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Italy national cricket team

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This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Italy women's national cricket team.

The Italy national cricket team is the men's 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 Italy national cricket team is administered by the Italian Cricket Federation.

Italy
Nickname(s)‘Gli Azzurri’ (The Blues)
AssociationItalian Cricket Federation
Personnel
CaptainMarcus Campopiano
CoachGareth Berg[1]
History
Twenty20 debutv  Oman at Dubai; 13 March 2012
International Cricket Council
ICC statusAffiliate (1984)
Associate member (1995)
ICC regionEurope
ICC Rankings Current[2] Best-ever
T20I 29th 22nd (16 June 2019)
International cricket
First internationalv  Denmark at Bagsværd; 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  Romania at Simar Cricket Ground, Rome; 16 June 2024
T20Is Played Won/Lost
Total[3] 33 22/10 (0 ties, 1 no result)
This year[4] 5 5/0 (0 ties, 0 no results)
T20 World Cup Qualifier appearances3[a] (first in 2012)
Best result3rd place (2023)

T20I kit

As of 16 June 2024

History

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Early history

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The earliest mention of cricket in Italy is of a match played by Admiral Nelson's sailors in Bayside, NY in 1793 during a stop in Naples harbour[citation needed]. 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 Lankan 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 northern part of Italy with the Milan Cricket Club being formed in the 1970s and Euratom CC in the 1980s.

Modern history

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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 Italy 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 against North Middlesex.

The first international match played by the Italy national team was a draw against Denmark in 1989.

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 year's European Championship in which they caused the biggest upset to date in the history of the game by beating the England XI in the promotion/relegation playoff.[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, Italian citizens by birth but not reesident in Italy. The dispute was happily resolved by ICC a year later with the recognition of citizenship as a criteria for eligibility in national teams. [15]

The 2002 European Championship saw Italy finish sixth in Division One,[16] relegating them for 2004 to Division Two, 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 third and remained in 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Four.[20] With a second place finish there, they were promoted to 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Three, where they came 4th to remain in 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division Three. They had a chance of reaching the 2015 Cricket World Cup, if they finished 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 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 were relegated to Division Four in 2014.

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

2018–present

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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 since 1 January 2019 have the T20I status.[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]

In 2023, it was reported that Italy had pursued a strategy of recruiting professional cricketers from Australia and England to play in the regional final of the 2022–23 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier. The recruits have only tenuous connections with Italy but meet ICC regulations by virtue of holding Italian passports.[24]

Grounds

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class=notpageimage|
Location of international cricket matches played in Italy

Tournament record

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World Twenty20 Qualifier

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  • 2012: 10th place
  • 2013: 9th place
  • 2023 (Europe Regional Final): 3rd place

ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League

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ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League Play-off

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World Cricket League

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ICC Trophy

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European Championship

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  • 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

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

Squad

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Italy's squad for the 2023 ICC T20 World Cup Europe Regional Final in July 2023 included the following players:[26]

Records and statistics

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International Match Summary — Italy

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Last updated 7 November 2024[27]

Playing Record
Format M W L T NR Inaugural Match Frist win
  Bahrain 1 0 1 0 0 28 Feb 2024
  Bermuda 4 4 0 0 0 12 Dec 2019 12 Dec 2019
  Hong Kong 3 1 1 0 1 8 Dec 2019 11 Aug 2022
  Jersey 3 0 3 0 0 6 Dec 2019
  Kenya 3 1 2 0 0 3 Dec 2019 3 Dec 2019
  Saudi Arabia 1 1 0 0 0 23 Feb 2024 23 Feb 2024
  Tanzania 2 2 0 0 0 1 Mar 2024 1 Mar 2024
  Kuwait 1 0 1 0 0 25 Feb 2024
  Uganda 3 0 3 0 0 9 Dec 2019
  Vanuatu 1 1 0 0 0 3 Mar 2024 3 Mar 2024
International 22 10 11 0 1 3 Dec 2019 3 Dec 2019

Individual records

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Last updated 3 March 2024

Twenty20 International

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T20I record versus other nations[27]

Records complete to T20I #2696. Last updated 16 June 2024.

Opponent M W L T NR First match First win
vs Full Members
  Ireland 1 0 1 0 0 20 July 2023
vs Associate Members
  Croatia 1 1 0 0 0 16 July 2022 16 July 2022
  Denmark 5 3 1 0 1 18 June 2019 15 October 2021
  Finland 1 1 0 0 0 13 July 2022 13 July 2022
  France 1 1 0 0 0 10 June 2024 10 June 2024
  Germany 8 5 3 0 0 25 May 2019 25 May 2019
  Greece 1 1 0 0 0 12 July 2022 12 July 2022
  Guernsey 1 1 0 0 0 16 June 2019 16 June 2019
  Isle of Man 2 2 0 0 0 19 July 2022 19 July 2022
  Jersey 4 1 3 0 0 19 June 2019 23 July 2023
  Luxembourg 1 1 0 0 0 9 June 2024 9 June 2024
  Norway 1 1 0 0 0 15 June 2019 15 June 2019
  Romania 1 1 0 0 0 16 June 2024 16 June 2024
  Scotland 1 0 1 0 0 24 July 2023
  Spain 2 1 1 0 0 5 November 2022 6 November 2022
  Sweden 1 1 0 0 0 15 July 2022 15 July 2022
  Turkey 1 1 0 0 0 13 June 2024 13 June 2024
Twenty20 International 33 22 10 0 1 25 May 2019 25 May 2019

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ From 2023 edition onwards, T20 World Cup Qualifier refers to the Regional Final of the ICC Europe region.

References

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  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 - 2024 Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  5. ^ a b c d e Italy at CricketArchive
  6. ^ a b "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. ^ a b 1996 European Championship Archived 5 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  10. ^ a b 1997 ICC Trophy at Cricinfo
  11. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 2000 European Championship Archived 5 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  15. ^ a b Italy Withdraws from ICC Trophy, ICC Media Release, 25 June 2001
  16. ^ a b 2002 European Championship Official site Archived 6 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine, results section
  17. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 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. Archived from the original on 3 September 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  23. ^ "All to play for in last ever World Cricket League tournament". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  24. ^ Roller, Matt (22 February 2023). "Johnson, Madsen, Manenti sign up for Berg's Italian Job". Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  25. ^ ICC Trophy matches played by Italy at CricketArchive
  26. ^ "ICC Men's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier gets underway in Scotland". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  27. ^ a b "Records / Italy / Twenty20 Internationals / Result summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  28. ^ "Records / Italy / Most runs". ESPNcricinfo.
  29. ^ "Records / Italy / Most wickets". ESPNcricinfo.
  30. ^ "Records / Italy / Twenty20 Internationals / Highest totals". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  31. ^ "Records / Italy / Twenty20 Internationals / High scores". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  32. ^ "Records / Italy / Twenty20 Internationals / Best bowling figures". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  33. ^ "Records / Italy / Twenty20 Internationals / Most runs". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  34. ^ "Records / Italy / Twenty20 Internationals / Most wickets". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
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