Hicks amassed an unbeaten 167 for Northern Suburbs at Lorn Park on Saturday in the Maitland and District Junior Cricket Association under-16s division one competition – and he did so inside 24 overs.

“The first ball I faced came out of the centre and I thought ‘this is on’,” Hicks said.

From that point on things escalated for the 15-year-old as he sent the bowlers and fielders, who acted more like ball collectors, to all parts of the ground on his way to bringing up his maiden century.

“It gave me goosebumps,” Hicks said about bringing up the magical three-figure mark.

Ironically, Hicks racked up the runs against his former junior club – and current senior club – Eastern Suburbs.

Hicks left Easts’ juniors at the beginning of this season to play with some of his mates at Norths such as Grant Stewart and Jacob Montgomery.

However he remained on the books in the senior ranks, stepping up to take the gloves for Easts’ first grade team.

It was Hicks’ new team-mate, Montgomery, that he did most of the damage with on Saturday morning.

Montgomery, Hicks’ partner in crime at the other end, notched up an unbeaten 104 of his own – a year after scoring an early season century in juniors at the same venue – as Norths posted a massive 2-381 from its allotted 50 overs on day one of the two-day fixture.

The runs continued for the pair on Sunday when they combined to steer Maitland to victory against Dungog at Bennett Park in the under-16s Hunter Valley Junior Cricket Council competition.

The pair came together at 2-10 in pursuit of Dungog’s 85 and Montgomery made 29 not out while Hicks scored 51 not out.

It meant Hicks scored a combined total of 218 unbeaten runs over the two-day period.

“Everything just came off sweet,” he said.

Unbeaten in his last two starts, Hicks will look to maintain the same form this weekend when his senior team attempts to chase down a big total in the Maitland and District Cricket Association first grade competition.

Easts will be in pursuit of Thornton’s 301 at Thornton 1 on Saturday and Hicks said he would like to stay in the middle to score some more runs and ensure his team captures a win.

“I will try to keep it going,” he said.

Hicks will travel to Quirindi with the Hunter Valley under-16s team on Sunday to play North West under-16s in a representative fixture.

From that match a team will be selected to represent Central North at the Bradman Cup in Wollongong in January.