STEPHEN Moore is determined to use his excellent hundred on the first day of Worcestershire's match with Surrey at New Road as the launch-pad for his season.

The South African-born opener hit a superb 143 in the LV County Championship Division One encounter and hopes to now put his indifferent form behind him.

He said: "It was nice to have the opportunity to get in there first up and make use of the wicket.

"I am definitely looking to take this innings as the first stepping stone so that later on this year I can turn around and say that I've had a good season.

"Everyone knows it's been quite a while since I've got a first-class hundred under my belt.

"My dad had come over from South Africa and was at New Road yesterday, so was my girlfriend and her family, so it was nice to reach my century.

"It hurts when you get dropped from the side.

"We haven't been performing well as a team and changes needed to be made. I hadn't had the best of runs, but I wasn't the only one, so I didn't feel out of place.

"Myself and a few of the lads have needed to step up to the plate and put in some good performances and I feel we've done that in recent games."

It was frustrating day for Graeme Hick, however. The Worcestershire veteran was kept waiting for his 40,000th first-class run as his team-mates piled on the runs .

The batsman, 41, needs just 64 to reach his latest milestone but could only watch as the County reached 446-2.