It was just a question of qualification and once the registration rules were tinkered with in his favour, England would have a Zimbabwean to salivate over, a young man who would grow through the 90s and stand triumphant by the millennium.
But alas, it has not been so. For all that Hick has conquered - and it is an astonishing amount, given his 100 hundreds, the many team trophies and the personal medals - it is what he has failed to conquer that most enthrals us. We wonder why he is not a fait accompli of an international cricketer and today, when he steps on to the emerald turf at Trent Bridge, three lions on his shirt again, we will watch him with the most acute fascination.
Hick is a terrific cricketer. At his best, he is a wonderfully uncomplicated batsman with clean and upright strokes as his gift, authority and presence at the crease as his feature and unwavering concentration as his forte. He fields like a track athlete who is blessed with a ball-player's eye and though he bowls his off breaks with a less pure ability, he does so with the brain of a natural cricketer. He has played fine Test innings - most notably against South Africa, against whom he averages 54 - and since the beginning of 1993, he has averaged more than 41 in enough Test matches to be properly judged.
If this were somebody else's CV, Mike Gatting's, say, or Allan Lamb's, whose Test averages do not stand such scrutiny, it would be fine, perhaps even irrefutable evidence of their continued selection but for some reason, for Hick, it has not been satisfactory and thus the enigma lives on.
In fact, the problem has not been in the stats, it has been in the man. This is a country boy, the son of a tobacco farmer from the fringes of Harare who was destined to be a cricketing son of Zimbabwe. He was not made to be English and he was not prepared for the intrusion and expectation of stardom without performance which hit him so viciously when in 1991 he became a Test cricketer in another man's country.
He quickly became terrified of failing, of letting down people he did not even know, and he had no bosom to return to, no hidden farmhouse for retreat and support. The West Indians exposed his insecurity, and, of course, his game, and so the hype became hypocritical and quickly turned to derision. The shy, uncertain cricketer lost his way. Identity was replaced by self-doubt and inhibition and, in truth, these impostors have hunted him since.
Until now, that is. Call it maturity, call it a thickened hide, but after two years on sabbatical from the Test-match game, the Hick we will watch today will be the fellow that all England was hoping for seven years ago.
Tom Moody, his captain and friend at Worcester, has seen the transitional process at first hand and believes it is now complete.
``The confidence which is in his batting at present is apparent in his life off the field, where he is more relaxed and outgoing than he has ever been. I think he has come to terms with criticism and where he used to curl up and think that the world was throwing stones at him, he now confronts things openly and resolves to prove people wrong.''
This was evident in Hick's response to a call from the selectors on the eve of the Lord's Test as cover for Alec Stewart. His emotion was excitement rather than apprehension during the sprint down the motorway, and upon hearing of Stewart's recovery, he was philosophical and comfortable within himself for he was certain his moment would come. He has said he is desperate to play for England again so that he can justify himself and reward others who have kept faith with him.
``He is batting superbly,'' said Moody. ``Twenty per cent better now than for at least three years. His footwork is good and he is hitting the ball in the 'V' down the ground. He has made one or two technical changes, closing his stance a little, for example, and ensuring that his weight is going forward at the ball so that he is not trapped on the crease. It is important that Hicky comes at the bowler and intimidates him, which he is now doing. The key thing, though, is his mind. His mind is strong right now, he's ready. He's been practising hard, he's hungry to make things happen for himself. He'll succeed, I am sure of it.''
Anyone who saw him bat for Worcestershire against the South Africans in the middle of May will approve of Moody's glittering appraisal. On the first evening after Hansie Cronje's testing declaration, Hick flayed Allan Donald and Lance Klusener for 30 memorable runs - pulls and cuts and revisited on-drives. In the second innings, he made 60 more, defending positively and attacking with clinical certainty. The South Africans were impressed and are surprised that he has not played in the series so far.
He has been through the lot, from exaggerated acclaim to appalling mistrust and even scorn. He is not English but England has wanted him - once when he was 98 not out in a Test match in Sydney, the England captain declared on him. These demands on character would test any man, let alone one so private and so sensitive.
Previously, he thought he was alone but now that he knows he is not and that he understands the world to be a harsher place than the one in which he grew up, he should be fine. The second coming of Graeme Hick begins today, the millennium is still 18 months away.