When Ben Manenti’s mistimed shot was grasped by Tom Banton at the mid-on region, silence descended at the Eden.
The majority of the 23,685 that had turned up on Monday to witness the game cheered for every England wicket that fell and the fours and sixes which the Italians hit. They were enthralled till the penultimate over of the game, before Italy lost the plot, with inexperience at this level being one of the obvious reasons behind their 24-run defeat.
England can finally breathe a little easier as they qualified for the Super Eight stage as the second team — West Indies were the first — from Group C. But, after the Nepal game, they were once again given a massive scare by Team Italy, who have certainly proved with their performance in their cricket World Cup debut that they aren’t here to just add to numbers, which their regular captain Wayne Madsen had emphasised before the England clash.
England were expected to win the contest hands down, but the Italians, having nothing to lose, were determined not to let their illustrious opponents get away easily. Opting to bat first, England did go past 200, finishing with 202/7, but that was primarily due to Will Jacks’ unbeaten 22-ball
53 and the 54 and 35-run partnerships he shared with Sam Curran (25 off 19 balls)
and Jamie Overton (15 off 9 balls), respectively.
In other words, if not for Jacks’ blistering knock, the Eden, perhaps, could have witnessed a big upset. The Italian bowling attack, despite serving up the occasional loose delivery, had still managed to have England struggling at 105/5 in the 13th over.
During their run chase, Italy were jolted early as Jofra Archer again produced a double strike in his first spell before Overton dismissed Ben’s younger brother and stand-in captain Harry. With Italy reeling at 22/3 in four overs, England had every reason to think they were in for a cakewalk.
But then, Ben’s fireworks with superb assistance from opener Justin Mosca (43 off 34 balls) during their counterattacking fourth-wicket stand of 92 did scare the English bowling attack. The crowd, with some Italians in it as well, roared with each of the six maximums Ben, who has a fair amount of Big Bash League experience, representing Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Sixers, smashed alongside his four boundaries.
Even though it didn’t come in a winning cause, Ben’s 60 off 25 balls should go down as one of the best innings by a cricketer from an Associate team at the Eden.
Even after Ben’s dismissal off Jacks and that of Mosca off the bowling of leg-spinner Adil Rashid, the Italians were still tenacious enough to keep the game alive till its penultimate over. Thanks to all-rounder Grant Stewart (45 off 23 balls), who smoked the wily Rashid for back-to-back sixes in over No. 18 of the chase, which cost England 21 runs and kept Italy’s hopes of a sensational win alive.
It was just that Stewart couldn’t get the better of Curran’s pin-point accuracy in the following over, something that had saved England against Nepal as well.
Need for more cricket
For a nation ranked 26th in men’s T20I cricket, Italy needs to play more cricket to fare even better than how they have done so far in their maiden T20 World Cup, feels the younger Manenti. “I think we need to continue to play more cricket,” Harry said.
“We have guys out there who haven’t played under lights before our preparation. They’ve just been facing Archer, Overton and Curran under lights in front of maybe 15,000 people. That’s a pretty impressive thing for us, having come from Rome, playing
on synthetic turfs against some low-ranked European nations, who were just as passionate as us.”
“As an Associate team, Italy have been pretty impressive in this competition and look to have adapted well with the T20 format,” former England pacer Steven Finn, here for a commentary stint with the BBC, stated.
Italy next face the West Indies here on Thursday. Shai Hope’s men will not take the Italians for granted.
Brief scores: England 202/7 in 20 ovs (Will Jacks 53 n.o.; Crishan Kalugamage 2/41, Grant Stewart 2/51). Italy 178 in 20 ovs (Ben Manenti 60, Grant Stewart 45; Jamie Overton 3/18, Sam Curran 3/22, Jofra Archer 2/35). England won by 24 runs.
