Ireland saw the last hope of retaining their European cricket championship title vanish in The Hague yesterday when Denmark scrambled to victory over Scotland to secure a place in Saturday's final against Holland.

The one wicket win also means England - who lost to Holland - will finish at the bottom of the table and renders today's last qualifying match between Ireland and Scotland as meaningless as is possible between the two old rivals - with the winner simply finishing third in the round robin and the loser fourth ahead of the third place play-off on Friday.

At HCC: England 193-7 (50 overs) Holland 196-6 (48.4 overs)

Holland won by four wickets.

At Quick Club: Scotland 177-8 (50 overs) Denmark 178-9 (49 overs)

Denmark won by one wicket

Standings