Under the Doha floodlights, banners reading “Azzurri Ambizione” fluttered while Italy took England all the way before losing by 24 runs. It will show up as a routine result for the world’s No. 3 T20 side against the team parked at No. 26, yet anyone who watched knows it was anything but routine.
England were wobbling at 107 for 5 after 13 overs. Will Jacks, later named Player of the Match for his 62 and two wickets, admitted Italy were “the better side in a few areas”. That honesty summed up an evening where Italy kept refusing to drift away.
Justin Mosca walked in early after both his opening partner Anthony Mosca and No. 3 JJ Smuts fell for ducks. He steadied, then counter-punched, finishing with 43 from 31 balls. Afterwards he pinpointed the decisive passages: “The game was won and lost today in those big moments,” Justin Mosca said. “We’re not exposed to them as often as they are. But we got in that position because we walked at the game and we took it on… we kept walking at the contest and we kept ourselves in the game for a long way.”
Italy’s stand-in skipper Harry Manenti had made the team’s intent clear before the first ball. “We didn’t want to get dictated to by the English team,” he said. “If we were to have any chance of winning tonight, we had to be the ones to try and play some shots… We’ll always risk losing to try and win a game of cricket.”
That attitude stayed. Every time the asking rate crept beyond ten an over, someone in blue found a release shot. Ben Manenti used the scoop, Justin Mosca preferred the straight hit, and Grant Stewart simply swung hard. Stewart’s 23-ball 45 included an over that shredded Adil Rashid’s figures and forced Jos Buttler to shuffle his plans.
Still, class told at the death. Jofra Archer’s pace-off deliveries gripped, Sam Curran found the block-hole and England squeezed. Stewart, frank as ever, was in no mood for hollow pats on the back. “We’re definitely not coming off here thinking we’ve had a great game because we’ve lost,” Stewart said. “We wanted to try to win games. We believe we can win games.”
For Italy, elimination from the Super Eights race stings, yet there is perspective. They were playing on synthetic wickets near Rome only 18 months ago; now they are trading blows with full-time professionals in front of thousands. “It leaves a bit of a taste in your mouth,” Justin Mosca added. “But if we keep doing the same thing… we’ll give ourselves a good chance and the result will look after itself.”
Harry Manenti took a broader view: “Today we showed that even under pressure, and even when you shouldn’t be in the game in the contest, we found a way to [stay in the game]. We showed that even the lesser team can sometimes put some pressure on.
“If you do it once, maybe some will call it a fluke, but we’ve now beaten some really good teams and competed with some good teams as well. And I think we’re starting to build a bit of a resume now.”
Their final group fixture comes in two days. The Super Eights may be gone, but the chance to add another line to that growing résumé remains.
