FROM day one former Worcestershire skipper Tim Curtis knew that Graeme Hick was going to be a “phenomenal talent”.

Curtis was in the same side with a then 18-year-old Hick when he made his senior debut for the New Road side at the Oval on September 8, 1984.

The young batsman, who was set to become one of the Worcestershire club’s greatest players, had only been in the country just a few months after arriving from Zimbabwe.

But, even in those first months, Curtis was sure that Worcestershire had a special talent on their hands.

“When you bowled to him in the nets you were in danger as he hit the ball so straight and hard it came back at you so quick,” Curtis recalled. “But the one thing about Graeme is that he didn't seem to realise the talent he had.”

Before making his senior Worcestershire debut against Surrey, Hick was playing with Kidderminster Victoria in the Birmingham League, breaking record after record.

But, once that day at the Oval came, the man who would go on to make his England debut in 1991, never looked back.

“He is such a modest man,” Curtis said. “In that first game he was quite shy, he'd just arrived from Zimbabwe into a different way of life.

“But I remember in that first innings he hit the ball for six which landed near the window of the old pavilion at the Oval – that was just a typical Graeme shot.”

Curtis added: “I always believed that Graeme would go on and play for a long time.

“You just knew what a phenomenal talent he was and that he could just keep on going.”