Graeme Hick's 405: 30 years on, an oral history of an era-defining innings

At Taunton in early May 1988 a young Zimbabwean wrote himself into the history books with one of the greatest innings the county game has ever seen

Hick's knock is still remembered today some 30 years on (Hulton Archive)

You would think that Neil Burns would have blotted out the memory. As it is, the former Somerset wicketkeeper still remembers it as if it were yesterday.

“It was a privilege to be there,” he says. “Although it was probably a couple of the most tiring and thankless days of my career.”

He’s not wrong. Burns admits that Graeme Hick had a ‘couple of scrapes’ in that notoriously nervous part of an innings between 300 and 400. Those, though, were seen off in the same dismissive manner that he dispatched a bowling attack made up of Neil Mallender, Adrian Jones, Vic Marks, Graham Rose, Colin Dredge and Somerset’s then skipper Peter Roebuck.

Between them, those six bowlers took 3325 First Class wickets. At Taunton in early May 1988, though, none of them could stop a young Zimbabwean intent on writing himself into the history books.

Hick's knock was the greatest of his career, not that he thought so (Getty)

The kid from Bulawayo was already carving out a reputation as one of the most precocious batting talents in world cricket, with his bullet-like driving and ability to decimate a bowling attack making Hick perhaps the most intimidating presence in the county game, despite his tender years.

The packed press box at Taunton on the first morning of the match had nothing to do with the willow of Hick, however. It was entirely a result of the ongoing war of words between Roebuck and Ian Botham, who had left Somerset under a considerable cloud in the winter of 1986.

“Roebuck had done a TV interview on Richards and Garner and Botham leaving in a huff before the game,” says Frank Watson, who chronicled Worcestershire’s 1988 season in ‘Double Triumph’. “Some of those quotes were taken out of context. At the beginning of the game that was what all the attention was about.

“I wrote that a couple of days later news hounds from all parts were descending on Taunton and they weren’t remotely interested in either Roebuck or Botham.”

Instead all lenses and microphones were thrust in the direction of Hick, who had not only scored the highest score in English cricket since 1895, behind only Archie MacLaren’s 424, but had also set in motion the countdown clock ticking down the seconds until he could pull on an England shirt.

At a time when English cricket was plunging new depths, it’s hard to emphasise just how quickly everyone was willing that qualification process to pass.

The innings included 469 balls, 35 fours and 11 sixes (Hulton Archive)

That he scored a quadruple century in the first place is clearly remarkable. That he did so against a backdrop of a collapse that could have seen Worcestershire skittled for under 200 makes his achievement all the more incredible.

Gordon Lord had fallen for 49 after a 50 stand with fellow opener Tim Curtis, who Hick had joined at the crease with half an hour of the morning session remaining. Some 32 runs later and both batsmen were in the pavillion enjoying lunch. Hick was 31 not out.

“It was pretty clear that he was in good nick,” says Burns. “The ball was hitting the middle almost every ball. Overall we were pretty pleased with how we had bowled. And when Curtis, Damian D’Oliveira, Phil Neale and then Ian Botham fell cheaply, we were looking good to roll them over.”

The visitors were 132 for five and staring down the barrel. Unfortunately for Somerset – whose bowlers back in 1895 had also been on the receiving end of a flashing blade (this one belonging to MacLaren) at Taunton – Hick was only just limbering up.

Hick finished the first day 179 not out and as the travelling press headed back for Taunton for Day Two of his masterclass, a palpable sense of anticipation hung in the West Country air.

As Hick accelerated past 200 and then 300, the records began to tumble. Shortly after lunch he surpassed the county’s previous highest score, knocking Glenn Turner’s 311 off top spot.

His partnerships for the sixth and eighth wicket with Steve Rhodes and Richard Illingworth were also county records, the first of which still stands 30 years on.

With one over remaining before tea, Colin Dredge prepared to bowl to Hick, who was contemplating the seemingly impossible on 392 not out.

For the media, however, there was just one problem. The only company commentating on Hick’s innings was Cricketline, who were unsurprisingly experiencing record call volumes in this part of the world. BBC Hereford and Worcester adopted a pragmatic approach, simply putting their own microphones to the Cricketline service in the studio.

If Hick’s batting was cutting edge, then the coverage of his innings most certainly reflected the period. But as the breathing quietened around Taunton, Dredge ran in to bowl to the only show in town.

Hick went on to pile on the runs in an outstanding individual season (Hulton Archive)

The first ball disappeared predictably for six. The second saw him cut the man from Frome for a single. Some intelligent strokeplay from Illingworth brought Hick back on strike and the next ball was placed brutally into the crowd at mid-wicket. Simple.

“I can’t remember what I said when he got to 400, I really can’t,” says Watson, who was the sole commentary voice as Hick created history. “I know I was the first person to interview him after the innings, though.

“The hilarious thing was that Worcestershire were sponsored by one of the first mobile phone companies at that time. I can just remember seeing him on the outfield at the end of the day’s play holding the biggest phone you had ever seen, it wasn’t so much a brick as a breeze block.”

Hick had sent the cricket world into a spin and started the building of an almost mythological status that he was never likely to be able to live up to when England’s call finally came.

“It was a ridiculous innings,” says Burns. “None of us had seen anything like it. He played with such incredible precision. Anything that was slightly too wide or too short – he just found the gap with remarkable consistency. At that time he was one of the most superb cricketers but he was also incredibly modest. Graeme was very shy, self-effacing and very humble.”

The same description could never be levelled at Botham, who, at the close of play said: “I cannot imagine you see a great innings by anyone.”

It was probably the one thing that the England all-round and Roebuck could definitely agree on.

Hick simply shrugged off the adulation. His 212 against Lancashire at Old Trafford just weeks before was a better knock, he proffered.

Whether that’s true or not, for English cricket’s greatest unfulfilled talent life would never be the same again.