Nikhil Pol put on a series of outstanding individual performances to lead the Gorillas to their second successive Futures League title, claiming the tournament MVP award along the way.

He was player of the match in the Final as his two for 26 alongside three for 27 from fellow all rounder Declan Suzuki-McComb helped restrict the Vipers to 128 for seven after 20 overs.

The Vipers, playing their first final, came in unbeaten were indebted to Dylan Fujioka-Fletcher for his 36-ball 53 which helped them recover from 37 for four.

Pol then led the way with the bat, making 46 from 50 balls before being caught and bowled by his opposite captain Charlie Hinze, a which moved the left-arm spinner past Pol at the top of the wicket-taker charts to a Futures League record of 10 wickets.

The middle order had enough to see the Gorillas home, giving Coach Vinay Iyer a much cherished tournament win as the total was passed with seven balls and four wickets to spare.

Pol had also come to the fore in the morning match, scoring a maiden Futures League half-century as they defeated the Dragons by nine runs despite a battling 31 from Max Yonekawa-Lynn.

For the third year running that meant the Dragons would enter the third-place playoff without a win to their name, and they would make it a hat-trick of third place finishes as they put previous struggles behind them to to beat the Turtles by 26 runs thanks to wickets and runs from Shotaro Hiratsuka.

That defeat ended a tough day for the Turtles who had started the tournament well only to get bowled put for 70 when attempting to chase 93 against the Vipers in order to earn a place in the final. Three for seven from Charlie Hinze was key to the 22-run victory that kept up the Vipers 100% record, until Pol intervened.

Match Summaries: 

• Gorillas, 118/7 (Pol 58), beat Dragons, 109/10 (Yonekawa-Lynn 31, Khan 25) by 9 runs.
• Vipers, 92/9 (Thurgate 3/17), beat Turtles, 70/10 (C. Hinze 3/7) by 22 runs.

Third-Place:

• Dragons, 125/7 (S. Hiratsuka 30, Noguchi 25), beat Turtles, 99/9 (Rear 24) b7 26 runs.

Final:

• Gorillas, 129/6 (Pol 46), beat Vipers 128/7 (Fujioka-Fletcher 53, Suzuki-McComb 3/27) by four wickets.

Highlights: 

• Turtles vs Vipers
• Vipers vs Gorillas

Awards:

• Best Batter: Nikhil Pol (148 runs @ 37)
• Best Bowler: Charlie Hinze (10 wickets @ 4.06 economy)
• MVP: Nikhil Pol (148 runs & 9 wickets)