WORCESTERSHIRE, whose bid to beat Derbyshire at New Road yesterday was delayed by rain, hope to have Graeme Hick back in action next week.

His return is being pencilled in for their Frizzell County Championship division two match with Gloucestershire which opens at Cheltenham on Wednesday.

Promotion-chasing Worcestershire are hoping to mark Hick's imminent return by polishing off Derbyshire today after only 33 balls were bowled yesterday due to rain.

During a 25-minute session before tea they made some progress when paceman Nantie Hayward took the wicket of Dominic Cork for seven.

It left the bottom-of-the-table visitors on 51-5, still 87 short of avoiding an innings defeat.

Hick, meanwhile, is stepping up his bid to overcome a broken bone in his right hand which has resulted in the longest lay-off in his career.

New Road director of cricket Tom Moody said: "He was X-rayed last week and we will review things again at the end of this week.

He has been having light nets, leading up to this weekend, and we are more than hopeful he will be 100 per cent for Cheltenham. He is planning have a full net today to see if there is any reaction.

"He has been missed enormously. Not only for his weight of runs but his experienced batting head has been missed particularly in one-day cricket.

"He has not really had an injury of any length before and he is going to want to make up for lost time.

"He will have seen everybody else scoring runs and will be hungry to catch up. He's been very frustrated," said Moody.

Hick has been sidelined since the National League defeat by Glamorgan at Swansea on June 8, but has missed only three matches in the Championship.

n Worcestershire lost their Second Eleven Championship match against Kent at Canterbury by an innings and 83 runs yesterday.