Less than 24 hours earlier a backyard pool had been installed at his place in Cardiff and only that morning he took a maiden dip.

Instead he found himself out in the middle at Kahibah Oval on Saturday, batting in "very hot" conditions but en route to a memorable milestone.

"I only just put a pool in so it's all I could think of at the back end of the day," Rendina said.

The Charlestown player, who turns 35 next week, went onto notch his maiden century in the Newcastle District Cricket Association first grade competition.

He made 100 even, having faced 177 deliveries over the course of three hours and 46 minutes.

Rendina, who arrived at 3-57 and departed with the total 8-223, was cheered on by his teammates when raising the bat.

"The reaction was pretty loud actually," he said.

"I was happy I got there in the end but I was spent. Affter 177 balls and more than three hours I was well and truly ready for a swim."

Rendina recalls making his debut with junior club Charlestown as a teenager before shifting to nearby Cardiff-Boolaroo for the best part of a decade.

He returned to the Magpies in 2013-14 and has been there ever since.

Saturday's three-figure mark, outside tons scored across two stints in England, was a personal best in the Newcastle senior ranks.

"It was my first one [in Newcastle]," he said.

"It was well overdue, I've been playing for a while now."

Rendina became aware of his run count towards the back end of his knock.

"We came back after tea and Lee [Davies], who I was batting with at the time, said 'do you want to know how many you're on?'" he said.

"I guessed around 80 and he told me 88. I don't normally count my runs but I did from then."

Knowing he had reached 99, Rendina essentially played "hit and run" after blocking a ball in the vicinity of mid-off.

An off-spinner in his younger days, including Newcastle junior and colts representative sides, Rendina hasn't really bowled since undergoing knee surgery.

Among his best figures in firsts were 5-65 when with CBs in 2006-07.

In more recent summers Rendina had been skippering second grade at Charlestown, but answered the call to play more regularly in the first XI.

The sixth-placed Magpies are defending 232 on day two of their round-seven encounter against visiting Waratah-Mayfield, who resume at 1-20.

"Hopefully we can get a few early wickets and go from there," he said.

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