Guernsey suffered a tense two-wicket defeat by Austria as their hopes of qualifying for the 2024 T20 World Cup took a huge blow in Finland.

Guernsey made 139-6 off their 20 overs as openers Luke le Tissier and Zak Damarell made 63 for the first wicket.

In a rollercoaster reply, Austria reached 141-8 with two balls to spare to upset the pre-event favourites.

The Sarnians face Slovenia – who have yet to win a game – in their final group match on Thursday, knowing they must win – and Austria lose to Bulgaria – if they are to have a chance of securing top spot.

The group winners will play the side that tops the other five-team pool in Sunday’s final for a place in the 2023 European Regional qualifying finals, where two sides will qualify for the 2024 T20 World Cup in India.

Le Tissier scored 37 from 23 balls, including a six and five fours, while Damarell scored 19 from 15 balls before they fell in the space of five deliveries, as Guernsey dropped to 66-2.

Josh Butler (20) and Matt Stokes (18) had a 35-run stand for the third wicket before Guernsey’s middle order collapsed, going from 101-2 to 103-6, as Tom Nightingale was run out for one and Ben Ferbrache was run out without facing a ball.

But Jason Martin and Anthony Stokes settled the Guernsey innings with an unbeaten seventh-wicket partnership of 39, with wicketkeeper Martin reaching 19 not out and Stokes 18 not out.

In reply Guernsey made the perfect start as Will Peatfield bowled opener Habib Ahmadzai with the second ball of the innings.

But Iqbal Hossain and Austria captain Razmal Shigiwal took the game to Guernsey’s bowlers, putting on 57 in the powerplay, before Hossain was caught by Ferbrache off Matthew Stokes’ bowling for 38 off just 17 balls.

Guernsey did well to restrict Austria to just 17 runs off the next four overs before Mirza Ahsan smashed two sixes and a four as Anthony Stokes went for 17 off the 10th over to move Austria on to 90-3. and ahead of the run rate.

Mirza was caught by Luke Bichard off Peatfield for 21 off just 12 balls with the score on 100-4 with eight overs left, and Guernsey made a breakthrough midway through the 13th over as Anthony Stokes bowled Shigiwal for 42 off 29 balls with the score at 109-5 – before taking Mark Simpson-Parker’s wicket five runs later as Guernsey re-established control of the game.

Austria’s lower order looked as though they would not be able to reach their target, but Umar Tariq’s six off Matthew Stokes in the penultimate over – which went for eight – saw Austria suddenly need just seven off the final six balls.

Tariq hit a boundary off David Hooper in the final over as he got 12 off six balls to see Austria make 141-8 off 19.4 overs.