LONDON: Somerset's Nick Compton completed 1,000 first-class runs on Friday – just a day after rain denied him the chance to become the first player to do so before the end of May in 24 years.

No batsman had reached the coveted landmark since Graeme Hick in 1988 and it was widely thought the subsequent reduction in first-class, and especially County Championship fixtures, would make it tough for anyone to equal his feat.

But Compton, the grandson of England batting great Denis Compton, got desperately close.

He was nine not out when rain stopped play Thursday in Somerset's First Division County Championship clash away to Worcestershire at New Road.

But the 28-year-old, who was at Middlesex, the only county Denis ever represented, put any lingering frustration to one side to make 108 – his fourth first class hundred of the season – on Friday.

Born in South Africa to a father who also played first-class cricket, as did his uncle and great-uncle, Nick Compton arrived in England as a teenager, where he attended the elite Harrow School – whose former pupils include Winston Churchill.

Compton, yet to play senior international cricket, joined Somerset two years ago after leaving Middlesex frustrated by what he thought were a lack of opportunities at Lord's.