Hick showed scant respect for the Sri Lankan bowling which was made to look mere pedestrian on a perfect batting pitch hitting eight fours and three sixes in reaching his century, which was his seventh for the season in all types of cricket.He was finally out to a brilliant running catch by Marvan Atapattu who covered 15 metres from the long-off boundary to latch onto a lofted drive.
Hick made 111 off 109 balls with eight fours and four sixes.
Worcestershire winning the toss and batting first were 249 for five wickets with four overs remaining. Hick and Elliott Wilson, a relatively newcomer who has appeared for the county in only one Sunday league match before, made full use of some wayward bowling by the Sri Lankans to put on 104 off 20 overs for the second wicket, following an opening partnership of 50 between Wilson and Phil Weston.
Hick was so dominant in his innings that Vikram Solanki, an outstanding young prospect for the county made only seven in a third wicket partnership of 50 off nine overs.
Worcestershire played the full complement of their first team which included Test players like Hick, Richard Illingworth, Phil Newport, Steven Rhodes and overseas star Tom Moody of Australia, who is the county captain since 1995.
Sri Lanka in superb win over Worcestershire
WORCESTER, Tuesday - World champions Sri Lanka gave a mastery of their one-day prowess with a powerful batting display to overhaul Worcestershire's tall score of 279 for six wickets and secure a handsome win by seven wickets with 16 balls to spare in their one-day fifty-over tour match concluded at New Road here today.
England Test recall Graeme Hick's 98-ball century was swept aside, as half-centuries from Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu and Aravinda de Silva saw Sri Lanka make short work of the asking rate of 5.60 runs per over set by a full strength Worcestershire side captained by Australian Test cricketer Tom Moody.
Sri Lanka lost the wicket of Romesh Kaluwitharana (19) at 37, but Jayasuriya smashed a half-century off 48 balls and shared a second wicket stand of 92 with Atapattu, who made a stylish 68 to set the stage for the two experienced hands in the side, De Silva and skipper Arjuna Ranatunga to put the finishing touches to the match with an unbroken partnership of 65.
Former England fast bowler Phil Newport, playing his final season for the county at the age of 35 years, and in his benefit year, showed he still had something to give back when he picked up the wickets of Kaluwitharana and Atapattu, conceding only 33 runs off his quota of ten overs, while the rest of his bowling colleagues were sent on a leather hunt.
Newport made his Test debut against Sri Lanka at Lord's in 1988 and took four for 87 in what promised to be a promising start to his international career. But he played in only two further Tests before being discarded by England.
Hick made the most of some wayward bowling by the Sri Lankans to smack a superb 111 off 109 balls to give Worcestershire the advantage of winning the toss and batting first on a placid track. The tall and powerfully built right-hander smashed three sixes and eight fours and was in the process of taking Worcestershire's total beyond the 300-run mark when his superb innings was cut short by a brilliant running catch by Atapattu, who covered about 15 metres from long-off to hold onto a lofted drive. Sri Lanka's bowlers were once again guilty of contributing to an unusual number of extras. On this occasion they conceded 42 of which 23 were wides and four no-balls.
For their win over Worcestershire, Sri Lanka collected 1250 pounds sterling and the Gill and Russell trophy from the sponsors of the match.