Norway maintained a crucial advantage over Group A rivals Gibraltar at Horsham on Friday morning, winning their final pool match by just 9 runs.

Matthew Hunter stunned the Norwegian batsmen by removing Ansar Iqbal and Suhail Iftikhar with the first and third deliveries of the opening over of the match, but then Santosh Rathakrishnarajah and Ehtesham ul-Haq led the recovery with an entertaining 80-run partnership.

Ehtesham was the first to go, caught by Ian Farrell off Mark Bacarese's bowling for a 32-ball 42, and Rathakrishnarajah followed five runs later, having made 31 from 25 deliveries.

Bacarese went on to claim three more wickets and finish with four for 24, but with Saleem Ali contributing a 22-ball 33 and skipper Shahbaz Butt adding 21 not out from 12 balls towards the end, Norway closed on 169 for eight.

The Gibraltar batsmen played steadily in response, and were able to keep plenty of wickets in hand. But Kieron Ferrary took 44 balls to make his 35, and with the Norwegian fielding a good deal more dependable than Gibraltar's had been, too much was left to the middle order.

Captain Iain Latin and Bacarese came together with the total on 83 for three, 87 needed from only 40 deliveries, and although they responded splendidly the task proved just too great. Latin contributed 33 not out from 20 balls to an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 77, and Bacarese, who hit five fours and three sixes, reached a 29-ball 50 when he belted the final ball of the innings over long off for six, but although 16 runs came off that last over Gibraltar finished ten runs short of their target.

Italy also withstood a determined challenge, from Austria in their case, to maintain their unbeaten record in Group A.

The Austrians, who have been one of the surprises of the tournament, did extremely well to restrict Italy to 142 for nine, with Satish Kaul claiming three for 27 - removing the top three of Dinidu Marage, Peter Petricola and Andy Northcote by the time 58 runs were on the board - and Imran Goraya taking four for 24.

Carlo Sandri top-scored for Italy with a 24-ball 39 which included three fours and two sixes, and Alessandro Bonora made 22.

Austria were soon in desperate trouble at 44 for five, with three wickets for Damian Crowley and two for Alauddin, and only Armaan Randhawa of the top order was able to master the Italian bowling for any length of time. He made 29, adding 52 for the seventh wicket with Kaul, whose own contribution was a hard-hitting, 27-ball 44 which included five sixes.

When they were both dismissed by Sandri with the total on 114, however, the game swung back Italy's way, and Austria were eventually all out for 131. This result was close enough, though, for Austria to stay ahead of Norway and finish third in the Group A table.

Already assured of a place in the semi-finals and a repeat of their 2011 encounter with Denmark at that stage of the competition, Guernsey's final opponents were Sweden.

Having won the toss and elected to bat, the Swedes always struggled for runs against a lively and varied Guernsey attack, and at 54 for six seemed in danger of being bowled out for one of the week's lowest totals.

They were rescued by Sunny Sharma and Shahid Sarwar, who added 78 runs in an unbroken seventh-wicket stand which enabled them to reach 132 for six. Sharma made 51 from 38 deliveries with seven fours and a six, while Sarwar made 31 from 25 balls with two sixes.

Jeremy Frith was again the most successful of the Guernsey bowlers, taking two for 26, and when his side replied he made 47 from 32 balls with eight boundaries to bring his tally for the week to 274 runs at an average of 91.33.

Two early wickets gave Sweden brief hope of pulling off a shock, but Frith and GH Smit, who made an unbeaten 46-ball 51, took Guernsey to within sight of victory, and then Smit and David Hooper finished the job with 21 balls remaining.