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A SEASON that began in the seconds for White Hills ended with Ryan Grundy a century-making BDCA premiership hero for Huntly-North Epsom at the weekend.
Grundy scored the BDCA's 27th grand final century, finishing 100 n.o. in the Power's 2-211 in reply to Golden Square's paltry 128 at the Queen Elizabeth Oval.
Grundy had spent the previous four years playing with White Hills and that's where he started this season, before making the decision to return to the Power - a club he had previously captained as a 20-year-old throughout its dark days of the 2000s when it one stage went 78 games without a win.
Now the Power are BDCA premiers and Grundy a premiership hero.
"It's a really surreal feeling and something that's going to take a while to sink in," Grundy said after his grand final batting heroics.
"We knew if we passed their runs Square was still going to have a crack at winning as you do in a grand final.
"Danushka (Wijemanna) and I kept saying that if we keep batting and batting we won't give them a chance and that's what happened."
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Huntly-North Epsom resumed Sunday at 2-91 with Grundy on 59, Wijemanna on 10 and the Power needing 38 more runs for victory.
It took the pair 13.2 overs to knock off the 38 runs required - Grundy taking the Power past their target with a boundary - but the game continued with Square not yet prepared to concede.
But 40 minutes later after Grundy brought up his century - his third of the season - and the Power's lead had grown to 83 with the score 2-211, any chance of Square salvaging a reverse outright was over and the premiership was the Power's.
Wijemanna finished 89 n.o., with he and Grundy putting on an unbroken 138 for the third wicket.
Grundy was also part of a 55-run second-wicket stand with Sandun Ranathunga (16) during the Power's 29-over stint at the crease on Saturday.
"To be honest, I never thought I'd be in this situation at Huntly... grand finals don't come around too often,'' Grundy said.
"I've played 12 years of A Grade cricket and this is a really special feeling... it's what we play for."
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