Brien scored his second century of the Bathurst Orange Inter District Cricket season on Saturday to help his St Pat's Old Boys side take a big step towards a finals appearance.

The Centennials Bulls attack are yet to find a way to remove Brien who finished his day unbeaten on 137.

Pat's made their way to 5-256, with Brien and Josh Willcox (33) just two runs shy of a century stand.

Connor Slattery continued his strong run of form with 46 runs, run out short of another half century.

But the day was all about the infallible Brien who became just the second person, after Cavaliers' Matt Corben, to score two centuries this season.

It's the context which makes the century all the more important.

Centennials Bulls need a win to be a chance making finals while the Saints are in a position to drop out of the top four should they lose this game.

However, Brien's big day at the crease has made that scenario unlikely.

"It was a pretty good day out for the team. It felt great to find a bit of form before finals," Brien said.

"It's not every day you get to hit a couple of tonnes in the same season so when you do get it you've got to feel good."

Brien surpassed his 105 he hit against Rugby Union in round five.

His latest innings featured 12 boundaries, one of which was used to bring up his 100.

The Scots Oval pitch was back to its traditional batting-friendly nature on Saturday and it was a tough day in the field for Centennials.

Joel Gurney was the pick of the bowlers with his 2-43 while opening paceman Kyle Aubin was economical in his 1-39 off 18 overs.

Captain Kurt Toole had Saints' other opener Andrew Brown out for a duck and Aubin managed to trap Pat's skipper Adam Ryan in front of his stumps for 11.

Brien and Slattery then put on 93 runs together after the score had been sitting at an uneasy state of 2-19.

Ben Parsons (11) and David Cant (5) fell to the bowling of Gurney but another big partnership from Brien, this time featuring Willcox, would stifle fears of a collapse.

"The pitch wasn't doing too much but they were bowling good lines and keeping to their plans all day," Brien said.

"It's great, knowing that we need a win to make finals, and that makes the century all the more special."

A draw is, realistically, enough for the Saints to play finals cricket but a win would almost guarantee them a home ground advantage for the minor semi-final.

That's a good incentive for Pat's to earn a result from the match.

They'll need to wary of a Centennials side who will have no choice but to throw the bat around on a pitch which has plenty of runs in it.

"We might bat for a bit longer and see how many we can make," Brien said.

"We probably need a few more runs because the pitch isn't offering too much to the bowlers."

Next weekend Brien has the chance to join Corben (176), teammate Connor Slattery (152*) and Kaleb Cook (151) in the BOIDC's 150 club for 2019-20.