WHEN you have an opposing batsman at the crease who has already hit more first-class centuries than Len Hutton, Don Bradman and WG Grace and is going along nicely, it is generally not a good idea to give him a second life.

Derbyshire found this to their cost on the first day of their LV County Championship match at Worcester yesterday.

The batsman in question was Graeme Hick, still fit as a fiddle at the age of 42 and apparently still seeing the ball rather well as he stroked his way to 149, the 136th hundred of his remarkable career.

This has not been a vintage year for Hick so far, with only one ton and an average of just over 31, but he feasted on an awful lot of poor Derbyshire bowling as Worcestershire declared their first innings on 450-8 to allow themselves 45 minutes to try to make the away side's day a little worse.

They didn't and Derbyshire saw out 11 overs at 27-0.

Hick offered very few false strokes but he was on 74 when he top-edged a pull at Jon Clare and the ball flew straight to Dan Birch at deep midwicket. It was a straightforward chance but Birch put it down.

There was a second, tougher chance when Hick had moved on to 109 which Charl Langeveldt would have done very well to grasp as he ran back from mid off but he was finally caught at long off by Langeveldt having faced 151 balls and hit 18 fours and two sixes.

The first miss summed up the day for Derbyshire, who could not have wished for a better start after putting Worcestershire in to bat as Daryl Mitchell looked to play to midwicket but edged a catch to second slip.

At that moment, it looked a very good toss to have won but there were not as many terrors in the track as Derbyshire might have expected.

Vikram Solanki, in magnificent shape after a career-best 270 last week, cruised to the 46 runs he needed to complete his 1,000 in first-class cricket this season and Stephen Moore, a target for Derbyshire and just about every other county, also appeared in no trouble.

But Moore pulled a short ball to Birch at midwicket – which he held – for 26, then Solanki gave Clare a return catch for 54 to make it 82-3 and Derbyshire were in a happy position.

A stand of 187 between Hick and Ben Smith changed their mood as the boundaries flowed and the bowlers toiled.

Smith added 76 and Stephen Davies, who edged one early on that flew between wicketkeeper and first slip but got a response from neither of them, made 71.

Langeveldt had a particularly miserable time, with 104 runs coming off his 14.2 overs for the consolation of the first and last wickets to fall.

But he was not alone and Derbyshire's most productive bowling source was their part-time off-spinners.

It was to be expected that Greg Smith might have a long stint, with Nayan Doshi left out to accommodate Kevin Dean and an extra seamer, and he got through 25 overs with 1-114 but less expected was the sight of Rikki Clarke giving the ball a twirl.

The captain's ankle is still not up to bowling his usual fast-medium but he took 2-37 with 12 overs of spin, claiming Hick and Davies.

That was a bonus but Clarke and the rest of the batting line-up have plenty to make up now.