He has long been regarded as one of the best to have pulled on the whites for North Tamworth, and on Saturday Brendan Rixon batted his way into the club's record books.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In scoring an unbeaten 114 against South Tamworth, the Redbacks' stalwart became the club's highest-ever runscorer, surpassing Bill Hayes' 6166.
He only needed 10 runs but notched a century for good measure.
It was his 15th ton for the club he first played for as a young teenager after his father John - a Norths life member - finally relented to his pestering.
"I followed him to cricket and harassed him so much that he just said 'bugger you, you can play'," he said.
He was about 14 at the time and started out in third grade.
John was the captain of the side at the time and Rixon said having the chance to play a season with his dad was "pretty special".
It is something he will always treasure, as has been playing alongside brother Michael for the better part of the last decade - the two forming something of a dynamic duo for the Redbacks.
Fittingly they were at the crease together when Brendan passed Hayes.
"It was good to bat with him when I got that," he said, the two sharing a little fist bump to mark the moment.
The club's statistician, it was Michael that alerted him to fact that he was closing in on Hayes' record.
He had no idea.
RELATED:
"Before the weekend he said 'do you know you need 10 more runs to become the highest run-scorer'?," he said.
Remarkably Rixon has achieved the milestone in 42 fewer innings than Hayes did, his statistics making for impressive reading.
Coming into this season he had scored 14 centuries (four more than the next best - Michael), 31 half-centuries, finished unbeaten 19 times and chalked up a highest score of 152*.
Not one to covet or really get caught up in achievements and milestones, of which there have been many over the years, he said it is "a good milestone".
"It will be something to look back on," he said.
In saying that he doesn't expect to hold the record for too long post retirement.
"I think Michael will take over me. He's not too far behind (Michael is third and was 594 runs behind Brendan at the start of the season)," he said.
"He's six years younger than me, he's got a few more years."
Batting first on what looked a good wicket on Saturday, Rixon said he just wanted to bat time, get up to the 20 or 30 over mark and reassess.
"We did that and we put a good score on the board and defended it," he said.
They ended up with 9-258, almost two-thirds of which came from the bat of a Rixon with Michael scoring 54 as the two put on 123 for the second wicket.
"It's always good to bat with him. He takes the pressure off and does the simple things well," Brendan said.
His 114 came off just 90 balls and included four fours and eight sixes.
Nearing the end of his career, he just wants to enjoy his cricket. It's one of the reasons he relinquished the captaincy this season.
He said it has been good not having to worry about all the little things that come with the job.
That is yielding good returns in the middle. Rixon has been North's top-scorer their first two games after hitting 42 in the first round.
