Denmark have qualified for next year’s European regional qualifying final and are one step away from the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA.

They did so with a convincing win over Portugal in today’s final in Belgium. Portugal batted first after they won the toss but Denmark bowled well to keep them to 110-9 from their 20 overs. Surya Ahmed, Saud Munir, Nicolaj Lægsgaard and Saif Ali took two wickets each.

Denmark’s reply got off to the worst possible start when Lægsgaard edged a sharp delivery by Junaid Khan to the keeper. But there was no further damage as Hamid Shah and Taranjit Singh scored the rest of the runs without losing a wicket. Singh top scored with 58 from 43 balls, whilst Shah scored 44 from 37.

Waiting for Denmark in that regional final are Germany, who failed to progress from the first of the two global qualifiers for this year’s T20 World Cup. If either of the Netherlands or Jersey fail to gain one of two spots on offer at the upcoming global qualifier in Zimbabwe, they will also drop down to the regional final.

Earlier in the day, hosts Belgium beat Spain by five wickets in a game that went down to the last ball. Chasing Spain’s 145-9, Shahreyar Butt hit the last delivery of the match for six to secure a five wicket win.

In the fifth place play-off yesterday, Gibraltar’s 190-8 wasn’t enough as Malta chased down their target in 16.3 overs to win by seven wickets, Basil George thumping an unbeaten 93 from 44 balls.

Israel recorded their first ever T20I win in the seventh place match, also yesterday. Batting first, 66 from Gabriel Schachat led them to a total of 166-6. Hungary batted out their overs and made 154-9, losing by 12 runs.

Qualifying now moves to Finland where Group A of the European sub-regional groups takes place. In addition to the hosts, the ten team tournament will also feature Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Isle of Man, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Sweden and Turkey.