Tuesday, July 9, 2002 In economic terms HFI, or Horizontal Fiscal Imbalance, refers to the phenomenon whereby one state is able to raise, say, twice as much revenue as another state. In cricketing terms HFI, or Hit Form Instantly, refers to the phenomenon whereby an Australian batsman, upon arriving in England, is able to score twice as many runs as he normally would back home.

HFI has been a distinguishing feature of this English summer. Of the dozen Australians on the county circuit some are a bit past it and some are unfulfilled talents. Almost all have devoured fifties, hundreds and double-hundreds with the hunger of men fearful that each run might be their last.

Stuart Law, after averaging only 24.30 for Queensland last summer, is averaging 53.70 for Lancashire. Michael Hussey's average has risen from 34.50 for WA to 58.12 for Northamptonshire. Also on the up are Andrew Symonds (27 for Queensland; 39 for Kent), Jamie Cox (38 for Tasmania; 55 for Somerset), Michael Di Venuto (39 for Tasmania; 63 for Derbyshire), Darren Lehmann (58 for SA; 65 for Yorkshire) and Martin Love (62 for Queensland; 82 for Durham).

It has not always been the way, however. True, ever since the days of Billy Murdoch, Albert Trott and Frank Tarrant, Australia has contributed more than its fair share of overseas overachievers. But for every Darren Lehmann there has been a Bruce Francis. For every Bill Alley there has been a Shaun Graf. For every Graham McKenzie there has been a Dirk Tazelaar. And for every Colin McCool there has been a Kerry O'Keeffe.

So as winter sets in, and as Nasser Hussain's men prepare to blow yet another eminently winnable series against India, here is an XI to gladden English hearts: the Poleaxed By Piethrowers XI.

1 Michael Slater (Derbyshire 1998, 13 Ch'ship matches, 600 runs @ 27.27, 0x100s) Did the rot start here? Seemingly bored by the humdrum dreariness of it all, Slater finished 58th in the 1999 first-class averages, 91st a year later and contributed only two hundreds in two summers. Deservedly dumped in favour of ...

2 Michael Di Venuto (Derbyshire 2000, 16 matches, 725 runs @ 32.95, 0x100s)

... whose only hundred all summer came against the Derbyshire Board XI in a NatWest Trophy slogfest. Now struggling to crack Tasmania's first XI, his survival as an overseas pro remains a mystery of the modern game.

3 Greg Blewett (Yorkshire 1999, 12 matches, 655 runs @ 31.19, 1x100)

Take away his 98 and 190 v Northants at Scarborough, and Blewett's record reads: 367 runs, average 19.31. Even Wisden's diplomatic skills were tested - the 2000 Almanack called it "a dismal failure".

4 Greg Chappell (Somerset 1969, 24 matches, 1241 runs @ 29.54, 2x100s) History has been generous to the middle Chappell, forgiving him for being Australia's most unwilling tourist and forgetting his two dismal seasons of county cricket. Chappell averaged under 30 both years as Somerset finished 12th and last respectively. In this, his second season at age 21, he went 16 innings without topping 45 and hit only two hundreds and four fifties in 43 innings. The lessons learned proved handy later, though.

5 Mike Haysman (Leicestershire 1984, 4 matches, 127 runs @ 25.40, 0x100s) Bit of a ring-in here. No Australian keeper has ever donned the gloves for a county, so Haysman - a fine fielder who liked listening to Grace Jones records before going out to bat - gets the nod. Tipped by some to make the 1985 Ashes tour; his failure to reach 35 in eight Championship digs suggests the selectors made the right call.

6 Shaun Graf (Hampshire 1980, 13 matches, 214 runs @ 19.45; 16 wkts @ 48.25) Played seven consecutive matches in midsummer without reaching double figures or taking a three-for. Finished 163rd in the national batting averages and 111th in the bowling averages. Perhaps the least effectual of all Australian imports.

7 Ken MacLeay (Somerset 1992, 11 matches, 386 runs @ 27.57; 9 wkts @ 31.77) Despite his Bradford-on-Avon birthplace and Sultan-of-Swing reputation, MacLeay made little impact in what should have been favourable English conditions. Unlucky not to play a Test in the mid-1980s, his Somerset skipper Chris Tavare usually bowled him fourth change or not at all.

8 Kerry O'Keeffe (Somerset 1972, 20 matches, 18 wkts @ 59.83) Completed the steepest fall from grace of any Aussie import. In 1971 O'Keeffe took 71 wickets at 23.12 and won praise for his "remarkable bowling prowess"; a year later the only remarkable thing was that it was the same bloke bowling. Apparently ineffective on damper wickets, he took six wickets at 118 apiece between mid-June and early September.

9 Denis Hickey (Glamorgan 1986, 12 matches, 17 wkts @ 58.58) In England on an Esso scholarship Hickey, a much-hyped Victorian tearaway, began brightly enough with eight wickets in three games. He took nine in his next nine. He gave up more than four runs an over and required 86 balls for each wicket. The excitement generated when you mix raw pace with the name "Denis" proved short-lived.

10 Alan Connolly (Middlesex 1970, 18 matches, 42 wkts @ 35.95) Curiously, for a man who took 74 wickets the previous summer and was seemingly at the peak of his powers, Connolly's only five-wicket haul came against Cambridge University. Wisden mourned "his addiction to experiment" and diagnosed: "He was one of those rare types, a Test rather than a county bowler."

11 Dennis Lillee (Northamptonshire 1988, 7 matches, 20 wkts @ 36.55) In the year that Australia celebrated two centuries of white settlement, it seemed at times as if he of the green-and-gold headband had been chugging in for 200 years. After his surprise comeback for Tasmania in 1987-88, Lillee extended his second coming to another unglamorous provincial side - Northants - at age 39. Almost five years after quitting Test cricket, he started with 6 for 68 against Gloucestershire but struggled thereafter, finishing 105th in the first-class averages. Mercifully, an ankle injury restricted him to seven games; even more mercifully, historians have generally chosen not to dwell on this foolhardiest of comebacks.

Chris Ryan is a former managing editor of Wisden Cricket Monthly and a former Darwin correspondent of the Melbourne Age.

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