and liking for Graeme Hick keeps increasing. Even in the twilight of his career he is the prize wicket to take when playing Worcestershire. (A little bit about him can be found on the Different Shades of Green blog).

Christopher Martin-Jenkins wrote a nice piece about the man who, if he plays a couple of years, could become the most prolific run-getter in the entire history of cricket.

His 40,624 first-class runs have been scored at an average of 52, which speaks unequivocally of his class, especially as Worcester pitches have by no means always been batsman friendly. If he were to keep going for another two seasons he could surpass (Graham) Gooch's record aggregate in all cricket of 65,928 runs. Before today's Friends Provident Trophy match he had 63,054, including his Twenty20 runs, more than Jack Hobbs's 61,237, the first-class record still, compiled before limited-overs games started.

Note: As of July 8th, 2008, Hick has accumulated 63,822 runs in all forms of the game.