The Italy national cricket team is the men's team that represents the country of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

international cricket International cricket matches are played between teams representing their nations, normally organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The main forms are Test matches, One-Day matches and Twenty20 matches. Most games are played ...

. They have been an associate member of the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the ' ...

(ICC) since 1995, having previously been an affiliate member since 1984.Italy
at CricketArchive The Italian national cricket team is administered by the Italian Cricket Federation.

History

Early history

The earliest mention of cricket in Italy is of a match played by

Admiral Nelson Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought abo ...

's sailors in Bayside, NY in 1793 during a stop in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

harbour. Around the end of the 19th century, several combined cricket and association football clubs formed, including the world-famous

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

, 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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. 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. 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 In the same period some cricket was played in the northern 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, 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 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 against 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 ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, finishing seventh after beating

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

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.1997 ICC Trophy
at Cricinfo They finished fifth in the following year's European Championship. In 1999, Italy took part in a quadrangular tournament in

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

also featuring

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and Israel. They won the tournament, beating the hosts in the final. 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.Italy Withdraws from ICC Trophy
ICC Media Release, 25 June 2001 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 The 2005 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament held in Ireland between 1 July and 13 July 2005. It was an international one-day tournament played over 50 overs per side between 12 Associate Members of the International Cricket Council. It served a ...

in early 2005 in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

, Malaysia. They finished seventh in that tournament after beating

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

in a play-off. 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 The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the fo ...

of the

World Cricket League The ICC World Cricket League (WCL) was a series of international one-day cricket tournaments for national teams without Test status (i.e., teams of Associate status) administered by the International Cricket Council. All Associate Members of ...

. They finished seventh after beating Fiji in a play-off, and played in

Division Four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

of the World Cricket League in 2008 to come third and remained in

2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Four The 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Four was a cricket tournament that took place in August 2010 in Italy. It formed part of the World Cricket League competition administered by the International Cricket Council, the international governin ...

.Uganda lift Division Three title
by Andrew Nixon, 2 June 2007 at CricketEurope They came 2nd there to be promoted to

2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Three The 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Three was a cricket tournament that took place between 22–29 January 2011. It formed part of the ICC World Cricket League. Hong Kong hosted the event and also ran out winners. Teams The teams that took ...

, 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 The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was jointly hosted by A ...

, 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 The 2014 ICC World Cup Qualifier was a cricket tournament that formed the final part of the Cricket World Cup qualification process for the 2015 Cricket World Cup, 2015 World Cup. The top two teams qualified for the World Cup, joining Ireland an ...

. An encouraging start to this tournament has witnessed wins over

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

(9 wickets) and

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

(8 runs), followed by defeats, narrowly to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

(2 wickets) and more comprehensively against

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

(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 The 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier was played in November 2013 in the United Arab Emirates and is a part of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier series. This edition of the qualifier for the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 was an expanded version compris ...

in the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

, 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

In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

(T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inn ...

matches played between Italy and other

ICC members The International Cricket Council (ICC) was founded at Lord's on 15 June 1909 as the Imperial Cricket Conference, with Australia, England, and South Africa as its founding members. In the beginning, only countries within the Commonwealth could ...

since 1 January 2019 has been a full T20I. In September 2018, Italy qualified from Group B of the 2018–19 ICC World Twenty20 Europe Qualifier to the Regional Finals of the tournament. Italy played their first T20I against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

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

Tournament record

World Twenty20 Qualifier

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

: 9th place

World Cricket League

*2007: 7th place (

) – ''relegated'' *2008: 3rd place (

) *2010: 2nd place (

) – ''promoted'' *2011: 4th place (

) *2013: 6th place (

) – ''relegated'' *2014: 4th place (

) *2016: 6th place (

) – ''relegated'' *2017: 4th place ( Division Five) – ''relegated to regional tournaments''

ICC Trophy

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

: Not eligible – not an ICC member * 1982: Not eligible – not an ICC member *

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

inclusive: Not eligible – ICC affiliate member *

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

: equal 21st place * 2001: Withdrew (see above) * 2005: Did not qualify * 2009: Did not qualify *

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

: Did not qualify

European Championship

*1996: 7th place1996 European Championship
at CricketEurope *1998: 5th place1998 European Championship
at CricketEurope *2000: 5th place (Division One)2000 European Championship
at CricketEurope *2002: 6th place (Division One)2002 European Championship Official site
, results section *2004: Division Two winners2004 European Championship Division Two results
, European Cricket Council website *2006: 5th place (Division One)2006 European Championship Division One
at CricketEurope *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: *

Gayashan Munasinghe Gayashan Ranga de Silva Munasinghe (born 7 October 1986) is a Sri Lankan people, Sri Lankan-born Italian cricketer. Munasinghe is a right-handed Batsman (cricket), batsman who bowls right-arm Seam bowling, medium-fast. His first appearance for ...

( c) * Madupa Fernando * Rakibul Hasan * Fida Hussain *

Gian-Piero Meade Gian-Piero Meade (born 19 March 1996) is an Italian cricketer. He played for the Italy national cricket team in the 2016 ICC World Cricket League Division Four tournament in October 2016. In May 2019, he was named in Italy's squad for their T ...

* Joy Perera * Manpreet Singh * Anam Mollik * Baljit Singh * Zahid Cheema * Tharindu Fernando * Jaspreet Singh * Nicholas Maiolo * Michael Ross * Joe Burns Other players, who were part of Italy's squad at the 2017 ICC World Cricket League Division Five. * Alessandro Bonora * Damian Crowley * Crishan Kalugamage * Supun Tharanga *

Peter Petricola Peter Antony Petricola (born 5 May 1983) is an Australian-born Italian cricketer. Petricola is a left-handed batsman (cricket), batsman who bowls right-arm Seam bowling, medium-fast. He was born at Melbourne, Victoria. While in Australia, Preti ...

* Carl Sandri * Charanjeet Singh

Gareth Berg Gareth Kyle Berg (born 18 January 1981) is a South African-born English-Italian cricketer who plays for Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. Born in South Africa, he attended Edgemead Primary School and then SACS (South African College School) ...

was chosen for European T20 World Cup Qualifier in 2019 but removed from the squad by

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

due to a fixture clash.

Records and Statistics

International Match Summary — Italy ''Last updated 6 November 2022''

Twenty20 International

* Highest team total: 210/5 v.

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

on 16 July 2022 at

Kerava National Cricket Ground The Kerava National Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in Kerava, Finland, home to the Kerava Cricket Club. The ground was opened in June 2014, in the presence of England Test cricketer Mike Brearley and Lord Mervyn King. In February 2019, it ...

, Kerava. * Highest individual score: 87 *, Marcus Campopiano v.

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

on 6 November 2022 at

Desert Springs Cricket Ground The Desert Springs Cricket Ground is a sports ground in Cuevas del Almanzora, Almería, Spain. In September 2019, it was selected to host Germany's tour of Spain in March 2020, which included two Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket matches be ...

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...

. * Best individual bowling figures: 4/11,

v. Guernsey on 16 June 2019 at College Field,

Saint Peter Port St. Peter Port (french: Saint-Pierre Port) is a town and one of the ten parishes on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is the capital of the Bailiwick of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2019 was 18,958. St. ...

. Most T20I runs for Italy Most T20I wickets for Italy T20I record versus other nations ''Records complete to T20I #1876. Last updated 6 November 2022.''

References

External links

Official website
{{National sports teams of Italy Cricket in Italy National cricket teams

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

Italy in international cricket