A 1000-RUN season beckons for Toongabbie's bearded wonder Steve Nicholls as the Traralgon and District finals heat up.

The 25-year-old tree-feller has been cutting down the best attacks on Saturdays, smashing six centuries on his way to a record club aggregate of 859 runs in 11 matches at an average of 70-plus.

He passed 50 on six occasions, converting them all to centuries, smashing local records along the way.

"Everything is seeming to work this year," Nicholls said of his stellar summer.

"Even better, we've qualified (in) second (spot).

"We'd love to win it. The club hasn't won a senior flag for 35 years."

Nicholls was part of the Traralgon team which won Country Week recently to earn promotion to the premier Provincial Division next year.

A clean-hitter who likes to attack from the first ball, he opens in the one-dayers and bats at four in the two-dayers.

"I go after the ball pretty much all the time," he says.

During his time up in the big smoke at South Melbourne, he made an unbeaten 70 in just six overs at second XI standard to lift his team to an outright win against long-time adversary St Kilda.

He played 42 games at South, including his first matches as a teenager.

"I went and played club cricket in England, too (in 2004 and 2005) but decided after I came back I wanted to be back home (in Sale)," he said.

"I'd had enough of Melbourne."

He says Gormandale, which has won the last three grand finals, is again the team to beat in the all-turf competition.

"They beat us by 10 runs in a one-dayer earlier in the year," he said.

"We'd like to reverse that."

Other than some lower XI premierships in his mid-teen years, Nicholls has never played in a senior club premiership.

"Its a box I'd like to tick," he said.

No Gippslander in the last 40 years has made six 100s in a summer.

In 1967-68, Longford's Ray Hack made five.

The highest season aggregate belongs to Yallourn's Ken Hartley who made 1170 runs exactly 50 years ago.

• Ken Piesse's latest book is On Ya Richie, a tribute to Richie Benaud. It is available from the Cricketbooks website.