The evolution of microstructure and texture is studied during the heavy cold rolling and annealing of a highly cube-textured ({001}(100)) polycrystalline nickel sheet. Near and intermediate cube grains (≤5 deg and 5 deg to 10 deg misorientation, respectively, with exact cube orientation) are more unstable up to 60 pct reduction compared with the far cube grains (10 deg to 15 deg misorientation), and they rotate away to a rolling direction (RD)-rotated cube orientation ({013}(100); denoted by C RD). In contrast, beyond 60 pct reduction, near and intermediate cube grains are more stable than far cube grains, which results in an overall increase in the stability of cube orientation. After 90 pct cold rolling, several cube bands adjacent to or surrounded by C RD bands and separated by low-angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) over large part of their lengths are observed. After annealing of the 90 pct rolled material, no cube texture formation is observed, which is attributed to the delayed nucleation of cube grains owing to the unfavorable structure and local misorientation environment surrounding cube bands. © The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International 2012.