Nicholson struck 89 of 8-191 against East Albury.

"'Crawsh' (captain Matt Crawshaw) ran out at drinks and told me what I was on and said there wasn't long left in the innings," he said.

Nicholson passed his previous best of 82 against Wodonga Raiders (2014-15) and given the Patties are no chance of playing finals, nobody would have begrudged him if he focused on the ton.

IN OTHER NEWS:

"I didn't think we had enough runs yet, so I wasn't really worried about getting the hundred," he said.

The 28-year-old was unaware of his milestone match with only 83 in first grade.

"As a youngster I did get a couple of phone calls from a few other clubs saying, 'why are you playing seconds, come and play 1s with us', but I didn't want to go down that track," he said.

"We've been through a fair bit with 'Pup' (Braedon Hensel) passing away, it's an environment you don't want to leave."