Worcestershire defeated Derbyshire by nine wickets

H may be a bit old for a Saturday morning job but that's what it effectively was for Graeme Hick as he steered Worcestershire home to their second County Championship win of the summer.

The old master, 39 next Monday, was in vintage form as he belted the 200th halfcentury of his Worcestershire career to see the county home to a victory double over Derbyshire just after midday.

Worcestershire needed only 100 to win after dismissing the visitors for a second time late the previous evening. Hick did less than an hour's work in seeing his side home.

Coming in at four for one after Stephen Peters had carved one to gully, Hick square-cut his first ball for four with a resounding crack into the Ladies Pavilion fence. It was the same shot attempted by the out-of-form Peters but with a markedly different result that says everything about the state of confidence being experienced by the two players.

Hick had a lot more of it to come, his 62 coming off only 48 balls, most of them in boundaries, as he eased past 400 first-class runs for the summer in only his fourth match.

"It was pretty impressive stuff," said Tom Moody, Hick's grateful coach. "It's important, when you're chasing a low total, to go for your shots and he made a great job of putting away the bad balls.

"He has really looked back to his best this summer and we're fortunate we've had someone like Graeme to lead the way, as a lot of our toporder have so far struggled."

Hick found a steady partner in Moore but the South African opener's 28 not out was not as important as his careerbest first-innings 246.

Three successive first-class defeats paved the way to Worcestershire's timely victory - a repeat of their win over Derbyshire in the first week of the season. Moody said of Moore's double century: "You don't see too many knocks like that in a summer. Like most of our top order, he's had to fight very hard for his runs this season and it's paid off for him in this game.

"He's only two years into the first-class game and that innings will have given him a lot of confidence and belief as an opener. He's shown he's got the mental capacity and strength to bat throughout the day, not to mention the talent and I'm sure it won't be his last double-century."

Having said that, Moore was dropped on 12 and benefited massively from having two such capable 'tailenders' as Chaminda Vaas and Jamie Pipe, with whom he shared in two century stands. "That's how you get maximum batting points," Moody said.