Italy have become the third team to qualify for Championship Week at the European Cricket Championship T10 tournament after winning Group C this week in Cartama, Spain.
The five team group also featured Denmark, Estonia, Serbia and Sweden. Serbia propped up the table after the round-robin stage having lost all four games, with Estonia only beating Serbia. The other three teams all finished with identical 3-1 win-loss records, Italy topping the table on net run rate.
The first play-off yesterday - an eliminator between Estonia and Sweden - saw Estonia bat first and score 94-6 from their ten overs. Sudais Khan then scored 52 from only 16 balls to secure a nine wicket win for the Swedes in just 5.4 overs.
Italy then secured their place in the final, recovering from losing both openers for ducks to post 132-8 from their 10 overs against Denmark, Joy Perera scoring 52 from 24 balls. Lucky Malik scored 65 in the Danish reply but they fell four runs short on 128-6.
The Danes then survived an eliminator against neighbours Sweden, with the Swedes scoring 119-4 from their 10 overs and Denmark chasing it down with four balls to spare, winning by five wickets.
Denmark batted first in the final against Italy, scoring 110-8 from their 10 overs with Delawar Khan the top scorer with 32 from 13 balls. Zain Naqvi then scored 52 from 21 balls as Italy chased down their target in 7.4 overs to win by six wickets and qualify for Championship Week.
Italy will be joined by defending champions Netherlands, Group A winners Spain and Group B winners Jersey. Group D is underway today with an Ireland Academy side the favourites in a group that also features Austria, Finland, Hungary and Turkey.