Italy national cricket team

The Italy national cricket team is the team that represents the country of Italy in international cricket. They have been an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1995, having previously been an affiliate member since 1984.[5] The Italian national cricket team is administered by the Federazione Cricket Italiana (Italian Cricket Federation).

Italy
AssociationFederazione Cricket Italiana
Personnel
CaptainGayashan Munasinghe
CoachSteve Zonta[1]
History
Twenty20 debut Italy v. Oman 
(Dubai, UAE; 13 March 2012)
International Cricket Council
ICC statusAffiliate (1984)
Associate member (1995)
ICC regionEurope
ICC Rankings Current[2] Best-ever
T20I 27th 22nd (16-June-2019)
International cricket
First international Italy v. Denmark 
(Bagsværd, Denmark; 15 July 1989)
One Day Internationals
World Cup Qualifier appearances2 (first in 1997)
Best resultFirst round (1997, 2001)
Twenty20 Internationals
First T20Iv  Germany at Sportpark Maarschalkerweerd, Utrecht; 25 May 2019
Last T20Iv  Denmark at King George V Sports Ground, Castel; 20 June 2019
T20Is Played Won/Lost
Total[3] 8 5/2 (0 ties, 1 no result)
This year[4] 0 0/0 (0 ties, 0 no result)
T20 World Cup Qualifier appearances2 (first in 2012)
Best result9th place (2013)
As of 25 May 2020

History

Early history

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.

Modern history

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.

2018-Present

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]

Tournament record

World Twenty20 Qualifier

World Cricket League

ICC Trophy

European Championship

  • 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)

European T20 Championship Division One

  • 2011: 2nd place
  • 2013: 1st place

Squad

Italy's squad for the 2018–19 ICC World Twenty20 Europe Qualifier in August 2018 were the following players:[25]

Other players, who were part of Italy's squad at the 2017 ICC World Cricket League Division Five.

Gareth Berg was chosen for European T20 World Cup Qualifier in 2019 but removed from the squad by Hampshire due to a fixture clash. [26]

Records and Statistics

International Match Summary — Italy[27]

Last updated 20 June 2019

Playing Record
FormatMWLTNRInaugural Match
Twenty20 Internationals8520125 May 2019

Twenty20 International

T20I record versus other nations[27]

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

OpponentMWLTNRFirst matchFirst win
vs Associate Members
 Denmark2010118 June 2019
 Germany3300025 May 201925 May 2019
 Guernsey1100016 June 201916 June 2019
 Jersey1010019 June 2019
 Norway1100015 June 201915 June 2019

See also

References

  1. "Gareth Berg named playing head coach of Italy". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  2. "ICC Rankings". International Cricket Council.
  3. "T20I matches - Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  4. "T20I matches - 2021 Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  5. Italy at CricketArchive
  6. "Article about Italian cricket". Archived from the original on 13 February 2006. Retrieved 15 March 2006.
  7. Lombardo, Ilario; Fasola, Giacomo; Moscatelli, Francesco (10 October 2013). Italian Cricket Club Ilario Lombardo, Giacomo Fasola, Francesco. Benezit Dictionary of Artists. ISBN 9788867830541.
  8. "The European Club Cricket Tournament Rome Capanelle CC (Italy) squad". ecct.hitscricket.com. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  9. 1996 European Championship Archived 5 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  10. 1997 ICC Trophy at Cricinfo
  11. 1998 European Championship Archived 9 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  12. 1999 Gibraltar quadrangular at Cricinfo
  13. Scorecard of Gibraltar v Italy, 25 September 1999 at Cricinfo
  14. 2000 European Championship Archived 5 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  15. Italy Withdraws from ICC Trophy, ICC Media Release, 25 June 2001
  16. 2002 European Championship Official site Archived 6 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine, results section
  17. 2004 European Championship Division Two results Archived 1 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine, European Cricket Council website
  18. Scorecard of Italy v Zambia, 27 February 2005 at CricketArchive
  19. 2006 European Championship Division One Archived 8 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  20. Uganda lift Division Three title Archived 24 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine by Andrew Nixon, 2 June 2007 at CricketEurope
  21. "All T20 matches between ICC members to get international status". International Cricket Council. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  22. "Italy secure place in European final". Cricket Europe. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  23. "All to play for in last ever World Cricket League tournament". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  24. ICC Trophy matches played by Italy at CricketArchive
  25. "Road to ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 starts in South Africa". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  26. https://www.icc-cricket.com/media-releases/1231405
  27. "Records / Italy / Twenty20 Internationals / Result summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  28. "Records / Italy / Twenty20 Internationals / Highest totals". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  29. "Records / Italy / Twenty20 Internationals / High scores". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  30. "Records / Italy / Twenty20 Internationals / Best bowling figures". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  31. "Records / Italy / Twenty20 Internationals / Most runs". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  32. "Records / Italy / Twenty20 Internationals / Most wickets". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
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