He served in the British Army during World War I. Nichols was born at Acle in Norfolk in 1878 and was brought up at Wymondham, where his father, also John, was a publican and the groundsman of the town's sports ground, Kings Head Meadow.
[5] After spending time on the playing staff at Lancashire in 1898,[3][5] Nichols made his first-class debut for Worcestershire in a County Championship match against Sussex at New Road, Worcester in July 1902, scoring seven runs and not taking a wicket in his four overs.
[4] By 1907 Nichols was playing Minor Counties cricket for Staffordshire where he "had considerable success" in the years before World War I.
[3] He appeared regularly for the side from 1909 until the war, playing in 69 Minor Counties Championship matches, scoring two centuries and taking wickets each season.
Michael Falcon, Norfolk's captain and dominant player of the era, identified Nichols whilst he was coaching at Bishop's Stortford College.
[c][3][9] The Norfolk side of the time was considered strong enough by The Cricketer to be close to first-class standard,[d] and Nichols was an important element of the side: in 1922 he took 39 wickets and scored 433 runs as Norfolk finished runners-up in the Minor Counties Championship, narrowly losing the final challenge match of the season to Buckinghamshire at the County Ground, Lakenham in Norwich.
[16] Nichols also played for Norfolk in tour matches against the West Indies in 1923 and 1928, the New Zealanders in 1927―scoring a half-century at the age of 49―and the South Africans in 1929.
[h][19] Nichols stood in one first-class match as an umpire, the 1924 fixture between Minor Counties―although the side was selected by Norfolk and included seven of the county's players―and the touring South Africans played at Lakenham.