| Italy | |
| Nickname: | ‘Gli Azzurri’ (The Blues) |
| Association: | Italian Cricket Federation |
| Coach: | Gareth Berg[1] |
| Captain: | Gareth Berg |
| Icc Status: | Affiliate |
| Icc Member Year: | 1984 |
| Icc Status2: | Associate member |
| Icc Member Year2: | 1995 |
| Icc Region: | Europe |
| T20i Rank: | 29th |
| T20i Rank Best: | 22nd (16 June 2019) |
| First Match: | v at Bagsværd; 15 July 1989 |
| First T20: | v at Dubai; 13 March 2012 |
| Wcq Apps: | 2 |
| Wcq First: | 1997 |
| Wcq Best: | First round (1997, 2001) |
| First T20i: | v at Sportpark Maarschalkerweerd, Utrecht; 25 May 2019 |
| Most Recent T20i: | v at Simar Cricket Ground, Rome; 16 June 2024 |
| Num T20is: | 33 |
| Num T20is This Year: | 5 |
| T20i Record: | 22/10 (0 ties, 1 no result) |
| T20i Record This Year: | 5/0 (0 ties, 0 no results) |
| Wt20q Apps: | 3 |
| Wt20q First: | 2012 |
| Wt20q Best: | 3rd place (2023) |
| A Pattern B: | _blue_bandshoulder |
| A Leftarm: | 0040cdff |
| A Body: | 0040cdff |
| A Rightarm: | 0040cdff |
| A Pants: | 0040cdff |
| A Title: | T20I kit |
| Asofdate: | 16 June 2024 |
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.[2] The Italy national cricket team is administered by the Italian Cricket Federation.
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. 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.[3] 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.[4]
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[5]
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.
The "Federazione Cricket Italiana" (Italian Cricket Federation) was formed in 1980, and they became an affiliate member of the ICC in 1984, and were promoted to associate member in 1995.
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. 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.[6] 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.
In 1999, Italy took part in a quadrangular tournament in Gibraltar also featuring France and Israel.[7] They won the tournament, beating the hosts in the final.[8] They finished fifth in Division One of the European Championship the following year 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. [9]
The 2002 European Championship saw Italy finish sixth in Division One, relegating them for 2004 to Division Two, which they promptly won. 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.[10]
They took part in Division One of the European Championship in 2006, finishing fifth. 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.[11] 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.
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.[12]
In September 2018, Italy qualified from Group B of the 2018–19 ICC World Twenty20 Europe Qualifier to the Regional Finals of the tournament.[13]
Italy played their first T20I against Germany in May 2019.
From August 2019, Italy will play in the 2019–21 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League.[14]
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.[15]
10th place
9th place
9th
Qualified
2nd (Qualified for 2023-26 ICC CWC Challenge League)
Not eligible – not an ICC member
Not eligible – not an ICC member
equal 21st place
Withdrew (see above)
Did not qualify[16]
Italy's squad for the 2023 ICC T20 World Cup Europe Regional Final in July 2023 included the following players:[23]
International Match Summary — Italy[24] Last updated 16 June 2024
| Playing Record | |||||||
| Format | M | W | L | T | NR | Inaugural Match | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twenty20 Internationals | 33 | 22 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 25 May 2019 |
Most T20I runs for Italy[28]
| Player | Runs | Average | Career span | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marcus Campopiano | 461 | 38.41 | 2022–2024 | |
| 367 | 28.23 | 2019–2022 | ||
| 360 | 27.69 | 2021–2023 | ||
| Anthony Mosca | 347 | 38.55 | 2019–2024 | |
| 307 | 17.05 | 2019–2024 |
Most T20I wickets for Italy[29]
| Player | Wickets | Average | Career span | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | 12.26 | 2022–2024 | ||
| 20 | 16.45 | 2022–2024 | ||
| 20 | 18.45 | 2019–2024 | ||
| Crishan Kalugamage | 14 | 12.16 | 2022–2024 | |
| Stefano di Bartolomeo | 13 | 18.50 | 2023–2024 |
T20I record versus other nations[24]
Records complete to T20I #2696. Last updated 16 June 2024.
| Opponent | M | W | L | T | NR | First match | First win | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs Full Members | ||||||||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 20 July 2023 | |||
| vs Associate Members | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 July 2022 | 16 July 2022 | ||
| 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 18 June 2019 | 15 October 2021 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 July 2022 | 13 July 2022 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 June 2024 | 10 June 2024 | ||
| 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 25 May 2019 | 25 May 2019 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 July 2022 | 12 July 2022 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 June 2019 | 16 June 2019 | ||
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 July 2022 | 19 July 2022 | ||
| 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 19 June 2019 | 23 July 2023 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 June 2024 | 9 June 2024 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 June 2019 | 15 June 2019 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 June 2024 | 16 June 2024 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 24 July 2023 | |||
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 November 2022 | 6 November 2022 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 July 2022 | 15 July 2022 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 June 2024 | 13 June 2024 | ||