WORCESTERSHIRE director of cricket Steve Rhodes has paid tribute to master batsman Graeme Hick who has registered his 100th hundred for the County.

The former New Road wicketkeeper, who has been a team-mate of Hick's since the mid-80s, lavished praise on the veteran batsman after he added the required seven runs to his overnight score of 93 in the Liverpool Victoria County Championship division two match with Northants.

The rare achievement, which has only been completed by seven batsmen before Hick, came in the sixth over of the day with a single to mid-wicket off Aussie pace bowler Matt Nicholson.

The run was met with a rapturous standing ovation from the sizeable crowd as Hick went on to make 139 before being bowled by Monty Panesar.

Hick's hundred, his 130th in first-class cricket, takes him ahead of Sir Len Hutton into eighth place on the all-time list of century-makers. He is still behind such names as Geoff Boycott, Wally Ham-mond and Jack Hobbs.

Rhodes said: "Graeme has achieved something that not many people can dream of doing. His 100th hundred is a true reflection of what he has done for Worcestershire Cric-ket Club over the course of his career.

"I consider myself extremely fortunate to be amongt those -- Damain D'Oliveira and David Leatherdale are two others -- who have watched Graeme's successes unfold.

"It has been fantastic to watch him score many of his hundreds over the years.

"We all have great memories and perhaps the thing I most remember from his hey-day was his strength.

"We would watch from the balcony as, time after time, he would hit a yorker straight back past the bowler for four - something incredibly difficult to do.

"We all whole-heartedly congratulate him on reaching this significant landmark."

During the lunch interval, the 40-year-old ex-England international was presented with a case of champagne by club chairman John Chadd.

A special canvas detailing all of Hick's Worcestershire hundreds has also been commissioned and it will be presented to him before the Twenty20 game with Northants at New Road next Friday.

Hick said: "I got my 100th hundred at New Road and if I had a choice of places to get my 100 hundreds for Worces-tershire it would be here -- the place has been very good to me over the years.

"I'm pleased it wasn't too long from my 99th to my 100th hundred as the longer it goes on, the more it builds up and people keep asking about it.

"I feel like I've been batting well throughout the year, so it is just a case of getting in and I tried to make sure that I did not give any chances so I could get it while I was here.

"Overnight I was confident that I would get the seven runs I needed to reach the hundred, but you never know and I was glad they didn't take the new ball. There is always the chance it might do that extra bit on our wicket.

"I just tried to be patient and back myself to reach it after a couple of overs.

"The pitch was doing a little bit, but as the ball got softer it became a little easier to bat on and with one of their attack unable to play, there was a lot more of a workload on the other bowlers."