GRAEME Hick may be just one century away from scoring his hundredth 100 for Worcestershire, but he reached another milestone during the Liverpool Victoria County Championship game against Gloucestershire at Bristol.

The long-serving batsman, who is in his 23rd season at New Road, became only the third cricketer, after Graham Gooch and Jack Hobbs, to reach 60,000 runs across all forms of the game.

His remarkable achievement, which arrived when he reached 32 not out in the second innings against Gloucester, is constructed of 38,591 first-lass runs, 20,972 one day runs and 437 Twenty20 runs.

Having surpassed 60,000 runs, Hick promptly racked up century number 99 for the County -- a vintage 182 against Somerset at Taunton last week.

Very fitting for a man who pays little regard to statistics and milestones, preferring to concentrate instead on the good of the team.

The former England man probably wishes he could play Somerset every week as he has enjoyed huge success against the West Country county over the years.

In fact, not only have Somerset been the opposition for his first and most recent Worcestershire hundreds, they were also on the receiving end of his magnificent unbeaten 405.

Few Worcestershire fans will forget the great man's career-best innings, which took place on May 5 and 6 in 1988, occupying 469 balls and featuring 35 fours and 11 sixes.

Hick cemented himself a place in Worcester folklore with that mammoth knock and during his 22-year stint in Worcester the right-hander has been the definition of the term 'run machine'.

Since making his County debut in 1984, Hick's fantastic batting exploits have seen record after record fall by the wayside and the 40-year-old has been responsible for giving many Worcestershire fans some of their fondest memories.

Some of those memories will include his back-to-back unbeaten double tons against Nottinghamshire and Glamorgan in 1986, as well as the fantastic feat of hitting 1,000 runs before the end of May in 1988.

In that year, Hick totalled 10 centuries -- equalling Glenn Turner's record for the most hundreds in a domestic season -- including 172 off a West Indian attack that included Patrick Patterson, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Ian Bishop.

In 1997, Hick scored 303no against Hampshire as he put on 438 for the third wicket with Tom Moody -- a record that still stands to this day.

Then, in 1998, when Hick made 132 against Sussex at New Road, he joined the elite club of batsmen to score 100 hundreds. And since then, the hundreds have continued to come as Hick has pressed on towards completing a century of Worcestershire centuries.

If the latest entry into his gallery of tons -- his 129th in all cricket -- is anything to go by, his army of fans won't have to wait too long until the champagne corks are popping as one of the greatest batsmen of his generation celebrates a truly remarkable feat of skill and longevity.