Scotland have been eliminated from qualification for the 2026 T20 World Cup after suffering back-to-back losses to Italy and Jersey in the European Qualifier competition.
Scotland were edged out by Jersey in a thriller in The Hague today (July 11). Having only been able to score 133 batting first, Matthew Cross delivering a significant contribution to that total with 43 off 40, Jersey opener Nick Greenwood got the Channel Island side off to a strong start. He was dismissed one run short of a half century, with Jersey on 82-2 in the 12th over at that point.
Match 9, Scotland vs Jersey
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However, Zak Tribe was dismissed by Chris Greaves in the same over, and a collapse saw Jersey slip from 103-3 in the 15th over to 129-9 after the second ball of the 20th. Safyaan Sharif bowled the final over, with just five runs to defend, and bowled a dot and took a wicket with his first two balls. Jake Dunford then took three runs off his next two before a couple of singles off the last two deliveries saw Jersey over the line.
Scotland eliminated from 2026 T20 World Cup qualification
The result means Scotland cannot qualify for next year's T20 World Cup. In the previous edition of the tournament, Scotland almost caused an upset by eliminating defending champions England in the group stage. They beat Namibia and Oman, as well as blasting 90-0 in the 10 overs possible of their match against England, but couldn't seal the required run rate in their loss against Australia to finish ahead of England in the group table.
Read more: T20 World Cup 2026 qualification scenarios: How can Italy qualify for their first global tournament?
Despite playing in the tournament last year, they missed out on automatic qualification via ICC ranking position, and thus had to go through the European Qualifier tournament. After their first match was abandoned against Guernsey, Scotland beat the Netherlands by six runs before facing up to Italy the next day. Italy's side featured several players from other countries who qualified to play for the side via their heritage, including England Lions player Emilio Gay and Australia's Joe Burns. Scotland lost the match by 12 runs, leaving their game against Jersey a must-win.
All eyes will now be on the final match of the tournament, which will take place later today (July 11), between Italy and Netherlands. A Netherlands win would see them qualify ahead of either Jersey or Italy, while an Italy win would give Jersey a maiden T20 World Cup berth.
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