The Italy national cricket team is the team that represents the country of Italy in international cricket. They have been an associate member of the International Cricket Council since 1995, having previously been an affiliate member since 1984. The Italian national cricket team is administered by the Federazione Cricket Italiana. In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Italy and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 will be a full T20I. 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.
History
Early history
The earliest mention of cricket in Italy is of a match played by Captain Morgan'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.
Modern history
The "Federazione Cricket Italiana" was formed in 1980, and they became an affiliate member of the ICC in 1984, and were promoted to associate member in 1995. 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. They finished fifth in the following years European Championship. In 1999, Italy took part in a quadrangular tournament in Gibraltar also featuring France 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. The 2002 European Championship saw Italy finish sixth in Division One, relegating them to Division Two for 2004, 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. 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 3rd and remained in 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Four. They came 2nd there to be promoted to 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Three, 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, 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. An encouraging start to this tournament has witnessed wins over Oman and United States, followed by defeats, narrowly to Ireland and more comprehensively against Kenya. After finishing last in this tournament they will be relegated to Division Four in 2014 In November 2013 they competed in the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in the U.A.E their highest level of competition to date. They finished 9th place with victories over the USA, and higher ranked opponents in U.A.E and Namibia. In September 2018, Italy qualified from Group B of the 2018–19 ICC World Twenty20 Europe Qualifier to the Regional Finals of the tournament.
Tournament record
World Twenty20 Qualifier
2013: 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 – relegated to regional tournaments
ICC Trophy
1979: Not eligible – not an ICC member
1982: Not eligible – not an ICC member
1986 to 1994 inclusive: Not eligible – ICC affiliate member
1997: equal 21st place
2001: Withdrew
2005: Did not qualify
2009: Did not qualify
2014: Did not qualify
European Championship
1996: 7th place
1998: 5th place
2000: 5th place
2002: 6th place
2004: Division Two winners
2006: 5th place
2008: 5th place
2010: 6th place
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:
