Hope Italy's T20 World Cup win makes front pages: Coach John Davison

Italy head coach John Davison expressed hope that his side’s historic maiden T20 World Cup victory would dominate front-page headlines back home, even pushing coverage of the ongoing Winter Olympics to the back of the sports pages. Debutants Italy scripted history on Thursday by thrashing Nepal by 10 wickets in a Group C clash of the T20 World Cup, achieving a landmark result in only their second match of the tournament.

“This will be front page news in a lot of countries and a lot of publications in Italy I would imagine...I'm hoping,” Davison told reporters after the match.



“For us to get that sort of exposure and maybe knock off the Winter Olympics off (to) the back page of the sport would be unbelievable for cricket in the country and (it would) just bring some attention to it,” he added.

Stand-in captain Harry Manenti said Italy bring a unique passion to the game of cricket.

“There's a lot more players in the world that play cricket and don't have the privilege that we have, to be able to show what we've got, to represent my family. My brother (Ben Manenti) is in the team with me,” Harry said.

“I don't think you'll see many players cry on the field after a win in the group stages. You've got to appreciate what Italy cricket is bringing to the game, understand that the passion is slightly different with the Italians,” he added.

Harry believes that regular exposure against top international sides will help Italian cricketers raise their standards.

“We want other teams to host us and we build facilities that host them back and that's our goal as a team,” he said.

“That will provide opportunities for kids who are currently in Italy, learning the game at a school level, to see us playing in Rome or Milan or Bologna, wherever it might be, to see what the pathway is,” Harry added.

The stand-in skipper also acknowledged that Italy’s players come from varied backgrounds and that the country still lacks adequate infrastructure.

“We're still a long way away from facilities, coaching within Italy, opportunities for guys to play cricket, and hopefully that comes from this tournament,” he said.

Reflecting on Italy’s opening loss to Scotland, Harry admitted the team had been tentative in that game but showed greater intent against Nepal.

“We didn't probably nail it the other night against Scotland, but today we showed what we've got in terms of intentions and our bravery, and that's what rewarded us in the end,” he said.

Italy’s bowlers laid the foundation for the win by dismissing Nepal for just 123, with Ben Manenti returning figures of 4-0-9-2.

“Look, (the first over) is an important over to set the tone. When you win the toss and you bowl first, you want to try and start the game in an attacking way,” Harry said.

“We thought the way that we could look, there might be a little bit of spin and hold, so we tried to bowl as much spin in that power play up front as we could and then that's what set the tone, we started well,” he added.


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