Barely a weekend goes by at the moment without a T20I series in Europe as teams ramp up preparation for the upcoming sub-regional qualifiers for the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup.

This weekend it was the turn of Finland and Estonia with the latter hopping across the Gulf of Finland for two T20Is at the Kerava National Cricket Ground.

Estonia won the toss and chose to bowl first in the first match this morning. Opener Nathan Collins held up an end, often with little support and top-scored with 41 before he was out at the end of the 17th over. Some smart running from the seventh wicket pairing of Mahesh Tambe and Amjad Sher ensured that 36 were scored from the last three overs, with Tambe scoring 31 and Sher scoring 22 from 11 balls.

The visitors couldn’t keep up with the required run rate and were restricted to 116-4 from their 20 overs, losing by 23 runs. Habib Khan top scored with 31.

The second game of the day was a higher scoring - and closer - affair. Finland batted first again, this time after winning the toss, and skipper Collins was again in the runs, top scoring with 79 from 54 balls as his team scored 182-7 from their 20 overs.

Estonia lost the first three wickets in their reply cheaply with just 19 runs on the board. But Arslan Amjad and Habib Khan put on 85 for the fourth wicket before Khan was out for 51, scored from only 26 balls. Captain Amjad held firm as long as he could and was eventually out for 62 in the 19th over. Another 14 runs came but that wasn’t enough as Finland ended up winning by 11 runs.

Finland will host two of the sub-regional qualifying groups. From 12th-19th July they will play in Group A alongside Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Isle of Man, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Sweden and Turkey. Estonia will be back in Finland for Group B from 24th-31st July and will play Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Guernsey, Luxembourg, Norway, Slovenia and Switzerland.