NewsManenti: Hopefully the game grows big enough in Italy that we can play full-time
Italy’s stand-in captain, Harry Manenti, could hardly hide his pride after the side’s ten-wicket win over Nepal. Yes, Italy sit 26th in the T20I rankings, Nepal 16th, but the wider context matters: twelve of Italy’s fifteen-man squad still hold down day jobs.
“If you look at the squad, there are 12 out of the 15 players who have to work outside of cricket,” Manenti said. “Crish [Kalugamage] is a good example, he just got a Man of the Match in a World Cup-winning game and he makes pizzas for a living back home to try and earn enough money to train. Hopefully, in a few years’ time, if not sooner, the game grows big enough in Italy that we can play [full-time].”
Kalugamage’s new-ball spell set the tone against Nepal. Not bad for someone clocking shifts in a Turin pizzeria between practice sessions. Manenti believes results like this one can nudge both the Italian federation and the ICC towards investing properly.
“That’s on us as a playing group currently to create those opportunities by winning games and showing the world what we can do. And then it’s on other people and the federation and the ICC and other teams to be willing to play us. At the moment, we’re ranked 27th… so if you do the math, we’re outsiders every time we play,” he noted, before adding that the players “thrive on and love” the underdog tag.
Calls for more fixtures
Italy hardly play the full ICC cycle. A stray qualifying event here, the odd bilateral there. Manenti wants that to change: more games against anyone willing—Scotland, the Netherlands, even Full Members on their off-season tours.
“We want to climb up, but for that, we need to play games. We want other teams to host us and build facilities that host them back,” he said. The vision is simple: school kids in Rome, Milan or Bologna watching a national side they can realistically join.
Growing interest back home
The captain reckons something is already stirring. “I’ve been to Italy a fair few times now and we’ve had a few preparations and a few tournaments there. I’ve had the privilege of meeting a lot of people who are passionate about the game in Italy.” Elite coaching appointments, he argues, have lifted standards and confidence.
Manenti also pointed to the life experience cricket gives players such as Kalugamage. “Had he stayed in Sri Lanka, he probably wouldn’t have got one, the life experience he has in Italy and two, the opportunity to show his skills on the world stage,” he said.
Small steps, then. A giant result against Nepal, certainly, but the bigger win would be a domestic structure where the next Kalugamage can bowl fast without first rolling dough. For now, Italy celebrate an historic afternoon, proud outsiders itching for another chance to prove they belong.
“For the 15 players, we had never seen a World Cup,” Manenti concluded, before jogging off to join a huddle that still felt slightly unreal.
