Italy National Cricket Team: The men’s team that represents Italy in international cricket is the Italy National Cricket Team. Since 1995, they have been a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Before that, they were an affiliate member from 1984 to 1995. The Federazione Cricket Italiana (Italian Cricket Federation) is in charge of the Italian Cricket Team.
History
The first time cricket was talked about in Italy was in 1793, when Captain Morgan’s sailors played a game in Bayside, New York, while they were in Naples harbor. Around the end of the 19th century, a number of clubs that played both cricket and association football came together. One of these was the Milan Cricket and Football Club, which became the famous A.C. Milan.
The Italian Cricket Federation (Federazione Cricket Italiana) was set up in 1980. In 1984, they became an affiliate member of the ICC, and in 1995, they were moved up to an associate member. In 1989, Italy’s first international game was against Denmark, and the game ended in a tie.
In 1999, France, Israel, and Italy all played in a Gibraltar tournament with four teams. They beat the home team in the final to win the tournament. The following year, they came in fifth place in Division One of the European Championship. After that, they were supposed to play in the 2001 ICC Trophy, but they got pulled out at the last minute because there was a disagreement about whether or not four players were eligible.
In 2006, they competed in Division 1 of the European Championship and came in fifth. They finished second there and were moved up to the 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Three. There, they finished fourth and stayed in the 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division Three, where they finished second.
In November 2013, they went to the UAE to compete in the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, which was the highest level of competition they had ever done up to that point. They finished in ninth place after beating the United States and teams with better rankings, like UAE and Namibia.
They were then moved to Division Four in 2014.
In Recent Times
In April 2018, the ICC decided that all its members would be given complete Twenty20 International (T20I) status. So, since January 1, 2019, every Twenty20 match between Italy and another ICC member has been a full T20I. In May 2019, Italy played its first Twenty20 match against Germany. Italy will play in the 2019–21 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League starting in August 2019.
Records in tournaments
| World Twenty20 Qualifier | |||
| Year | Place | Division | Status |
| 2013 | 9th place | – | – |
| World Cricket League | |||
| Year | Place | Division | Status |
| 2007 | 7th place | Division Three | Relegated |
| 2008 | 3rd place | Division Four | |
| 2010 | 2nd place | Division Four | Promoted |
| 2011 | 4th place | Division Three | |
| 2013 | 6th place | Division Three | Relegated |
| 2014 | 4th place | Division Four | |
| 2016 | 6th place | Division Four | Relegated |
| 2017 | 4th place | Division Five | Relegated to regional tournaments |
| ICC Trophy | |
| Year | Place |
| 1979 | Not eligible – not an ICC member |
| 1982 | Not eligible – not an ICC member |
| 1986 to 1995 | Not eligible – ICC affiliate member |
| 1997 | 21st Place |
| 2001 | Withdrew |
| 2005 | Did not qualify |
| 2009 | Did not qualify |
| 2014 | Did not qualify |
| European Championship | ||
| Year | Place | Division |
| 1996 | 7th place | – |
| 1998 | 5th place | – |
| 2000 | 5th place | Division One |
| 2002 | 6th place | Division One |
| 2004 | Division Two Winners | |
| 2006 | 5th place | Division One |
| 2008 | 5th place | Division One |
| 2010 | 6th place | Division One |
Records and Stats
| Most T20I runs for Italy | |||
| Player | Runs | Average | Career span |
| Joy Perera | 367 | 28.23 | 2019–2022 |
| Gian-Piero Meade | 223 | 17.15 | 2019–2022 |
| Manpreet Singh | 189 | 17.18 | 2019–2022 |
| Marcus Campopiano | 147 | 49 | 2022–2022 |
| Anthony Mosca | 122 | 61 | 2022–2022 |
| Most T20I wickets for Italy | |||
| Player | Wickets | Average | Career span |
| Baljit Singh | 12 | 12.16 | 2019–2022 |
| Harry Manenti | 9 | 10.22 | 2022–2022 |
| Jaspreet Singh | 10 | 18.3 | 2019–2022 |
| Madupa Fernando | 9 | 13.44 | 2021–2021 |
| Gayashan Munasinghe | 9 | 21.22 | 2019–2019 |
T20I record against opponent teams
| Opponent | M | W | L | T | NR | First match | First win |
| vs Associate Members | |||||||
| Croatia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 July 2022 | 16 July 2022 |
| Denmark | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 18 June 2019 | 15 October 2021 |
| Finland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 July 2022 | 13 July 2022 |
| Germany | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 25 May 2019 | 25 May 2019 |
| Greece | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 July 2022 | 12 July 2022 |
| Guernsey | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 June 2019 | 16 June 2019 |
| Isle of Man | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 July 2022 | 19 July 2022 |
| Jersey | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 19 June 2019 | |
| Norway | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 June 2019 | 15 June 2019 |
| Sweden | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 July 2022 | 15 July 2022 |