T20 World Cup: England hoping to turn the corner against Italy

KOLKATA: For England, Monday’s match against Italy at the Eden Gardens here should be an easy one, even though they have not been at their best in the ongoing T20 World Cup. However, the English camp is not taking anything for granted. With the Super Eights place not yet fully secured, they are not going to take their opponents lightly either. And that means no experiments.

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“If we’d have won against West Indies then we might have had the option, but I think we’ve just got to pick the best side possible and just make sure that we get through to Super Eights,” England skipper Harry Brook said after the win over Scotland on Saturday. That game didn’t quite turn out the way Brook had wanted and he is aware that there has to be improvements going forward.




Even a below-par England might be good enough for Italy, but surely they’ll have to do better in the Super Eights. So far, the only team of some quality they faced have been the West Indies and England failed that test.

The run chase has been a bit of a worry for England, with openers Phil Salt and Jos Buttler not getting them off to fliers as would have been expected. “The run chases haven’t been as straightforward as we’d have liked to,” Brook admitted, while hoping that the game against Italy would see them turning the corner.

Italy know that they have to punch much above their weight to upset England and regular captain Wayne Madsen, who unfortunately had to miss out due to an injury, said his team is mentally prepared to do that. “For us to compete with the bigger teams, we have to throw punches,” he said after nets on Sunday. “We can’t just take punches. So we have to be aggressive in how we play our cricket.

“We’re not just here to come and make up numbers,” Madsen warned. “We’re here to perform and to win games. We’re going to do everything in our power tomorrow to do that.”


Get the latest ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 updates, including the full schedule, teams, live scores, points table, and key series stats such as top run-scorers and wicket-takers.