THERE was a time when Graeme Hick would set his sights on scoring 1,000 runs before the end of May. This season he has not reached 100 in seven championship innings after being undone by the seaming ball just as he was threatening to roll back the years.

Hick, who was 40 on Tuesday, had pulled David Harrison imperiously for two fours and a six and treated Ryan Watkins with similar disdain, but then got a ball from Alex Wharf that squared him up and had him caught in the gully for 23.

It was a shame because the spectators could have done with an hour or two of vintage Hick to compensate for another long wait while the ground recovered from overnight rain. Some of them grew so impatient as the sun blazed down that Mark Newton, the Worcestershire chief executive, took them out to the middle to see how wet it really was.

When play did get under way, Phil Jaques, who has made 241 runs in three innings for Worcestershire, and Vikram Solanki, took their second-wicket partnership to 86 before Harrison and Watkins kept Glamorgan in contention.