Italy national cricket team

The earliest mention of cricket in Italy is of a match played by Captain Morgan's sailors in Bayside, NY in 1793 during a stop in Naples harbour. Around the end of the 19th century, several combined cricket and association football clubs formed, including the world-famous A.C. Milan, which was originally the Milan Cricket and Football Club and the first Italian football team Genoa Cricket and Football Club, which was originally the Genoa Cricket & Athletic Club. But these clubs soon forgot about cricket and concentrated on football. Cricket started to be revived after the Second World War.[6] Cricket flourished in Rome in the 1960s at a superb field which looked across to St. Peter's dome from Villa Doria Pamphili. The Australian and British embassies, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the Commonwealth War Graves Association, the Venerable English College and Beda College fielded teams which competed for the Rome Ashes there until, in the 1970s, the Villa became a public park. [7]

When cricket resumed in Rome on other grounds at the end of the 1970s, four of the Villa Doria Pamphili era players formed in 1980 the Doria Pamphili Cricket Club: the Italian-Sri Lankian Francis Alphonsus Jayarajah, the Italian-Indian Massimo Da Costa, the Australian Desmond O'Grady and the Syrian Issam Kahale[8]

In the same period some Cricket was played in the northen part of Italy with the Milan Cricket Club being formed in the 70's. and Euratom CC in the 80's.

The "Federazione Cricket Italiana" (Italian Cricket Federation) was formed in 1980,[6] and they became an affiliate member of the ICC in 1984, and were promoted to associate member in 1995.[5]

The first record match by the Italian National Team was touring their first UK Tour in August 1984 and played a week of cricket against local london clubs, the first losing against Enfield CC, but ending on a high with their first win in the last match agaisnt North Middlesex.

The first international match played by the Italian National team was against Denmark in 1989, ending in a draw.

After years of matches against neighboring nations such as France and Germany in 1996, Italy took part in the first European Championship in Denmark, finishing seventh after beating Israel in a play-off.[9] They took part in the ICC Trophy for the first time in the 1997 tournament and performed poorly, finishing joint last out of the 22 participants.[10] They finished fifth in the following years European Championship.[11]

In 1999, Italy took part in a quadrangular tournament in Gibraltar also featuring France and Israel.[12] They won the tournament, beating the hosts in the final.[13] They finished fifth in Division One of the European Championship the following year[14] and were due to participate in the 2001 ICC Trophy, but pulled out at the last minute due to a dispute over the eligibility of four players.[15]

The 2002 European Championship saw Italy finish sixth in Division One,[16] relegating them to Division Two for 2004, which they promptly won.[17] This qualified them for the repêchage tournament for the 2005 ICC Trophy in early 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They finished seventh in that tournament after beating Zambia in a play-off.[18]

They took part in Division One of the European Championship in 2006, finishing fifth.[19] In May/June 2007, they travelled to Darwin, Australia to take part in Division Three of the World Cricket League. They finished seventh after beating Fiji in a play-off, and played in Division Four of the World Cricket League in 2008 to come 3rd and remained in 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Four.[20] They came 2nd there to be promoted to 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Three, where they came 4th to remain in 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division Three. They have a chance of reaching the 2015 Cricket World Cup, if it finishes in the top two in the 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division Three, and then in the top two of the 2013 Cricket World Cup Qualifier. An encouraging start to this tournament has witnessed wins over Oman (9 wickets) and United States (8 runs), followed by defeats, narrowly to Ireland (2 wickets) and more comprehensively against Kenya (7 wickets). After finishing last in this tournament they will be relegated to Division Four in 2014

In November 2013 they competed in the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in the U.A.E their highest level of competition to date. They finished 9th place with victories over the USA, and higher ranked opponents in U.A.E and Namibia.

In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Italy and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 will be a full T20I.[21]

In September 2018, Italy qualified from Group B of the 2018–19 ICC World Twenty20 Europe Qualifier to the Regional Finals of the tournament.[22]

Italy played their first T20I against Germany in May 2019.

25 May 2019 11:00 Scorecard

Germany  53 (16 overs)	v	Italy 57/3 (8.4 overs)
Ahmed Wardak 20* (27) Michael Ross 4/15 (4 overs)		Joy Perera 21 (10) Izatullah Dawlatzai 2/17 (4 overs)

Italy won by 7 wickets Sportpark Maarschalkerweerd, Utrecht Umpires: Rizwan Akram (Ned) and Huub Jansen (Ned)

• Germany won the toss and elected to bat.
• First ever T20I match for Italy.

From August 2019, Italy will play in the 2019–21 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League.[23]

• 2013: 9th place

• 2007: 7th place (Division Three) – relegated
• 2008: 3rd place (Division Four)
• 2010: 2nd place (Division Four) – promoted
• 2011: 4th place (Division Three)
• 2013: 6th place (Division Three) – relegated
• 2014: 4th place (Division Four)
• 2016: 6th place (Division Four) – relegated
• 2017: 4th place (Division Five) – relegated to regional tournaments

• 1979: Not eligible – not an ICC member[5]
• 1982: Not eligible – not an ICC member[5]
• 1986 to 1994 inclusive: Not eligible – ICC affiliate member[5]
• 1997: equal 21st place[10]
• 2001: Withdrew (see above)[15]
• 2005: Did not qualify[24]
• 2009: Did not qualify
• 2014: Did not qualify

• 1996: 7th place[9]
• 1998: 5th place[11]
• 2000: 5th place (Division One)[14]
• 2002: 6th place (Division One)[16]
• 2004: Division Two winners[17]
• 2006: 5th place (Division One)[19]
• 2008: 5th place (Division One)
• 2010: 6th place (Division One)

• 2011: 2nd place
• 2013: 1st place

• Highest team total: 138/5 (19 overs) v. Germany on 16 June 2019 at College Field, Saint Peter Port[28]
• Highest individual score: 67, Joy Perera v. Germany on 25 May 2019 at Sportpark Maarschalkerweerd, Utrecht[29]
• Best individual bowling figures: 4/11, Gayashan Munasinghe v. Guernsey on 16 June 2019 at College Field, Saint Peter Port[30]

T20I record versus other nations[27]

Records complete to T20I #806. Last updated 20 June 2019.

Opponent	M	W	L	T	NR	First match	First win
vs Associate Members
Denmark	2	0	1	0	1	18 June 2019
Germany	3	3	0	0	0	25 May 2019	25 May 2019
Guernsey	1	1	0	0	0	16 June 2019	16 June 2019
Jersey	1	0	1	0	0	19 June 2019
Norway	1	1	0	0	0	15 June 2019	15 June 2019