EX-ENGLAND International and plunderer of thousands of runs at First-Class/county level -- Zimbabwe-born: Graeme Ashley Hick, became on June 17, the 16th player/batsman to reach -- 40,000 runs in a First-Class career, and the first since Graham Gooch 13 seasons ago.

Hick who represented England in 65 Test matches and 120 One-Day Internationals passed the landmark in his 841st First-Class innings and is the only one still in active play.

The 41-year-old Hick has been playing English county cricket for Worcestershire since 1983 and despite his failure to make a bigger impact in Tests, passed numerous domestic milestones throughout his gluttonous career.

Hick’s highest First-Class score is 405 not out against Somerset at Taunton in 1988.
Two years prior -- he became the youngest player to score 2,000 runs in a season. A prolific right-hander he made over 7,000 runs for England in Tests/ODIs combined: with a Test highest of 178 against India at Bombay in 1992/93.

Hick’s highest in One-Dayers was: 126 not out against Sri Lanka at Adelaide in 1998/99.

At six-feet three-inches -- Graeme Hick was a magnificent player -- tall, lean, mean, confident and prolific -- he has been equally good in New Zealand and Australia First-Class seasons and is the second youngest batsman in history to record 100 First-Class centuries in a career at time of writing this piece he had made: 130 centuries.
The following table/chart shows all 16 members of the 40,000-run club as well as Hick’s Test/ODI record complete at career’s end.