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Bowler Kabir Ali steams in against Marcus North as Worcestershire beat Gloucestershire.

GRAEME Hick smashed Worcestershire Royals to an emphatic nine-wicket victory in their opening Twenty20 Cup match against Gloucestershire Gladiators.

The 42-year-old star batsman thrashed his way to an unbeaten 88 off 58 balls as he put on 143 for the first wicket with Vikram Solanki before young Moeen Ali hit the winning run.

Hick's sublime innings against a timid Gloucestershire attack saw him past 1,000 runs in the competition.

But the day had not started as the Royals would have hoped.

Director of cricket Steve Rhodes woke to the news that he was going to be without Simon Jones and Gareth Batty for the first Mid/West/Wales Division match.

Jones informed Rhodes yesterday that he had spent the day in bed and today he was still not well enough to make his debut in the shortened format of the game.

In stark contrast, Batty, who injured his calf in the match against New Zealand, had not missed a Twenty20 match until today and he is expected to be out for up to a fortnight.

Even Solanki gave his director of cricket a late scare when his knee locked up but thankfully it eased to play his cameo innings of 51.

It seems strange to call the skipper's innings a cameo, but Hick's 88 stole the show. The veteran hit 11 fours and one six in his fine knock.

Solanki won the toss for the Royals and put the Gladiators in.

When the visitors ended their 20 overs, they had reached a good 168-9.

There was no stand-out batsman within the Gloucestershire side as they shared the runs around well.

Marcus North was at ease with his 45 and drove the balls nicely without slogging his way to all corners of the ground.

Chris Whelan, while expensive, removed the Western Australian when he looked for a six.

A brilliant run-around from Ben Smith, who needed a cortisone injection in his elbow two days before this match, saw him take a fine catch.

The 36-year-old was Worcestershire's top man in the field, claiming one other victim, but Daryl Mitchell's superb diving catch at mid-off to remove Hamish Marshall for just eight set the tone.

Having got to 142-3, the Gladiators went chasing the game even before the Royals got to bat.

Gladiators must have thought they had set a good score but they obviously forgot about Solanki and, of course, Hick.

See Friday's Worcester News for more pictures.

9:12pm Thursday 12th June 2008

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