BIRMINGHAM, June 17: Former England batsman Graeme Hick on Sunday became only the 16th player in the history of the game to score 40,000 first-class runs.

The 41-year-old Zimbabwe-born batsman reached the landmark when he made 49 in Worcestershire's English county championship match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

Hick, who made 65 Test appearances, is the first player to make 40,000 runs since Graham Gooch did so 13 years ago.

Hick, who played 65 Tests, passed the landmark in his 841st innings.

He has been playing for Worcestershire since 1983 and, despite his failure to make an impact in Tests, passed numerous domestic landmarks throughout his career.

Before his highest score of 405 against Somerset in 1988, he became the youngest player to reach 2,000 runs in a season in 1986.

He took a record low 179 innings to reach 10,000 in county cricket.

Hick scored only 3,383 runs in 114 Test innings for a modest average of 31.32 with just six centuries.

Jack Hobbs has the record number of first-class runs with 61,237 between 1905-34, and is the only player to pass 60,000.

—Agencies