By Ben Woodall
November 5 2002

It has been announced today that next season a new captain will lead Worcestershire out after Graeme Hick was relinquished of the duties.

In a move that will shock many of the New Road faithful,it has today been announced by Worcestershire CCC that Graeme Hick will not be captaining the side in 2003.However,it must be stressed that he WILL still be playing for Worcestershire and is regarded as a vital member of the squad.

Hicks time as captain saw a rejuvenated side last season finish second in the NCL Division 1,reach the semi-finals of the B&H Cup,the quarter finals of the C&G Trophy and also saw them narrowly miss out on promotion to Division 1 of the Frizzell County Championship.

Speaking of the announcement to the Official Worcestershire CCC website www.wccc.co.uk,Director Of Cricket Tom Moody said:

"The Club feels that the time is right to move forward with the captaincy of the team. It is also felt that this would allow Graeme to concentrate on being the County and Country’s leading batsman and help the newly shaped team strive for higher honours into the future. He has already re-written many of the Club’s batting records and I have no doubt many more will be written in the future. On behalf of the club I would like to thank Graeme for his commitment to the job over the past three season."

Meanwhile,on a slightly controversial note,Graeme Hick has also released his own statement,revealing that he was "surprised and disappointed" when hearing the news.He also spoke in disbelief at the lack of communication that exsited between himself and the committee "at no time did I have the opportunity to express my ideas as Captain to the Committee. Thus when I received the call informing me that a decision had already been made its abruptness came as something of a shock."On a lighter note though,he did state that " It has been a tremendous honour and privilege to have captained Worcestershire."

This now leaves everybody in the dark as to who will now captain the side for the 2003 season as the club announced they will make an announcement about Hicks successor in the near future.Possible contenders from within the current squad could be Ben Smith,who captained the side in Hicks absence against Leicestershire,or maybe Vikram Solanki,who is undoubtedly a quality player but whether his captaincy abilities would be equally as good is another question altogether.Another possibility mentioned was that an overseas player already lined up for next season could take control,a move which may displease some of the New Road faithful.

Who do you think the next captain should be?Is this a good or bad move after we showed so much promise last season under Hicks captaincy? Either email me your views or leave a message on the message board.