Guernsey are one tournament away from the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup after beating Denmark in the final of the last European sub-regional qualifier yesterday.

In front of a passionate home crowd at KGV, Guernsey won the toss and asked the visiting Danes to bat first. Hamid Shah failed to go past 50 for the first time in the tournament, out for 22 as Denmark found themselves four down in the power play with just 35 on the board and two batters out for ducks.

Nicolaj Laegsgaard clubbed 62 from 35 balls after coming in from the last ball of the powerplay, which went a long way to Denmark scoring 158-7 from their 20 overs. 

Guernsey lost Ben Fitchet and Tom Nightingale early in their reply before a 65 run partnership between Josh Butler and Matthew Stokes provided the initial impetus to their run chase.

That partnership ended when Butler was bowled by Saif Ahmad for 43, but Stokes stayed in and finished unbeaten on 67 from 44 balls as Guernsey completed a six wicket win with eight balls to spare.

Guernsey celebrate their win (Martin Gray)

The win means that Guernsey will join Scotland, Netherlands, Italy and Channel Island rivals Jersey in next year's regional final. Two teams from that tournament will qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

Also on the last day, Spain extended their record winning streak in men's T20Is to 15 games with a 46 run win over Finland in the third place play-off, Estonia beat Czechia by seven wickets to finish fifth and Cyprus beat Malta by 6 runs to finish seventh.